Paranormal Activity

Everyone talks about this movie. Some say this is the best horror movie. Some say this is the most boring movie. So, last night we went to see this movie in the theater.

Paranormal Activity is a horror movie produced under $15,000 and has only 4 actors. It was filmed within one week using a hand held video camera. Within a month of its release, the revenue has grossed up over 100 million dollars.

Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat are lovers and start to live together. As soon as Katie moved in with Micah strange things start to happen in the house. Micah bought a video camera to document these strange occurrences. There have been strange noises, whispers, and footsteps.

Micah has been filming all the conversations. He even has the camera filming while they are sleeping in the bedroom. They ask the advice of a psychic. He tells the couple that most of the things are normal house noises. Katie then tells the psychic that these things are happening in all the house she lived since she was a child. The psychic is an expert in human spirits only. He suggests that they should consult an expert on demons. But that demonologist is out of the city on some business.

The video tape is recording everything that is happening every night. The noise and bizarre happenings become more violent each night.

The director tries to tell the audience that this story happened to somebody in real life. The names of the two characters in the movie are same as their real names, i.e. Katie and Micah.

The Director is also trying to tell us that genuine scary situations do not have to include the usual lots of blood, gruesome death and psycho killers.

I am not reviewing this movie. I am just expression my impressions of this movie. If some strange things are happening in the house, my thinking is, why don’t they get the hell of that house? Again, one might argue that wherever Katie goes this will follow her.

When they sleep in the upstairs bedroom there will be a noise in the downstairs. These 2 will run down the stairs to see what it is. They never turn on the lights. They always run in the dark. If this happens in your house, won’t you turn on all the lights the whole night?

There is no photography or music. As I said, the actual filming was done on a hand held video camera. I am sure we all have watched something recorded from a hand held video camera. It is not steady and shaking all the time. So I had to sit through 89 minutes of watching a hand held video camera shoot in the dark. When we came out of the theater my eyes were straining.

If it is not such a good movie…story-wise and also production-wise…then how come it has earned more than 100 million dollars within a month? May be some people really like this movie. If they read this blog, they may think, as they say in Tamil, kazhudhaikku theriyuma karpoora vaasanai (Does a donkey know about the aroma and smell of camphor?)

If there is a war movie, I want to see both sides fight like hell. I do not want to see couple of diplomats negotiating a cease fire. If there is a horror movie, I want to see lots of bloods, gory killing, and the audience scream in fear.

This movie is over hyped.