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2009 Amber Armstrong Ashley Palmer Crystal Cartwright Katie Featherston Mark Fredrichs Micah Sloat Oren Peli Randy McDowell Tim Piper
First Review: There's no studio logo when the film begins, and there are no opening credits. There's only a title card thanking the families of Micah Sloat and Katie Featherston for their cooperation. We then go back to the fall of 2006 and see home video footage of Micah prepping the camera just as Katie pulls into the driveway of their San Diego home. Strange things have been going on in the house as they sleep, and they want to capture it on film. A psychic is invited over, and only then do we learn that strange things have been happening to Featherston pretty much her entire life. Is she being followed by some supernatural force? If so, what does it want with her? The psychic makes it clear that his area of expertise is ghosts, which won't do much good for Featherston since it seems she has more of a demon problem.
This is the basic scenario of "Paranormal Activity," the most inventive and frightening horror movie of recent memory. Presenting itself as a documentary consisting of raw footage, it works not as a gory, over the top camp fest but as a slow, disturbing unfolding of events. It utilizes unnerving subtleties like phantom scratching noises, mysterious thuds, unexplained shadows, and lights that turn on and off completely on their own. The more overt visual scares come with no explanations for how or why they occur. It's not about what you see, but about what you don't see. Made on a budget of just $15,000, shot in just seven days in a real house without a crew, and released almost entirely through word-of-mouth and internet campaigns, "Paranormal Activity" may someday be regarded as one of the scariest movies ever made.
Most of the terror is reserved for long, mostly uninterrupted shots of the couple sleeping in their bedroom. At first, we only hear strange noises that don't seem to be coming from anywhere. As the film progresses, stranger, more intense things happen. The door forcefully slams shut, after which we hear loud knocking. Footsteps trail through the bedroom. The bed sheets lift and lower completely on their own. At one point, Featherston awakens, gets out of bed, and just stands there staring at Sloat for the next couple of hours (shown in high speed). When noises wake both of them up, they search the upstairs hallways and discover that the overhead passage to the attic has been opened. What do you think Sloat will find when he goes up to investigate?
That being said, this movie probably wouldn't have worked were it not for Sloat and Featherston (the actors, not the characters they play). Together, they make a convincing young couple. Even more convincing, however, is the way they react separately to the escalating supernatural events. Sloat initially doesn't take anything that happens too seriously, although he does seem enthusiastic about having a camera in the house. Only later, when things go from bad to worse, does he find himself in a power struggle with the entity stalking his girlfriend. There are times when he tries to be the dominant and protective male, claiming that he has the wherewithal to save his girlfriend; in truth, he has never had any control of the situation. Featherton is physically and psychologically more vulnerable, well aware that her past is catching up with her, frustrated at the willfulness and skepticism of her boyfriend. Their believability is a credit to first-time director Oren Peli, who opted not to have them recite scripted lines of dialogue.
The film ends exactly the same way it began: Without any credits. The only thing we get is yet another title card, and this time, I won't reveal what it says. I will say that the shot leading up the title card is the most chilling one I've seen since the slow, agonizing close up of Justin Long's head at the end of "Jeepers Creepers." I have a feeling that the success of "Paranormal Activity" will continue to mount, relying not on studio enforced tactics but on audience reaction, the most authentic promotion there is for a movie. Just as it should be--this is an astonishing achievement, not merely as a story, but as an exercise in pacing, atmosphere, and apprehension. A word of warning: It earns the right to be called a horror movie, so if you don't like being scared, you should definitely stay away.
Category: Horror
All Genres:Horror, Mistery, Thriller
Release Year: 2009
Country: USA
Runtime: 86 minutes
Rating: 7.8/10
Languages: English
Director:
Sound: Dolby Digital, SDDS, DTS
Writing by :
Produced by:
Jason Blum
Oren Peli
Steven Schneider
Amir Zbeda
Music By:
Cast:
Katie Featherston - Katie
Micah Sloat - Micah
Mark Fredrichs - The Psychic
Amber Armstrong -
Randy McDowell -
Ashley Palmer -
Tim Piper -
Crystal Cartwright - Exorcism Nanny
Official Website: Visit Website
Plot: Micah (Micah Sloat), a day trader, and Katie (Katie Featherston), a student who claims that since her youth, a ghostly entity has haunted her, are a young couple "engaged to be engaged". When strange phenomena occurs such as lights flickering and faucets turning on and off on their own, Katie believes the ghost has followed her to their two-story tract house in suburban San Diego, California. Micah buys a video camera in the hopes of capturing paranormal activity on film, a project that will ultimately last three weeks. Each night, he leaves the video camera on a tripod in their bedroom to record whatever might be occurring while he and Katie sleep.
On the first night Katie's keys are heard being thrown to the floor, where they are found the next morning. After this, Katie calls in Dr. Fredrichs, a psychic who assesses that they are being plagued not by a ghost, but by a demon that is intent on haunting Katie no matter where she goes. He implores two pieces of advice on the couple: that they do not quarrel, as the demon feeds off of "negative energy" and tension in the household will make the hauntings stronger, and that they make no attempt to communicate with the entity, as that is considered inviting it in and will result in the former consequence. Dr. Fredrichs also recommends the two contact Dr. Abrams, a demonologist. Katie wishes to do so right away, but Micah talks her out of it.
The hauntings continue. One night, a rather loud bang is heard downstairs, alerting the couple. Micah heads downstairs to try and find its source, but finds nothing. Micah suggests buying a Ouija board to contact the demon, as he is excited about the possibility of a real haunting, but Katie implores him not to. That night, the couple are awoken by what sounds like footsteps. Suddenly, what sounds like an inhuman roar and a loud bang reverberate from somewhere deep in the house. Micah and Katie rush downstairs and find nothing, except a chandelier eerily swaying back and forth. Katie pushes to call Dr. Abrams, but Micah talks her out of it again. Micah tapes himself in an empty room asking the demon questions. He plays the audio back on his computer; when he asks the demon if he should buy an Ouija board, a low grunt is heard.
That night, Katie unexpectedly awakens in a trancelike state, before standing up and staring at a sleeping Micah for almost 2 hours. She then goes outside; Micah awakens and finds her on a swing, practically catatonic and brings her back inside. The following morning, she has no memory of the incident, even when Micah shows her the footage. Micah finally borrows a Ouija board from a friend, infuriating Katie. While the two are arguing outside, a wind blows through the living room and the Ouija board's planchette moves on its own before a small fire erupts and extinguishes on the board. Micah finds this and tries to show Katie, but she is too stressed to listen.
Katie agrees to allow Micah to try one more experiment before calling Dr. Abrams. Micah leaves baby powder on the floor in the upstairs hallway, hoping the demon will leave tracks. That night, the plan succeeds; they awaken to the sound of footsteps and find three-toed tracks leading from the attic into their bedroom. In the attic, Micah finds a charred photograph of a young Katie, which she says was destroyed in a house fire when she was child. The next night, the bedroom door slams itself shut and is accompanied by violent knocking and banging.
Dr. Abrams is abroad when Micah finally agrees to invite him, so Dr. Fredrichs agrees to make a second house call. However, Dr. Fredrichs immediately has a sense of foreboding upon entering their home, and apologetically leaves despite Katie and Micah's desperate pleas for him to stay and help. Dr. Fredrichs explains that the demon is enraged by his presence, and assures he will contact Dr. Abrams as soon as possible, but the couple fear they won't last until then.
The hauntings soon begin occurring in the daytime. After a loud noise occurs, the couple finds a portrait of themselves smashed in, with claw marks through Micah's face. Katie can feel the demon breathing on her (which Micah captures on camera), and feels it watching her. That night, the hauntings come to a climax when Katie is forcibly dragged out of bed and down the hallway by an invisible force. Hearing her screams, Micah gives chase and wrestles her away, and Katie emerges from the struggle with a gruesome bite mark on her back. Stressed and exhausted, the couple decide to go to a hotel room, hoping the demon will not follow them immediately.
Ready to go, Micah finds Katie gripping a crucifix so tightly that it bloodies her palm. He burns the crucifix along with the picture of Katie as a child. A suddenly calm Katie insists to Micah that they instead remain at the house. When Micah leaves in frustration, the camera captures Katie saying in a possessed voice, "I think we'll be OK now."
That night, Katie once again awakens to stare at a sleeping Micah for several hours. She then goes down the stairs into the darkness and begins screaming. Micah wakes up and runs to her. The camera can only see the bedroom and dark hallway as it records the sounds of a struggle upon his arrival downstairs. Micah and Katie's screams are cut short, and brief silence is followed by the sound of heavy footsteps coming up the stairs. Unexpectedly, Micah is hurled at the camera, knocking it over. Katie slowly crawls into view, her face demonically contorted and her clothing covered in blood. She sniffs at Micah's lifeless body, then smiles at the camera before lunging toward it as the screen cuts to black. An ending title card states that Micah's body was discovered days later by the police, and Katie's whereabouts remain unknown.
The ending attached to the theatrical version of the film was suggested by Steven Spielberg.[5] Evidently, Spielberg has reported that when he was viewing a screening of the film in his home, the door beside him shut closed. He believes that it was a paranormal encounter.[citation needed] The ending currently being seen in theaters for the limited screenings does not match endings previously seen in earlier screenings at Screamfest and the Burbank screening.
The original ending, as attached to the video sent to potential distributors, has Katie returning to the bedroom, after the struggle heard downstairs, wielding a knife and having blood on her tank top. She sits next to the bed and rocks back and forth throughout the remainder of the following day. Her friend Amber arrives the next night and flees the house upon discovering Micah's body downstairs. When two police officers arrive, Katie comes out of her catatonic state and approaches them. The officers instruct her to drop the knife and shoot her after a confused Katie fails to do so. The film ends with the officers discovering the running camera. A frame from this ending has emerged online.[8] The scenes involving the broken picture frame in the theatrical version replaced a scene in the original version in which Micah determines through the video footage that the entity spelled "Diane" on the Ouija board. Searching the internet, he finds a story about a girl named Diane who, decades earlier, had experienced a haunting similar to Katie's, and then died after chewing off her own arm during a botched exorcism.
Another alternate ending shows Katie returning to the bedroom with the knife and slitting her own throat in front of the camera. The version of the film with this ending was shown at only one public viewing.
Goofs:
Trivia:
- 6 Videos: Paranormal Activity
- Break Videos: Paranormal Activity Trailer
- DailyMotion: Paranormal Activity
- Google video: Paranormal Activity
- Ku 6 Video: Paranormal Activity
- Metacafe: Paranormal Activity Trailer 1 - Horror "Don't See It Alone"
- MySpace Video: Paranormal Activity
- Tudou: Paranormal Activity search
- Yahoo Video: 'Paranormal Activity' Theatrical Trailer
- Youku: Paranormal Activity search
- YouTube: 'Paranormal Activity' Trailer HD
i am a 54 year old grandma, watched the excorsist in the 70’s and that scared me half to death while i was pregnant with my first born son,slept with the light on for years, my son turned out okay..lol. now i watched paranormal activity with his daughter who is 12(my grand daughter) my sister who is 51 and my 23rd year old son and holy cow, scared the dickens out of me worst than ever before. talk about almost wetting my pants..geezzzz…held on to my seat for dear life….guess i will sleep with the light on once again….geeezzz way to go…keep those movies coming…susan hart of oregon
this is the first time I really enjoyed watching a scary movie. I really thing is real, I though that was a real, I mean a real history. I like it.
Have i seen the same movie ? Greatest horror film ? SCARY ? Hype is right ! it was okay, but try The Saint Francisville Experiment, this is creepy, way better.