Paranormal Activity

I don't like this series. For the most part, it's boring. Just boring. The story moves forward at a snail's pace, and the plot becomes dumber with each successive film.

That said, I don't really hate the first film that much. It was made for $15,000, and looks like it cost at least six digits, Given the vague name of the film, I can't help but wonder if they considered using the franchise as an anthology series, showcasing talented horror directors working with low budgets. I imagine we would have gotten something much better if they'd gone that path.

This first movie follows Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat (all characters share their actors' names in this entry), a young couple that just moved into a large house. Katie explained to Micah shortly before the film began, and right after they moved in together, that she's been haunted by a mysterious entity since her childhood. Micah immediately becomes determined to film the entity. He claims that he wants to find a way to get rid of it, but it becomes quite obvious quite quickly that he simply wants to satisfy his own morbid curiosity.

Over the course of the film the two come into repeated conflicts over how to deal with the entity. Neither side is completely sympathetic or unsympathetic in their views. Katie seems to have simply given up, and accepted that she'd rather live with the occasional supernatural activity than try to fight the being and risk enraging it. Micah, on the other hand, often seems intent on hitting a hornets' nest with a stick. He lays out powder to see if the entity leaves footprints, films everything in the house, and even brings in a ouija board.

Katie does bring in psychic Dr. Mark Freidrichs, who recommends contacting a Demonologist. Micah objects to the Demonologist, so by the time they attempt to call him he's out of town. Micah's objection here has always baffled me. He could easily have filmed a battle between good and evil, and instead chose not to. I really have no explanation except that the film needed to be dragged out longer.

The entity, for it's part, seems as much amused by Micah's efforts as angry. It burns a message into the ouija board, and even leaves footprints, which Katie assures Micah it left only because it wanted to. I'd say that at this point in the franchise, when we still knew so little, the being was a lot scarier.

There are several endings, all of which involve Katie leaving the bedroom one night, screaming Micah's name off-screen, and then apparently killing him when he comes. I'd say the original ending, created before the movie was purchased by Paramount, was likely the best (the police arrive, and the entity spooks them into shooting Katie).

That said, the ending we're left with is still quite intense, no matter how many awful sequels it leads to. Katie throws Micah's body at the camera, then crawls over next to it, showing a demonic look on her face, and attacks the camera. We're then told by a title card that Micah's body was found, but Katie's whereabouts are unknown.

This movie is far from a masterpiece. The characters constantly bicker, and neither of them are especially smart. However, their reactions aren't unbelievable, and the actors do a decent job of portraying two people who really shouldn't be together.

There are much worse products out there (including products in this series). This movie is at least worth a try. The same cannot be said for many later entries in this franchise, which as of this writing seem to have finally run the entire series into the ground.