Paranormal Activity

Oren Peli’s much-publicized film Paranormal Activity recounts the hoary tale of Ye Olde Haunted House (a la middle-class suburbia) through the overworked vehicle of amateur shockumentary. The lack of credits and title card aim to spookily imply that this is all real: no producers, directors or writers were used in the making of this film. Yawn.  

The gimmick begins when likeable Micah takes up “filmmaking and sound mixing for dummies” in efforts to catch a demon haunting his unremarkable girlfriend Katie. Micah’s grainy footage loiters in a tedious exposition of Tweedledee-Tweedledum dynamics, following Katie and Micah’s adequate acting while the audience waits for blood ‘n’ gore.

Micah, via writer-director Peli, ghostbusts on a budget-—$11,000, to be precise. “Scary things” unfold off screen because the camera is left on the tripod—and special effects are cheaper when unseen. A psychic visits and babbles something silly, keeping Katie and Micah in-house. No costly set changes. Micah’s later decision to go to a hotel is foiled by Katie’s untimely demonic possession. The film relies on the interaction of a full audience and the inherent fear in the viewer’s imagination to do the work. The sidelining of visual horror might work in ancient Greek theater but drags in the 21st century. Viewers get hard-earned cheap thrills from the demon’s mischief caught on camera—shadows passing, lights switching and doors moving, oh my!      

Paranormal Activity is another cog in the genre-wheel of the docu-horror flick: recession-chic, producer-friendly and, in this case, viewer-boring.