Paranormal Activity (2007)
When I think of this film series, I get Blair Witch. Neither of them is tremendous or executed perfectly, but they are both somewhat first of their kind in horror. Thanks to the Blair Witch, found footage horror has made its own subgenre in modern writing and popular culture. It is an excellent tactic to have been brought into this genre. Everyone loves the fake, "based on a true story." Even if they know it is not real, that single line makes the mind wander. Paranormal Activity is another found footage film, thank you, Blair Witch again, but this series gives this modern twist to it. We aren't thrown in the woods or a vast unknown place. Here we are placed in the characters' home. Somewhere they feel safe, or should.
The one thing that annoys me the most in this film is Katie's voice when she shrieks. I think part of this is because you knew she wasn't shrieking to mean it but to lure Micah. This is a complex series that runs backward. Unlike The Conjuring universe, this one is told in reverse order for the first three films. Therefore, timeline-wise, if you have not seen the series: 3 is the start when the sisters are kids. Half of 2 would be the second start after the pool visit, where Kristi explains she thinks something is wrong out by the pool with her family is when 1 technically begins chronologically. The two movie events start happening at the same time around the middle of the second film. Then you can go to 4, 5, and 6 in their order. So, if you aren't familiar with the series, you kind of may feel lost. And that is great. The idea of feeling like you are missing part of it is one of the reasons this series did so great in box offices and landed its staple in the genre. Especially considering the budget they did this under.
Viewers are slowly keyed in on past events of Katie's life revolving around the demonic presence. You would learn later in the series, grandma made a deal for fortune to give up the firstborn male of the family. Really, the demon is only using Katie to get what it wants, her sister's newborn son. She allows the presence to grow by giving into the psychological torture it causes. Ultimately she gets herself possessed, and that is all she wrote.
There are a lot of good elements used well here. Mostly we watch the happens of the house when they are sleeping or not home. Micah takes it as a joke, which increases Katie's irritability to the whole situation. Hate to say it, but he deserved his death for it. Paranormal Activity really takes classics of this subgenre and throws them in subtle, making it feel all too real. From the end, when we see the chandelier swinging to early on when Katie begins her nightly, unconscious walks, even through the sheer simplicity giving the demon ground by using an Ouiji Board, we watch classic elements modified to feel real. They even call a priest who gets taken back by the presence and is unable to help them. It could be because I was raised Catholic, but it is all too real the one religion that highly believes in evil refuses to combat it without clearance. And if you don't know what you see in films is very accurate, the Vatican often refuses all requested exorcism cases. As a former Catholic, to say it lightly, I knew they were fucked at that point.
Superb scenes of terror. Two I want to focus on are the night they find footprints in the powder from the attic access to their room, and the night Katie is ultimately attacked and dragged out of bed. While watching it, you may not feel scared. However, when you sit back and think if it were you who woke up to those tracks or dragged by an unseen force, it changes. The sheer power of demonic entities is terrifying. They feed off of fear. While this is not the kind of film that will keep the average person up at night or feel like they need to keep a light on, it is terrifying with how real it feels and how powerful demonic spirits are.
OFF-TOPIC: I also want to make it very clear you can be an Atheist and lack a belief in a higher power and still believe in demonic spirits. We exist :) While I am at it, let us also all make sure we are clear that Satanism is not the worship of the Christian Devil. Those who do worship the Christian Devil as classified under theistic worship, not the term Satanism. They also may be umbrellaed under Theistic Satanism. :) You are all very welcome.
I'm glad you mentioned the reverse order of the movies (3,2,1,4,5,6) because I wouldn't have watched the later movies, but know that this was the end of her line and not the beginning makes me want to know what lead up to this. I may actually watch the later ones now. That also is something I adore, telling not chronologically. One of my favorite books, The Night Circus, does this incredibly well. That being said though, the movie should stand on its own for me without the sequels and it didn't.
ReplyDeleteYou mention a lot that the movie felt real to you. I can see what you mean with that about the joking about what Micah sees when they are asleep or the unconscious walks. But as soon as that Ouija board moved and lit on fire I was lost, and the inhuman footprints were cheesy to me. But then again, you said it yourself, the movie isn't meant to outright scare. It's supposed to make you think. It's no longer on Netflix so I can't find the title, but I once saw a found footage movie about some people going out camping and getting chased by a cannibal in an RV. That one scared me, but didn't make me think. But that could be because it looked like the PNW region I live in...
On the note of Satanism clarification, can we get out there that a pentagram (star) and a pentacle (pentagram + circle) are not the same. So many people think my witchy pentacle is demonic because of movies like The Ritual (2017) because pentagram + rune on the back. (But I did like The Ritual as a movie)
AH yes my lovely! I agree so many do not seem to know the difference between the pentagram and a pentacle. The assume both are a symbol of Satanism.
DeleteA lot of people keep telling me to watch that film. I have yet to get around to it.
Eventually 1 & 2 sync and go on one timeline. Then after Micah's death, Katie goes to her sisters house. So, the end of 2 is really the end. But the middles of the movies are meant to be happening at the same time.
Hey Alexis, this is Glenna.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your tidbits about the other movies in the series. I had no idea they ran chronologically backward. The only other one I've seen is PA 2. I think I'll watch the rest at some point.
Yes, the power of this demon was astonishing. I was impressed with the way it tossed Micah across the room and right into his camera. A serious jump scare, *and* ironic to boot! I did like the footprints and didn't think they were cheesy because the effect was well-executed. And when Katie was possessed, there was something strange about the way she walked. In addition to the stiffness and trance-like aspect, there was a jerkiness to her walk that made me think Orin Peli might have filmed those portions backward. And did you notice when she sits up, possessed, her toes point inwards? She swings that leg over to get off the bed in an odd way. These little details upped the terror factor for me.
As you said, the movie felt real. This modern credibility was part of what made *Poltergeist* so effective. It looks very dated now, but back in the day (and I speak from experience), it was contemporary and more frightening for it. Spielberg might have been the first screenwriter to do that.
Glenna, by chance, has you seen the remake to Poltergeist? I have yet to watch it.
DeleteAlthough I'm never going to watch past the original 2007 film, I appreciate your summary of the larger scope of the Paranormal Activity movies. I always assumed the sequels/prequels were all the same premise with a higher budget featuring different households and different demons. Now I understand the context. The shot of the dog barking at nothing next to the crib in Paranormal Activity 2 always gave me the creeps. Now I know who is in the crib.
ReplyDeleteYes, the demon is powerful and, for me, terrifying. As Yoda taught us, "Anger, fear, aggression; the dark side of the Force are they." Lucas didn't make that up out of thin air. Those elemental emotions, especially when denied and/or allowed free reign, feed the demons. Variations on that theme play out in most well-established religions, most of which include a belief in dark, demonic, supernatural entities. You don't have to convince me that getting dragged out of bed by an invisible force is scary; just yanking a sheet off the bed in the o'dark thirty hours is enough to turn me into a puddle of goo.
PS - "...the one religion that highly believes in evil refuses to combat it without clearance." Well, you can't expect them to waste resources on saving parishioners from demonic forces when it takes so much effort to hide all their dirty secrets. Maybe Spotlight (2015) should be considered a horror movie. It certainly gave me nightmares and still haunts me today.