Paranormal Activity excuses this completely as it uses a fixed-point perspective throughout most of the film. I admittedly scoffed upon seeing main character Micah (Micah Sloat) show us his camera in the mirror of his house. This isn't a mini-DV, this is a full size Sony HDR. But through little snippets of conversational dialogue with his fiance, Katie (Katie Featherston), we understand that he has very good reason for his purchase. A natural tech-head anyway, the young couple are plagued by a mysterious presence in their home so they hope to catch it all on camera.
I enjoyed the couple's natural behaviour with one another, it reminded me to a degree of the kind of tension that built between the characters in Blair Witch. Whereas in that film I felt it too much to have every movement whilst during an argument caught on camera, here it doesn't feel as juxtaposed. A lot of the paranormal activity takes place in the couple's bedroom. The main reason the camera is fixed here is because Katie believes the presence has followed her since childhood. We start to build a background story; mainly through the arrival of psychic, Dr Fredrichs, who can feel a strange presence in the household.
Over the course of several nights, the activity becomes more intense, from footsteps, demonic whisperings, shadows and the like. The action doesn't just take place in the bedroom and there are moments where you find yourself thinking you just missed a moment of something out in the hallway. It's real edge-of-your-seat stuff and a silence will fall over the room as you try to see and hear a glimpse of the hauntings unfold. The highlight for me was a scene involving placing salt in areas to catch prints. Very nerve-wracking stuff, especially as this is a presence we cannot see and only get hints of what it sounds like and what it can do.
The haunting then begins to effect Katie, taking full possession of her body in the film's tense second half. Dr Fredrichs refuses to help the couple as he feels it is a lost cause and Katie simply won't leave the house, when she was previously frightened. The scenes where Micah or Katie take helm of the camera worked for me, not intent of capturing every moment on film as shown when Micah goes into the attic or when he is desperately trying to shift Katie out of a trance-like state. His nature as a character goes from jovial, suggesting use of a Ouija board and playing horror music before the doctor's arrival, to upset and anger during his last scenes of the film.
I won't spoil the ending, but Paranormal Activity had me pretty gripped right until the film's only end credit card. It's very authentic in its presentation. With license and ownership being indicated as Paramount's and their thanks to the couple's families and police force. This worked for me as a piece that finally let me catch my breath as soon as it was over. I noted that there are several different endings for the film and I am not sure if my ending will be the same as yours. This ending's final shot was slightly embarrassing for me and I felt it should have been left with intact with its previous moment.
The film has spurned several sequels and a prequel, with a fifth installment being released this Halloween to wrap up this saga. A smart move, I feel, before the franchise gets tired and needing that final nail in the coffin like Saw. I enjoyed Oren Peli's directorial debut and was pleased to know that he produced another horror favourite of mine from the last ten years, Insidious, which captured a tense classic horror vibe perfectly.
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