Paranormal Activity positioned itself as the natural successor to The Blair Witch Project, but it’s one yawn after the other.
Fun fact: Paranormal Activity originally aired at the 2007 Screamfest Film Festival but featured a different ending. After Paramount Pictures acquired this $200,000 production, as per The Hollywood Reporter, it received a brand-new ending before it was widely released to the world, with rollouts starting from September 2009. To call it a monster hit would be putting it lightly: Paranormal Activity gobbled up over $194 million at the global box office, holds 83% critical approval on Rotten Tomatoes, and evolved into a franchise with multiple movies.
Yet, looking back on this horror film now, one must ask a pertinent question: Where’s the spook or spectacle here?
The unimaginable success of 1999’s The Blair Witch Project had every indie filmmaker reaching for a handheld camera and dreaming of creating a movie that cost less than a plain donut – hold the cinnamon, please. Clones popped out of every corner as the found-footage subgenre of horror exploded. However, much like stories about vampires and werewolves became too much after an influx of fangs and furry, the same happened here. At some point, that shaky cam stirs up last night’s spicy tacos and leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
Paranormal Activity stepped forward, combining a found-footage approach with a story about demonic possession. The tale proves simple: Katie (Katie Featherston) moves in with Micah (Micah Sloat), and paranormal activity starts to happen in the home. Katie claims she’s had an entity that’s followed her around since childhood, and Captain Howdy’s cousin wants to enjoy the sights and sounds of San Diego in Micah’s home. Rather than burn his house to the ground and move to a different continent, Micah decides to capture the events on film.
It sounds interesting, right? After all, it offers the opportunity to see what the things that go bump in the night get up to when they think no one is watching. Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist set a high standard with evil clown toys and a tree that tries to eat a young child, but this could look even more authentic – real – rather than jazzed up by post-production effects. Well, much like The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity turns into an hour and a half of watching foolish people do foolish things. By the end, don’t be surprised if the audience cheers for the demon.
The average human being searches for peace and calm in their home, hence the use of air fresheners and candles. No one wants to hear noises or experience strange disturbances in the middle of the night, because how does someone sleep thinking someone – or something – is in the house?
Here’s Micah in Paranormal Activity, though. Dr. Fredrichs (Mark Fredrichs) determines there’s something attached to Katie and it’s best to seek out the help of a demonologist to deal with it. Not only that, he explicitly tells the couple to not speak to Captain Howdy’s cousin or agitate the situation further. Sound advice, really.
So, what does Micah do? He carries on recording, then brings a Ouija board into the house because YOLO. Katie reminds him of what Dr. Fredrichs said, but the words don’t touch sides for him and he skates uphill. Micah wants to record demons gone wild on video. In the age before TikTok, he’s the person who wants to film themselves dying in a natural disaster instead of running for safety. Matters escalate as they antagonize the demon and Katie experiences bite marks on her body. Finally, Micah realizes this is no laughing matter and wants to escape the house; however, he sealed his fate a long time ago when he chose to mess with the spirit realm.
Now, while it’s understandable that people might be curious about demons and paranormal activity, Micah might be the most empty-headed character in the history of horror. How Katie stays with him is anyone’s guess. Effectively, this moron challenges a demon to a game of chess when he’s barely competent at licking stamps. Everything he does in the movie is head-slapping cringe, and he suffers the consequences for puffing out his chest. How can anyone feel sorry for someone who brings misery upon themselves?
Apart from Micah being the catalyst of the whole situation, Paranormal Activity ranks low on the fear factor. Things fall in the middle of the night, Katie gets pulled from the bed, and there are footsteps in the house that don’t belong to them. Big whoop. Has anyone ever had a Chihuahua jump on their back or slowly push them off the bed in the middle of the night? Now, that’s pure terror.
Throughout the film, audiences pay close attention to the footage, trying to see if they can spot anything in the mirrors or a hint of something that shouldn’t be there in the room with the characters. Yet, there are Instagram Reels or TikTok videos that harbor more effective and pronounced scares than Paranormal Activity. The tension never holds, with the jumpscares being more predictable than an episode of The Simpsons in 2024.
Where Paranormal Activity succeeds is in its marketing. The trailers showcase people sinking in their chairs and looking away from the screen, painting a picture of a terrifying film. The real movie, though, showcases something entirely different with long stretches of nothing and presumably demons in slumber. So, let’s be real here and admit the truth once and for all: Paranormal Activity isn’t scary or spooky. It’s all reputation, little fright in the end.
