Justin at the Movies

Paranormal Horror

// November 7th, 2009 // Jesse, Recommendations

by Jesse

“Paranormal Activity” is the movie that is buzzing all over the country.  It started out small and unknown but, like “Napoleon Dynamite,” soon shot across the country like wildfire.  Previews for this movie include unsettling scenes from the movie, and scared audiences watching the movie.  ”Paranormal Activity” is about a girl and her boyfriend.  She thinks that there is something haunting her, so he decides to set up a camera to try and capture what’s happening.  The entire movie is filmed from the camera he totes around with him day and night.

Justin and I went to this movie on Halloween.  The theater was nearly full by the time the movie started.  There were these guys sitting next to me, and about 10-15 minutes into the movie, they were wondering if anything was ever going to happen in the movie.   The fact that the movie started “slow” for a horror movie was my first indication that this isn’t the typical horror movie. 

If it’s not a horror movie, then what is it?

Think about the biggest horror movies of today.  You might be thinking about the “Saw” series or maybe even the “Halloween” series.  The characteristic most prevalent in movies like these is violence.  Their goal is to shock the audience with horrifying violence.  They come up with the most horrible, and okay, creative ways to maim and kill people they can, and they zoom in on the violence so it’s right in your face.

“Paranormal Activity” is not a horror movie at all, but a psychological thriller.  And why?  Because “Paranormal Activity” is not violent or gory.  It doesn’t necessarily try to shock the audience with horrifying images.  While watching this movie, I was surprised that most of the time was spent on the two characters in the movie trying to live their lives with what was happening to them.  A very small percentage of the movie was the “scary” moments or images.  “Paranormal Activity” is more creepy or unsettling than it is shocking or disturbing or disgusting.  It doesn’t intend to make the audience jump out of their skin.

I like movies like this.  I can’t watch the gory, disgusting horror.  I don’t jive with that kind of violence.  “Paranormal Activity” gives the thrill of seeing something scary happen, and it’s scarier than watching a “Saw” movie or something like that because it stays with you.  The creepiness gets into your head a little.  I like to think of movies like this as the intelligent alternative to horror movies.  It’s not easy to scare people without constant horror or things jumping out at them.  The thing I like best about psychological thrillers is that while horror movies focus on the violence and the horror, psychological thrillers focus on the people in the horror.  “Paranormal Activity” focuses on two people, and what happens to their psyche and relationship when they have to deal with the horror that they can’t escape.

It reminds me of “The Blair Witch Project.”  I recently saw this movie for the first time.  I never wanted to see it before because it’s been made fun of so many times that I thought it was a joke.  I thought it would be stupid.  And, for some reason, lots of people hate this movie and think it is stupid.  I think it’s because they expected it to be more “scary” or “jumpy” and it just isn’t.  It’s about three film students who get lost in the woods while filming a documentary about “The Blair Witch,” a legend in the area.  They’re scared and alone, and they can’t get out.  The movie doesn’t focus on the possibility that the legend is real and the witch is going to get them, it focuses on how they handle their fear, and how their relationships with each other change because of the inescapeable situation.

So, if you want to watch a thrilling movie, without the extreme violence, I would recommend psychological thrillers.  There were people running out of the theater when “Paranormal Activity” ended…actually running.  I’ve never seen that before.  One girl behind us kept insisting to her boyfriend that the footage was real, it had really happened! and that’s why there were no credits at the end of the movie.  It was crazy.  If you are going to see this movie, I would recommend catching it in the theater.  The experience is definately worth it.