+ Review: Paranormal Activity …By Alex

A Blair Witch derivative.  A serving of pressure-cooked suspense.  A total joy to watch.

Katie and Micha use amateur video to try to capture some unnerving phenomena they’re experiencing late at night.

Paranormal Activity is the not-quite-flawless sum of Writer/Director Oren Peli’s fantastic concept, pitch perfect minimalist style, and occasionally overeager script.

Like The Blair Witch before it, Paranormal will not please, or even scare, everyone who sees it.  However, a dislike of the former does not equate to the same for the latter.  Paranormal strikes a different chord than The Blair Witch, and uses a different set of tools that help it to (excuse the obviousness) hit “closer to home” than it’s lost-in-the-woods predecessor.

Most credit is due to the film’s audio design, which, paired with its spare and painfully unrevealing visuals, uses ordinary and nearly-recognizable sounds in its palette, and with them paints a dark and unfamiliar picture.  You will hear the scenes replayed in your home after you come back from the show.

The scares in Paranormal are real, they come often, and they take their time when they get there.  Personally, the film has left a mark on me.  The feeling has lasted now for days.  It aches with a permanence, like an old sprain in the cold, and it seems like this feeling (conjured up by as little as thinking of the title) may be here to stay.  Given the film’s imperfections, this fact should act as a testament to the horrors achieved.

Watch and be thankful for independent film.