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I don’t believe it is a necessary requirement for a horror film to actually be scary to be effective. As in any genre film, there is no specific end goal other than to relay a particular narrative through a specific style. Only horror films are charged with this cross to bear—critical reviews of horror films always harp on whether the film succeeds in scaring its audience. This ‘scare’ factor, like most critics themselves, is highly susceptible and intensely personal and subjective. For a film to truly scare someone is differentiated from one person to the next, hence the birth of this blog—to discuss horror films without getting stuck in the all too common criticism of whether it is scary or not. The actuality of a film being scary is a side-effect of the atmospheric direction and/or the narrative itself, not the purpose (despite the intentions of the filmmakers).
If a film succeeds in scaring its audience, which is getting more and more difficult as more and more audiences are becoming immune and desensitized to horror film narratives, it can come at a rather high cost. Inevitably, in most cases, the initial scare factor of a film quickly dwindles upon subsequent viewings, and one can easily determine clichéd devices used to acquire such scares—such is the case with films like The Blair Witch Project, Halloween, The Ring, and Friday the 13th. Fortunately for some of those films, the narrative, direction and action is strong enough to entice interest on a level beyond the initial scare tactic. Ultimately, a film requires a few more viewings to determine whether the film is truly a good movie in addition to being frightening.
This is the case with Paranormal Activity, a film I found to be disturbingly frightening, whereupon the remainder of the day seemed to have this omniscient presence of gloom and depression. A number of times I have turned to my fiancée to exclaim: “That movie really disturbed me.” He continued to recall the events in his previous condominium, explaining how he had felt a presence enter his house, close the front door, walk up the steps and make an indented impression on his bed. The film manages to relish on that undeniable fear that there is something beyond what we see, something potentially harmful, rare, and excruciatingly terrifying—that fear that as we find our way around our houses in the dark, if we dare look up we’ll see it, the shadowy figure we’ve been trying to convince ourselves doesn’t exist.
The technological devices used to drive the film’s narrative forward is a key factor to the success of the film itself. Had this been a traditionally cinematic venture, I doubt the usage of bangs, bumps and door slams would have resonated in the way they actually do here. In fact, what becomes so effective in the way that this film unfolds is the hand-held home-movie feel. Because the audience is only privy to the information filmed, we are restricted to Micah and Katie’s house, never venturing outside it, never being able to temporarily quell our fears. We become engrossed by the couple’s interactions with each other and discover, as they do, the happenings of the possession. Fortunately, the dialogue and acting here is miles better than The Blair Witch Project, which is the significant folly of that film.
What is the most salient aspect of this film is how personal it becomes. The distance between audience member(s) and character/plot that is common amongst more traditional narrative films is quite apparent, one can always reassure oneself that ‘it is only a movie’, and that ‘these things don’t happen in real life.’ This film attempts to demolish that boundary between audience reality and the going-ons portrayed on the screen. It really feels like you are watching actual footage of preternatural occurrences, and that those involved are psychologically damaged from their experiences with it. This connection to the audience is real and formidable, it is what manages to hold the audience in its grasp and effectively trigger those psychological subconscious fears of sensations one suspects may be paranormal. Even as I right this I can’t help but consider the possibility that those creaky noises I hear from my basement are the beginnings of someone or something making its way up to hover over me as I sleep.-----------
Grade: 84% (A-)
4 comments:
Jesus Christ this film was scary! And I think it was because of how they filmed it.
I had such a different response to this movie. I am in a MAJOR minority here I realize but I loved The Blair Witch Project. Why? I followed the viral campaign on the web and thought the premiss of people going camping in the woods and never returning was incredibly scary. So, I went to see the movie without reading anything but the movie's website. I thought I was seeing something true. In other words I bought it. Shaky camera? Sure. Anoying actors, definitely. But I bought it so I got scared. I am also from New York City and anything out in the country or in the woods scares me right out.
Paranomal Activity bothered me from the moment it opened because it based itself on the premise that it was a true story. I couldn't get passed that. It was like Blair Witch III. Fool me once type thing. Maybe it was because I had a copy of it and watched it at home. I just never got scared and kept waiting for each escalation and felt disappointed. I will go with the lack of big screen that had me not scared. And yes, I agree with Enio that the scare factor is high but so important. I hated Paranormal Activity because I felt it was a waste of my time. And one more thing, the dialogue! Oh the painful dialogue. She kept screaming "Mikah, Mikah" and he kept screaming "baby, baby" and the two of them ran around the house and never went out. I didn't buy it and it didn't scare me. However, the producers are raking it in because loads of other people are buying it, telling their friends and the movie is ultimately a huge success!
Hey Marla!
Thanks for commenting. I agree with you on the annoyance of the cliched tactic to try and persuade the audience to believe that films are 'based on a true story' or actually are a true story. However, in my experience now, I've learned to completely accept that marketing tactic as just that--a tactic. It no longer bothers me, in fact, I try now to just ignore it and treat every film as though it's a work of fiction. In going to watch Paranormal Activity, I knew beforehand that it was a fictionalized movie and that it wasn't real, no matter how hard the producers tried to persuade us that it was. So my only advice there is: try to ignore it--it's useless, and chances are the initial filmmaker/director/writer had no intention of overtly stating the film is real.
I also think the way you watch it is important. I went to see it in the theatre first, and then saw it on DVD at home (and although I'm lucky enough to have a kickass surround sound system, with a heavy bass subwoofer), the experience in the theatre is much more engrossing and scary. There are some sounds and noises (and even visuals) that are difficult to make out on a TV screen with TV sound--the impact of the theatre cannot be stressed enough for the enjoyment of this film. I'm actually finding that most people who didn't enjoy the film are those who watched the bootleg copy at home (which also has different scenes and a different ending). The ending in the theatre I think is actually scarier than the bootleg copy.
For me the film mainly touched on my fear of supernatural hauntings and how they play out at home. It took the one safe space (your bedroom) and turned it into a sight for horror. I think the use of handheld camera work helps to elevate this sense in making it feel real--even though you know it was scripted. Most horror movies try to scare you based on the plausibility of the scare and I think this film did that quite well. The effects are not over-the-top, and everything that happens is more about the slow dread of anticipation than the actual scare itself.
The Blair Witch Project, I enjoyed when I first watched it, but upon seeing it more than once it got really annoying and really boring and really not scary really fast. I've now seen Paranormal Activity more than a few times (not by choice) and it's beginning to lose that initial disturbance--but ultimately I feel the most effective element of the film is the feeling you're left with after it's done.
This movie seriously freaked me out. I think it was mostly because of the sense of realism or plausibility that it had. Monsters and vampires aren't as scary as things that you can't see- at least to me. I too have heard footsteps in my house that couldn't be explained!
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