Paranormal Activity

As I see it, there are two great virtues of horror films that no other genre seems able to match. While dramas seem only able to talk about or hint at the conflicts within or between characters, horror films give them physical substance in the form of monsters, spectres, or killers. The genre takes inner demons and unleashes them upon the unsuspecting world, allowing their victims to understand and conquer them. Horror films also engage the viewers' imaginations to greater effect than any other genre, since many of the scares and mood depend upon perceived threat rather than actual threat. Darkness punctuates every image, doorways hide unseen terrors, and the area outside the frame constantly threatens to unleash a thousand dreads on our unsuspecting protagonists.

The makers of Paranormal Activity seem to intuitively understand this, because their film does an outstanding job exemplifying these virtues. Like Robert Wise's supernatural masterpiece The Haunting, Paranormal Activity confronts us with a presence that never reveals itself. (Well, almost never, much to my disappointment.)

It starts with the purchase of a camera. Micah's girlfriend Kate claims that a demon has been stalking her since childhood, and Micah wants to prove it. A psychic warns them that the demon feeds on negativity and that any attempt to communicate will be seen as an invitation to become more active. Kate and the psychic both suspect danger, but Micah ignores them. I guess intelligent people are smart enough to avoid anything resembling a horror movie plot.

Micah tries to play valiant protector, while Kate curses his naivete. It starts off playfully (Micah tries to convince her to let him videotape their having sex), but every night the camera sits on a tripod, watching them sleep.

By the end of the film, I really hated Micah for the downright immature ways he disregarded Kate's fears and her privacy, feeding the demon's urges while blaming Kate for its intrusion into their lives. As much as I disliked him, though, I never doubted him. I've seen this kind of passive aggression first-hand, and its portrayal here is as frightening as anything else in the film (probably because it's what causes everything else in the film).

As I walked home that night, I kept imagining things lurking in the shadows, behind the bushes, and in the trees. (I also peeked into some windows to catch the score of the Phillies game, but that's neither here nor there.) As I lay down to sleep that night, I could hear my roommates moving around upstairs. I smiled to myself in the hope that some interesting nightmares awaited me.