Paranormal Activity

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY
(2007)
Dir - Oren Peli
Overall: GREAT

For the last three years, (counting this one), I have been going down my 100 Favorite Horror Movie List that started this blog's inception from the top spot to analyze each film in it in more justifiable depth.  So does Paranormal Activity, the movie that for better or, (probably), worse rejuvenated the found footage trend that ran amok for a few years immediately following it deserve a deep dive into its artistic merit?

Well that depends on who you ask as the film is certainly polarizing.  Some may be irked that it got all the attention that it did, finding it to be as derivative of the sub-genre as any other post-Blair Witch Project vehicle, full of all the standard pratfalls that found footage horror movies have.  On the opposite end of the spectrum, others then may see it as perhaps the pinnacle of said horror movement and a movie that excelled at utilizing the self-induced hurtles that the hand-held camera genre imposes and furthermore, a horror movie that is, (gasp), actually ridiculously frightening.

Not as ridiculously frightening as some horror movies, but still.

As I ranked this movie number three on my list of the 100 horror ones that most did it for me, you can logically guess what camp I fall into.  I think it sucks, the end.  Wait, that is not it.  After several viewings now, I in fact find more to appreciate about Paranormal Activity than I did when I was simply giddy over how legitimately terrifying it was.  You watch as many horror movies as I have, (any look around this silly blog will demonstrate my credentials), and you stop being scared by them.  I in fact stopped being scared by horror movies plenty of years ago, hence my marveling at what Paranormal Activity was able to pull off for me upon my first viewing.

That viewing came somewhere around late October, early November of 2009 when it was given a wide-release after a number of smaller runs had proven successful.  Me and several friends went to a packed theater together that night and previous to that, I had only heard the obligatory, "scariest movie since fill in the blank" comment here or there on the internet and that it was compared to Blair Witch so, probably a found footage movie right?

Or judging by the title, maybe a movie with this walking dip-shit in it.

That was the extent of my intel.  At that time, Paranormal Activity pulled off a nifty trick where I bought into the " Record everything and who cares who is editing it" concept, becoming fully immersed in how expertly director/writer/editor/producer/photographer Oren Peli managed to make the inherent strengths in the found footage genre work.  A movie where virtually all of the scary stuff happens at night while a couple is sleeping in their bedroom, (where we can see and hear what is happening before they can, if at all), is usually enough to make the audience's skin crawl with hair-raising anticipation.  Throw into the mix the naturalistic presentation, (i.e. no scary music to trick us), and it connected even more.  Not a one of us that saw the movie together disagreed one bit that it was scary as shit and I would be lying if going to bed the next few nights was not legitimately and slightly less comfortable than normal.

Only watching the movie since then does the cynical, "Let's tear everything apart because I've seen too many of these" part of my brain kick in.  So delightfully, this is where one can actually discover what the film is in fact about.  You could easily and perhaps fairly come to the conclusion that Peri simply wanted to make a horror movie on the cheap and then had a solid enough premise and the support of some major studio backing, (and their hype machine), to propel it to be considered technically the most profitable movie ever made based off of the return on investments.  Yet there is additional merit in Paranormal Activity.  It is about a house haunted by a demon yes, but more to the point, it is about how detrimental toxic masculinity and chauvinism can cripple a heterosexual relationship.

Picture unrelated.

The couple in the film is Micah and Katie.  They have been together for three years and the house that they are living in, (at least according to one of Micah's proclamations), is his which would certainly seem plausible since he is the one in the relationship earning an income.  Micah's a day trader which is interesting in itself by the level of competitive machismo that such a profession requires and produces.  Katie is "merely", (at least through such a chauvinistic lens), a student.  Micah is rather immature, (another stereotype), and impulsive with his decisions and spending.  We begin the film with him having purchased a luxury camera which he makes a point to say only cost about half of what he made that day in trading, so bragging about his income being another not so subtle clue as to his own interpretation of his role in all of this.

Throughout the movie, Micah consistently underestimates the actual threat of what is happening to his girlfriend and ultimately, to him.  He makes light of it, goes out of his way to justify playing with his new, high-tech toy to try and "help" the situation, and basically has convinced himself since he is the man, he makes the money, and since this is all going down in his house, he gets to "handle" it any way he sees fit, be dammed of what his over-sensitive girlfriend thinks about it.  So in his own warped way, he is doing the right thing and means to protect his home and his woman.  He is therefor unaware that he is basically a giant dick, but we do and Katie certainly lets him know as things progress.

"I'm helping!" - Ralph Wiggum

On that note, Katie on the other hand is shown to be remarkably strong-willed, which is just as much a pro-feminist critique on their relationship as anything else.  Having been tormented by what she learns to be a demon since being a small child and now suffering more than ever, she miraculously keeps it together or keeps trying to keep it together as her clueless boyfriend does virtually everything in his power to fuck things up exponentially more.  In a pivotal scene that is both hilarious and heartbreaking, she flat out tells Micah that literally every single thing that he has been doing since the beginning of the movie has made everything worse.  This is extremely important.  Not only is it 100% accurate, but Micah's disregard for Katie's wishes and far more logical feelings towards what is happening instead allows him to persist in provoking the demonic entity every step of the way.  This of course ultimately leads to said entity getting exactly what it wants; Katie.

For the entire film, what the macho, money-making male does to insert his dominance over the situation and insure that he gets to keep his, (actually), immensely stronger female partner "safe" under his roof and under his conditions, propels every negative and horrifying detail of their experience.  Why does the demon who has comparatively laid dormant for a number of years decide to start getting a bit more frisky now?  Well it is not just because this is where the movie starts.  Living in this relationship with this guy for a handful of years, presumably with the demon keeping a close eye on them throughout, it has certainly picked up on Micah's more chauvinistic nature, which in effect has triggered him.  We can assume that this is the first serious relationship Katie has  been in or at the very least, the first time that she has moved in with a guy.  Being the guy that Micah is then, we can therefor assume that this demon thing is none too keen about any of that.

Which was made obvious once or twice.

The minimal amount of lore that we are given concerning this demonic presence very wisely suggest that it is of a chaotic and random nature.  This not only frees Peli up to have it do rather arbitrary things, (at least on surface level), but it also provides an acceptable context for its behavior.  Why just turn on a light one night, slightly move a door another, bang on some furniture another, and breath on the bed-sheets yet another night?  Because it is clearly toying with its prey.  As an entity of pure evil, it most likely delights in seeing how much it can further cause a wedge between Katie and Micah.  It knows how Micah is going to react to everything it does, just as it knows how Katie is going to react.  The one is going to become increasingly traumatized and pleading, the other more stubborn and agitated.  This is then the perfect, combative stew to pit both parties against each other.  You could surmise that only by doing this is the demon able to posses and finally consume Katie after all of these years, but a more logical explanation is probably that it could have done that at any time throughout her life.  Why wait until now?  Because it is having fun.  Like a cat torturing a mouse for a little bit before it consumes it, the demon wants to cause as much havoc and mayhem as it can because then the broken down, emotionally crippled meat of its prey tastes all the more satisfying.

As far as Micah's certifiably idiotic behavior goes, it works in the context of a horror movie where characters routinely and lazily do the dumbest thing possible, practically at all times.  In this instance, Micah's actions are an exaggeration of his machismo.  Who in their right goddamn mind would climb up into an attic with no light source in the middle of the night after being terrifying by a demonic presence that is most likely up there to retrieve something vague that he saw from a distance?  A stupid horror movie character would do that and that is what Micah is.  Yet Peri is saying something about that very cliched stereotype that perfectly fits along with the story that he is telling.  Blinded by his own self-bloated, exaggerated masculinity, Micah perpetually acts illogical, just as horror movie characters perpetually do.  Once again, the film manages to utilize one of the genre tropes to its dramatic advantage as opposed to using it out of sheer negligence.

Baby powder on the floor?  Yup, that'll learn 'em.

Having this outlook on the movie, the found footage aspects ultimately benefit Paranormal Activity instead of hindering it.  The hand-held camera is a complete extension of the male's ridiculous need to try and control his environment.  Which is something that from frame one of the film, was never possible and only becomes almost comically more apparent as it goes on.  Micah never once has any real idea what to do about any of this.  He is far too busy goofing around, playing with his gadgets, being condescending to Katie, and trying to convince her that she is dumb and unreasonable and that he is the one who is going to fix everything because nobody fucks with his girl.

Thankfully, (to not make his character a complete, unsympathetic buffoon), there are wonderful moments scattered throughout the movie that demonstrate that Micah's just as vulnerable as Katie is and most likely really does care for her beyond just a cave man need to protect the proposed human that is going to give birth to the fruit of his seed.  When he is not ignoring her, Katie's breakdowns occasionally make him drop the macho facade and realize how seriously distraught she is.  Sadly for both of them, (but not for the demon who is played each of them like a fiddle the whole time), he realizes this far too late.  By the last night, Micah has pretty much given up in frustration.  It is unclear if the weight of not only how ultimately helpless he has been has sunk in, but also if the realization that he is the one who has made their situation the tragic thing that it is has really registered with him.  The latter is most likely, but whether he knows this or was ever going to is left to ponder since well, things of course do not end all that great for him.

Not so great at all.

The theatrical ending to Paranormal Activity was one that was re-shot on the insistence of the producers who naturally wanted to maximize its box office potential.  This ending works well enough and does not reek of what it is thankfully, probably more so to with the fact that the initial one was a bit too long and complicated.  It had Katie sitting in a chair for several days, her sister showing up, cops showing up, a shoot out, and yeah, it rather sounds like at that point it was best to wrap it up while the tension of that last night was at peak level.  I could do without the stupid CGI demon face which is a bit clashing to the rest of how realistically the movie was presented, but at least it only pops up for about half a second.

There was one other moment where Katie Featherston was not pulling off the best improvised dialog during the initial visit with the ghost doctor guy.  These are really the only qualms I can find with the film though.  As far as who edited all of this footage and decided to put titles in the beginning and end, sadly there is no other explanation than the fact that nobody probably trusted that it could have been released in a more naked form.  I will swallow that pill though to enjoy everything else Paranormal Activity has to offer.  It may not be as terrifying as that first time that I saw it and it may have spawned a whole lot of garbage horror movies that took none of the fascinating subtext that came along with it, instead just thinking that shaking a camera around would do the trick, but this is a fair trade.  A fair trade for being able to appreciate the story it really tells as well its technical achievement at being a paramount work in the found footage camp that pretty much shows what can be exceptionally done within the medium.

Now who is going to clean up all that goddamn baby powder?