Day 321: Paranormal Activity

I saw this in the theaters when it first came out, like I did the first three sequels. The Spanish spinoff and the Ghost Dimension were the only two I've missed.

Paranormal Activity is about two people, Katie and Micah, who decide to start documenting when strange things begin in their house. At first they hear noises downstairs at night, and go investigate to find nothing. Then, they set up a camera in their bedroom to record any unusual activity that takes place while they are sleeping. The cameras seem to aggravate whatever is in the house and things quickly go from bad to worse. Katie seems to recall similar events happening when she was younger at another house, which leads the couple to believe they aren't dealing with your average ghost.

The elegant simplicity of this movie is in the setup and rhythm it establishes. You know that nothing wacky is going to happen during the daylight sequences so a dread starts to build up every time the movie switches to the night scenes. The setup of the camera is also genius with the bed off to the right side and the left side of the screen dominated by a simple open doorway. This abyss is a blank slate from which your worst fears can arise. Even though we don't ever get to see much of what is coming into their home, your brain creates worse realities than the movie ever could. While the later movies would expand on the technology involved with catching the activity, the first one I think still works the best with the least amount of frills.

This is my kind of horror movie, almost interactive in the presentation. I understand that some people just want to see the ghost, demon or whatever but I disagree. I think it is stronger for what you don't see.