A film that tries, tries and tries to be scary, original and disturbing, I found this an insipid piece of work that is actually far more boring than remotely frightening. And I have watched all of the sequels, and the scare factor does not increase. The film follows a young couple called Katie and Micah who suspect paranormal things are going on around them and set up a video camera to capture any activity. Cue lots of boring footage of the couple in bed building up to mildly weird things happening. But the weird things just aren't scary. Particularly if you are a horror fan who has watched the like of Ringu, Kairo or Ju On (I'm using Japanese titles to distinguish them from their less harrowing Western remakes). These three films deal with paranormal/supernatural goings on and in the process they manage the terrify the bejaysus out of the viewer. The 'horror' contained in Paranormal Activity does not scare one single bit, in fact it is quite predictable. But somewhere, somebody must be finding this stuff scary, given the amount of sequels that have been made. It even has a good measure of critical acclaim. Those critics must have a low threshold of being scared. Seasoned horror fans will scream in agony at the unscariness of it all.
My first film watched was Carrie aged 2 on my dad's knee. Educated at The University of St Andrews and Trinity College Dublin. Fan of Arthouse, Exploitation, Horror, Euro Trash, Giallo, New French Extremism. Weaned at the bosom of a Russ Meyer starlet. The bleaker, artier or sleazier the better!
