Paranormal Activity: 31 Days of Horror
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I won’t be judging Paranormal Activity completely based on the series that spawned from this original indie marvel by Oren Peli; it was the Blair Witch Project of a new generation, whilst being better. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to separate a film meant to spawn a series from said series. It didn’t always have to be that way, either: the original ending Paranormal Activity possessed was so fitting for the original concept of watching a loved one not act themselves, as if a disease was withering them away (only here it’s a ghostly possession). The original film presents a complex ending that horror flicks can carry better than other genres when done right. I don’t want to give much away, in case you want to watch this conclusion yourself, because you owe it to yourself in order to do so.
However, somewhere down the line — between film festivals and the big screen — dollar signs were spotted. A whole series could be made with this film. Instead of the untapped potential that Blair Witch had (that Book of Shadows nonsense doesn’t count, since I don’t believe that film was even meant to be a sequel in the first place), Paranormal Activity could start off on the right foot of a new conveyer belt of box office success. So, the ending was rendered open ended in a fairly stupid way. It isn’t right to cheat your audiences right away like this; it isn’t morally just to cheat them at all, but this was just pathetic. It’s too bad, because this ending only ends up biting the film in the rear end more than anyone or anything. It’s why it loses oh so many points.
The use of found footage and surveillance in Paranormal Activity is perfected.
Instead of mimicking previous “found footage” horrors, Paranormal Activity tries to do its own thing: it’s not as empty as Blair Witch Project, or as manic as Cloverfield (which came afterwards). I don’t think anyone is crazy enough to believe that these events are real in 2020, even though that word-of-mouth buzz that convinced many would end up being one of the last promotional tours of its kind. However, there is still a well deep of creativity here, that makes the most of narrative slowness. The scares are small illusions at first, that begin to confirm your deep suspicions. All of this is a great trance to be put in, only to be negated by an ending that has absolutely zero respect for its viewers. This is the equivalent of almost finishing a film, only for you to be told that you need to purchase another full ticket in a year’s time to access the rest of the film; you get a half-baked sequel more in line with the ending than with the rest of the original picture instead (and this happens a few extra times).
Look. I get that a director like Oren Peli — who is starting out and working with shoestring budgets — would love to have life-affirming bucks coming his way. Any aspiring artist with a great vision that has the capability to make it should hopefully do so (if only it were that easy). From the clever tactics used to create apparitions come to life, to the fine tuning of minimalism to bypass a lack of funds, Peli’s Paranormal Activity most certainly has a pulse regardless of its budgetary setbacks. However, once again, it is this studio-forced conclusion that ruins everything. An earnest indie picture now reeks of studio deviancy. All of the imagination now feels like they were for nothing.
This feels like the end of the 1966 Le Mans, when Ken Miles was going to win the race by a large margin, only to be instructed by the higher morons at Ford to slow down and have a “photo-finish” ending with two other Ford drivers in the same shot; he subsequently was denied first place for this, considering that drivers start in different positions during Le Mans, and he was deemed “further back”. This is an underdog who could have won being held back by greed and idiocy. Paranormal Activity could have been special. It became forgettable, only to be stretched out into a never-ending slog of a series. The true horror here is the relentless beating of a dead horse that didn’t even get a proper chance to run freely when it was finally starting to live.
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.