The episode of Revisited covering Paranormal Activity was Written by Emilie Black, Edited by Joseph Wilson, Narrated by Niki Minter, Produced by Tyler Nichols and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.
The Blair Witch Project started a trend, a new sub-genre of films, those made with practically no money, a shaky camera, and the intention to cash in. This was rarely effective and a surplus of bad found footage movies were born. So, what would it take to make a good found footage film? Well, $15,000, a tiny cast of mostly unknown actors, and a house in San Diego. If you haven’t figured it out, we’re getting our DV cameras ready and revisiting Paranormal Activity (watch it HERE).
Found footage, love it, hate it, most people fall into one category or the other and very few find themselves right in the middle. It’s one of those subgenres that divides people and severely annoys others. The films in this sub-genre have been around for quite a while and really started getting popular with the original Blair Witch Project in 1999. That film made waves and proved to be one of the most successful indie films of all time. A few more came and went, some sticking in the common consciousness longer than others, with few getting the franchise treatment like Spain’s REC and today’s film.
Much like The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity seemed to come out of left field, an unexpected surprise for its early audiences. The film was a hit and it had been made for basically no money. It was made the best way to make a found footage film: basically in secret, with an absurdly low budget, a simple look, and a cast of folks we’d never seen before. The film used its leads’ actual names for their characters and it was marketed to show as little as possible of what was actually happening in the film. And for some of us who saw it really early, there was no hype, no trailer, nothing, just a “hey, come see this movie, it freaked me out” sort of invitation. This is a special film and some are going to hate all the praise I’m going to lavish on the film. But that’s okay, because my viewing experience was tailormade for this one.
On a random Thanksgiving, I was invited to come check out this newfound footage film. To say I didn’t really want to would be the understatement of the century. After years of bad-at-best found footage films, I didn’t expect to ever see one that would work for me, but I’m of the “watch it once” type when it comes to just about any film, so I accepted the invitation for found footage, wine, and pie.
And so we watched. And damn. I got really into it. Like REALLY into it. While I was usually turned off from found footage due to its shaky cam, weird edits, random cuts, and bad acting by people who think that all you need to make a scary movie is a few people. Found footage had always been that to me, lazy filmmaking that led to boring stories and a migraine from low-quality footage purposefully damaged to give it the right “style”. I saw The Blair Witch Project in theaters, with my mom, in 1999 and I hated it. HATED IT! It sucked so bad. My first experience with found footage was not a good one, it was the kind of experience I never wanted to have again. I knew the world loved it and I could not figure out why. I wanted to get back to my good horror, horror that scared me, and that entertained me. The Blair Witch Project annoyed me. It was not for me and it made me very weary of found footage film.
Then the film really started. Yes, found footage, but shot in a more stable way from when they set up the camera in their bedroom. Thank goodness. One more thing to be thankful for. The film wasn’t all for me from the start, it took me a bit, but it got my attention pretty quickly. Soon, I was into it. What was wrong with me? Was the wine and pie combo making me like found footage or was this an actually good found footage movie?
So, for those who do not know, Paranormal Activity is about a couple, Katie and Micah, who have just moved into a suburban home. Soon, weird happenings start. The logline for the film says it’s a demonic presence. The film does bring in a demonologist, so it’s meant to be a demonic presence clearly. As they are getting used to their new home, something is watching them, something is disturbing them. Soon, Micah wants to investigate, and he gets a Ouija board against Katie’s wishes. She had asked him to not buy a Ouija board, which it did follow, but he did borrow one and bring it into their new home. And of course, that’s just one small thing in everything going on. To some, Ouija boards are “just toys”, especially considering they were put on the market as such. But to others, it’s something not to mess with.
The film went on and the camera gets put up in their bedroom, aimed at their bed, and that’s when things shifted for me. The tension grew, the creepiness grew, and something was off. Then Katie gets pulled out of bed by her leg by an invisible force. And there’s the moment that got me. That’s when this became a scary movie. It became something more than grainy, low-light images on the screen, more than some hype machine.. There was something here and it was uncomfortable, it was… scary? What, me scared? Naw, that doesn’t happen. But it did. The film started getting to me and making jump. My friend was still watching my reactions and everyone else’s with some sort of glee. That a-hole knew it what was coming and he was just waiting to see our reactions. And he loved it so freaking much. The rest of the film got more reactions out of me, a sort of miracle at the time. And I was thankful for it.
In terms of a more straightforward review, the film is solid. From information found online, the cast was not given a full script and given directions about the mood, the reactions expected from them, and what was needed for the scenes. This could easily lead to some trash in terms of films, especially with inexperienced actors and director. The folks behind the film took some major risks and some big gambles, but here’s the thing: it worked. And the film feels like a natural reaction to what is thrown at the cast here, especially Katie and Micah. Just a quick aside here, the film was made for an estimated budget of $15,000 USD. That’s less than most people’s cars cost. Hell, this is just a month’s rent in some places in San Francisco. This is a low cost film, like ridiculously low cost. And the love for the story, the cast, and the scares led it to a worldwide box office of over $193 million Dollars. $193 million! That is an impressive return on investment right there. Of course, there is more to this, but it gives an idea that I wasn’t the only one to get the right kind of scares out of this and that the gamble of having a green writer-director making a film without a full script with a green cast was worth it.
As someone who had hated found footage, loving this one was a surprise to say the least. Part of why I loved it is because of how it was made and the results they were able to get out of me. Low budget and decently shot thanks to a stable camera put into the bedroom for most of the film. It’s supremely simple, yet it works. Also, seeing it pre-hype was probably a bit part of why I liked it. I didn’t have expectations for anything one way or the other from hype. I did have expectations to hate it because it is a found footage film and we don’t get along. Thankfully, this one hit right.
The cast is solid, the directing is great, the set-up works, the scares are built up just right. And that setting in San Diego meant that when we went home, we had some similar aspects to our house. That damn trap door in the ceiling? I never trusted ours ever again after that. Hell, I had damn near a panic attack thinking of my wee little dog Cornelius having to sleep under that thing that night. That’s some effective horror filmmaking. Still, was the wine that was consumed throughout that day and evening partially to blame for this? Yeah, probably. But… Yeah, I had my then-husband get out of bed, get my dog, all 11 pounds of him, and bring him to bed to sleep next to me. I was scared, and probably drunk, from a freaking movie I had just seen, I needed that little dude safe. The 3 cats? Well, they were cats, so they could defend themselves. All this to say, I got scared and the film stuck with me. At the time, I wasn’t happy about that. Now, I am thankful I got to have a horror film that actually scared me.
Now, back to that damn trap door. In the film, it’s used quite well, and it leads to some tension, some scares, and a lot of wondering what was up there. Those steps on the ground, you know the ones that are in the flour on the floor, the ones left by the demon? Rumor has it that they were made using a Yoda doll, which looked oddly like the one I had as a kid.
Here’s something else about Paranormal Activity, something else I am thankful for, it actually stuck with me. It wasn’t a forgettable scare film like say, The Nun II, which is a perfectly serviceable way of making horror films, but when something sticks to you, it’s so much better. Disturb me, scare me, stick with me, let my imagination run wild and make it even scarier. This is what Paranormal Activity did for me. Something I don’t think I had had since seeing the original Candyman at winter camp where me and my roommates had to sleep in the communal living room as the heat wasn’t working in room. Yeah, 12 years old, didn’t sleep a wink. At 26 years old, Paranormal Activity was giving me that again, something that as a horror fan was so rare, I don’t think I had it happen once between 1993 and 2007. Surprisingly enough, the same friend who made me watch this and watched my reactions ended up gifting me the next film that really messed with me in a whole new way, Martyrs, which he handed to me saying “take this fucking thing out of my house” after I had shown interest in seeing it.
In the end, some folks would be angry that a friend is putting films that scare them or disturb them in front of their eyes and scars them more than once, but as a horror fan who very rarely gets scared anymore due to desensitization probably, this is a gift, something to be thankful for. So all I have to say is: Thanks, dude!
Two previous episodes of Revisited can be seen below. To see more of our shows, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals channel – and subscribe while you’re at it!