Review: Paranormal Activity

In 2009 films such as The Hurt Locker and District 9 won acclaim for their attempt to cast non-stars and therefore seem realistic and for both of those films that method worked. Both of the film's stars, Katie Featherstone and Micah Sloat, have never acted before and that is to the films detriment rather than a plus point. The premise to the film is actually a good one in that eveyrthing we see is taped by the couple who are trying to investigate the strange things that are happening in their home. The filmic style is at least good and feels original enough to add some authenticity to the feel of realism and the fact that the film is dedicated to the two characters makes us for a minute believe that the events may actually be true. Where the film falls down is in it's depiction of the mostly mundane existence of this couple and both actors fail to engage with the audience so when the inevitable horror does strike it feels hard to care about them one way or another.

There are a couple of interesting scenes and some likeable supporting characters most notably the two scenes featuring Mark Fredrichs' psychic are particularly engaging. I feel that those who are easily scared are more likely to come away satified with the whole experience but for me I didn't find one bit of this particularly scary and the film's only merit is its filmic style everything else was a little over the top.