genuine

Last night, a good friend and I went to go see the movie "Paranormal Activity". We like watching scary movies together - and somehow decided to watch this in the theatre. Neither of us knew very much about the movie - nor had seen the trailer for the film.

Where do I begin to comment on this horror genre gem. And I do call it a gem.

This film took two unknown actors (always a good idea with scary movies) and presented a genuine, real, relatable couple who displayed raw emotions as they tried to capture footage of the strange activities that have been taking place inside their house since moving in.

This is not a ghost story. Which is probably what made it far more intense. My friend Anton says it best - this movie dealt with demons, which is something that not a lot of people like to touch upon. It has been done before, yes, but I do not believe I have seen a demon-themed movie with such a compelling and raw emotional pull as you see in this movie with these characters. Scary movies that more closely resemble real life events are more often then not about ghosts, where as demons are generally found in sci-fi type scary movies. Movie monsters. But this is closer to something like an exhorsist movie.

After watching this film, I would take a ghost over a demon any day. Ghosts = humanistic element, can be neutral or intrusive in a character's life; Demon = think the worst, but it's not human, and it's not going to remotely be friendly.

As an audience member, you take on a voyeuristic stance as you watch the footage unfold with the camera locked in its spot at night, and then again as it travels around the house with the characters during the day, providing a glimpse into their relationship, and offering their reactions to the increase in activity in their house. The characters, asleep in their bed on the right hand side of the screen, are sometimes oblivious to the events unfolding at night through their house. If they weren't woken up, you simply watched the activities captured on film while they slept soundly. Micah would review the footage every day - and unveil his findings with Katie.

The worst part of this type of horror? There is nowhere to run. Talking about demons or ghosts - there are no limits as to where they can go. You can't hide under your bed, you can't shut a door in its face, you can't even see the darn thing. The only thing these characters could have done was leave their house and hope that the demon did not follow them...

so truth be told, you can run, but you can't hide.

At least with a serial killer, you can slam a door in its face, climb out a window to safety and hop a fence into a neighbour's yard or something...

You watch over the characters as they sleep at night, praying that nothing will happen to them, but knowing that when the clock in the bottom right hand corner starts to tick away in real time, that something is about to go down. During the day, you witness the toll that the hauntings are taking on the characters as they start to lose sleep as things get worse.

As the nights progress in the movie, obviously you see the paranormal activities intensifying. By night 15, you hate your life and don't want to watch another thing because you know it's only going to get worse. And it does.

***SPOILER ALERT***

I think it was night 20 when Katie is pulled out of the bed by an unseen force. Her terror - believable. I don't think I can say enough about the two lead actors. They were the perfect cast for this film. Their relationship was sincere and honest, the way they reacted to one another when they were scared was 100% how i would expect the people in my life to react - and in fact, I saw myself in Katie at one point when she shushed her boyfriend sitting in bed - when all he did was rustle the sheets - but she was listening so intensely at the noises in the house, that little sound that he made was too much for her - as it drowned out what she was straining to listen to, and almost hope would just stop.

Just creepy. Everything - from the simple sounds in the kitchen to the dramatic and intense interactions to the powder on the floor. The powder.

The moments where she is standing by the bed and simply watching over her boyfriend's body for hours on end - it was soooo intense. The last time she walks down those stairs in a very controlled and catatonic fashion, and the moments caught on tape where Micah is startled awake by the most intense, real and blood curdling screaming, you're dreading the moment where you find out what happens in the living room. You don't want to know. And you feel a sense of protection because the camera is locked on the tripod in the bedroom - so you don't have to follow them downstairs.

Silence.

Okay - so the very last thing that happens on camera will come across as cliche, but when Micah's body is thrown into the camera, that was intense!

At the end of the movie, a bit of laughter in the theatre started to roll through the crowd. But none of the laughter felt genuine. The chuckles were every bit uncomfortable and coming from a place where you just wanted to know that everything was okay and that this could not happen to you.

After a nice evening stroll following the movie and some 7-Eleven 5 cent candies, I went home. And no one was home when I got there.

Let's just say, I searched the apartment, turned on some extra lights and sat in the living room trying not to think about this movie. Haunting images and scenes.

Kudos to the film makers who let it be just a documentary-style film. At the beginning, a screen thanking the police and families for use of the footage (to make it come across as a true story). At the end, a screen explaining the situation that you just witnessed and one screen only of credits.

Well done.

You don't get to see films that often that make you appreciate this genre anymore. This was an interesting version. Simple. Very effective.

Just please, don't make a sequel!