The best horror movies are the ones that exploit our deep-seated anxieties about real-life events or situations. Paranormal Activity will stand out for a long time in my mind because it hits just the right panic buttons inside the brain: the familiar fear of the creaky, empty house at night – but more importantly, the high anxiety of being in a relationship.
The filmmaking techniques and the issue of the “shaky cam” POV. People have heard the concept for this film and worried that they were going to get another Blair Witch Project (too boring) or Cloverfield (seizure inducing camerawork). Paranormal Activity is only short one star for me because the pacing for the first half-hour of its 99 min run time was kind of slow, and offered more creepy atmosphere than actual scares. A slow half-hour in camcorder POV can feel like an eternity , however it seems so genuine and natural that it’s easy to forget you’re watching a movie, and not actual home video footage. And since there are tripods set up around the house, shaky cam wasn’t really much of an issue. When the actors are holding the camera, every swipe and turn has you nervous that something is lurking just beyond the peripheral of the lens light.
The authentic feel is really the selling point of this film. It exploits enough realistic common ground to make it feel personal (who hasn't heard that strange sound echo through their home now and again, or woken up to the feeling that somebody is standing over them?), and since few of us actually sleep with a running camcorder in our bedrooms, who’s to say we aren't being visited in the night by something evil?
I enojoyed watching this film and i intend to use some of the camera techniques used in this film .
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