"Blair Witch" spinoff meets unprecedented success

When the Halloween season comes around, the cinema is packed with typical gruesome torture films, filled with redundancy and unjustified killing.

But this time, we are treated to a different, gonzo type of horror film with “Paranormal Activity.”

The film plays out in a mockumentary, hand-held camera style and documents the horrific account of Micah and Katie, a couple going through the motions of dealing with a ghostly entity.

The couple lives in a decent, quiet suburban home, modernly decorated, offering the feeling of being new.

Since she was a child, Katie has been experiencing the feeling of a ghost following and tormenting her, even to their new home. Micah decides to video capture their daily lives, particularly at night while they sleep, to discover if any strange occurrences take place.

The couple brings in a psychic, who feels the ghost is actually a demon. He advises them to seek a demonologist to come to the house and hopefully rid of it.

As the days progress, more occurrences take place and the couple’s relationship begins to suffer, particularly for Katie, who is battling the entity. Micah also begins to fatigue, trying to figure out solutions and ways to be through with the situation.

The payoff to the film is one of the best I can recall in recent film watching and is certainly worth waiting for.

Made by first time director Oren Peli with only one week of shooting and a budget of $15,000, this is an independent filmmakers dream come true; “Activity” is now the most profitable film ever made. Gathering no name actors and shacking up in his California home, Peli sought to make a film that brought his childhood nightmares to reality.

What makes “Paranormal Activity” terrifying is realizing that real fear comes with waiting and not being thrown gruesome scenes of death every five minutes. Fear is all in the mind, and the film does a great job at understanding this and acting on it.

The film will continue to haunt you long after the film has finished. Making each strange sound or creak perhaps more than it really was.

“Paranormal Activity” plays with its audience and brings them to a point of no return, particularly in the last twenty minutes of the film. The first two acts build up to a climax that will make you cringe, smile, laugh or all three out of pure joy and horror.

There were multiple test endings shown at screenings; surprisingly, the current ending was inspired under the direction of Steven Spielberg. Due to the film’s unprecedented success, Paramount Pictures announced a sequel in 2012.