Imagine a horror movie made just as cheaply as you could think, utilizing some really basic effects like video Photoshop, library sound effects, wire or string, and your overall imagination, all put to a basic HD video camera actors are given themselves to shoot with. Kind of like a 15-year-old kid was given a camera and told to make the scariest movie he could; only that kid was Oren Peli, an adult with no filmmaking experience, a modest budget of 15,000 bucks, and the movie he made just happened to go mainstream and be called the scariest horror mockumentary since "The Blair Witch Project." Now, I wouldn't say that, but.....
....Aesthetically, the movie is done well, using some of this cheap, but effective moviemaking magic with the small (very, very small) budget to produce a scary romp. And Peli paid for it himself, and used his own house! And it was a nice house, too.
But, is the movie scary?
Yes, it delivers the chills. The jumps-from-your-seat, the gasps, and the screams. I think it might depend what audience you're viewing the movie with, though. Is there a packed theater? Lots of teenaged girls? If the atmosphere in the room is frightened, then most likely you will scream along with them. Or maybe you're seeing the movie with a small crowd, or home alone at night with all the lights turned off. The movie might have a different effect on you by how you watch it, but it should scare you either way, I think.
Is it the scariest moc-doc since "Blair Witch?" No, I don't think so. "Blair Witch" was a bit more clever with it's storytelling, and had more screams to offer. "Paranormal" is a good story, and had a lot of good scares, but just wasn't enough to really be anything special.
But "Paranormal Activity" deserves it's praise. Oren Peli created a good scary movie with the smallest means possible (almost like he purchased a do-it-yourself horror moviemaking kit), and came out with something that could have easily been a fiasco and toted around as the best horror movie ever made (Ed Wood, anyone?). "Paranormal" had a good story, good actors, was structured well in the editing room, and, again, had those cheap gimmicks like easily closing a bedroom door, ruffling the sheets, swinging a chandelier, and using those simple sound effects to give that effect a benevolent demon was in the house. Who says anyone can't make a scary movie? I say get your friends, chip in some cash to get a nice quality camera, shoot in your house, and make a spectre out of pillow sheets. Who knows? You might just create something special, enough that all the world wants to see it.
No comments:
Post a Comment