By Ann Driscoll
Associate Editor

Light on scares, heavy on monotony, Paranormal Activity is a weak entry into the “recovered footage” genre of horror movies that has existed since Cannibal Holocaust in 1980 and found a popular resurgence in 1999’s The Blair Witch Project. Cloverfield, Quarantine, and other recent horror movies that use this style have been adept at delivering scares but not so good at convincing us that what we’re watching is a successful recreation of camcorder footage. The problem these films have is surmounting the overarching implausibility that the characters would still be filming after a certain amount of carnage, bloodshed, what-have-you, has ensued. Paranormal Activity has the converse problem; it’s believable as recovered camcorder footage, but largely because it’s so boring and devoid of scares.

The film is about young couple, Micah (Micah Sloat) and Katie (Katie Featherstone) who live in a curiously large, decidedly un-charming San Diego house. Katie is being haunted by a demon that has targeted her since youth, and Micah documents the haunting with a new camcorder.

The majority of the scary stuff happens at night in the bedroom, with the camcorder situated in front of the bed, capturing such terrifying occurrences as a door opening and closing while the two are sleeping. Maybe I just have a high tolerance for scares, but a ghost’s footprints in talcum powder don’t exactly hit me where it hurts. There are creative ways of suggesting menace through subtle gags, through the interplay of light and shadow (think the first half of caving horror masterpiece The Descent). But first-time director Oren Peli has no clue how to build suspense and execute scares. A prime squandered opportunity for terror occurs when Micah has to peek into the attic. I won’t reveal what happens, but it’s a big letdown.

A major hindrance to the film is the fact that so many scenes transpire where literally nothing happens. The timer on the camcorder moves forward, showing us, with interminable thoroughness, the night wherein Micah and Katie (hold your breath)…slept…and (cover your eyes) changed positions a few times. After months go by of these uneventful nights, you lose faith that the director actually has anything at all up his sleeve. The payoff is indeed creepy, albeit a tad hokey, but had the film sustained even a modicum of that level of terror throughout, it certainly would have been more successful.

If the object was psychological terror, the film needed more compelling characters and more dynamic actors to play them. Micah is a stereotypical bro-ish dickhead, haranguing his girlfriend into having sex on camera to the point of uncomfortable harassment. Defying his girlfriend’s wishes, and in general, acting obnoxious and callous, Micah is a most insufferable protagonist. Likewise, Katie is a stereotypical passive girlfriend who stomachs Micah’s indignities by giggling at his “boys-will-be-boys” indecency. It would all be fine if the film presented this dysfunctional relationship, seemingly styled after 1950s couples as what it is: dysfunctional. Instead, their relationship is supposed to be, at least initially, a blissful pairing between two successful, appealing young adults. Barf.

Paranormal Activity is not an atrocious film, but compared to recent movies that use similar techniques, it’s sub-par. Critics and audiences alike have heralded the fact that it only cost $15 grand to make: dirt-cheap, especially considering it’s already grossed over 80 million. But to quote Chris Rock’s joke about Blair Witch Project at the 99 VMA’s, “Where did all the money go?!”