A full 8 years after the found footage sleeper hit The Blair Witch Project made camcorder footage terrifying, in 2007 director Oren Peli released Paranormal Activity on a (somewhat) unsuspecting cinema audience. Spawning a string of sequels which arguably rivals the Blumhouse MCU of horror, does this Second Sight re-release of the original film still scare, or will it go on the shelf with the other home movies?

The backstory of Paranormal Activity is a humble one, as little-known director Peli, with dreams of making a scary movie, set out to produce it independently. He cast unknown actors for his leads and worked on a shoestring budget, using his own home as the setting for the spooky goings-on. The original $15,000 budget (visual effects in one of the three alternative endings boosted the budget to $215,000 after production) was met with $193.4m in box office sales, so it’s safe to say this was a monster hit. The film focuses on the affable Katie and her loving partner Micah (the actors real names) who, following some bumps in the night, go overboard in the camera department of his local hardware store, hooking up camera’s throughout his home and allowing us to view not only their lives but the various paranormal occurrences plaguing the couple with increasing ferocity at night. The acting and mostly improvised dialogue between the pair is natural, as what first seems like a playful spirit becomes menacing, robbing them of sleep and putting them in to a fight for survival in their own home.

One of the most interesting things watching the film all these years later is the lack of home tech featured–there are no smart phones, no voice-controlled speakers, no streaming services. Micah strums a guitar while Katie knits in the evenings because this is a world before the distractions of Kandy Krush and The Crown. The nocturnal scares remain visceral and jumpy–while we’ve seen this many times since, the silent build up to the ghostly bangs will still have your eyes darting from one side of the screen to the other trying to spot the unseen entity and as with many cinematic tricks, the original remains the best. 

The plot kicks along at a nice pace, with most of the action occurring via a night vision camera and the talk of demonology and Katie’s experiences hinting at a much bigger story to be explored. Sound design is effective and the now ubiquitous ‘shaky cam’ filming style we’ve come to associate with found footage movies is used well here, never showing something when your imagination can scare you more than the filmmakers ever could. The conclusion of the film can’t be described as satisfying, but it is intriguing, paving the way for the various sequels and prequels that the film has spawned (six, with a seventh being released this year).

This re-released Blu-ray contains a raft of bonus features, including new in-depth interview’s with director Peli and stars Katie and Micah, with lot’s of interesting titbits and trivia (for example Katie tells us that Israeli-born Peli mapped out the story in Hebrew to prevent the actors knowing what was coming next) and all display a real love and affinity for the movie, even after all these years. There’s audio commentary from Peli, as well as the alternative endings which show how the film ended before Stephen Spielberg had a word and a movie franchise was born. There’s plenty here for a fan to binge on with new insights on the movie, its production and aftermath.

Paranormal Activity may not have been the first ‘found footage’ movie released, but it’s enduring legacy as the head of a family of sub-par sequels remains unchanged after twenty-five years, which is a testament to what independent filmmakers with a dream can achieve.

WELCOME TO THE TEAM, DAVID

THANKS FOR READING HIS REVIEW OF PARANORMAL ACTIVITY

Reportedly drummer Dave Rowntree still finds this film unwatchable; Graham and Ewan are a little more generous. That said, the film’s main asset is the one director Matthew Longfellow barely seems to notice: it depicts the band on the verge of releasing Modern Life is Rubbish, an album which saved them from one-hit wonder status and set the agenda for the next decade of British rock music. POP SCREEN

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