Movie Review Oct. 22, 2009: Paranormal Activity

Noncommercially, the BIG news is the Tallgrass Film Festival, which has a program far too ambitious for us to list. We can announce a few details, all at the Orpheum: Friday at 7:30, The Only Good Indian, starring Wes Studi, directed by U of Kansas professor Kevin Willmott, about official government child abuse of Native American children about a hundred years ago, with Prof. Willmott present for discussion; Friday midnight, The World's Greatest Dad, with Robin Williams; Saturday 7:30, Underbelly, about belly dancer Princess Farhana, plus Princess Farhane and some belly dancers; Saturday midnight, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. But there are other showings from 9 a.m. on, all weekend: check tallgrassfilmfest.com. And the Blank Page gallery, 917 West Douglas, Sunday at 7:30 is showing Contested Streets, about diversities of street traffic past and present, and possibly future, in New York City.

And commercially, we have a first-rate horror movie exceptionally appropriate for Tallgrass time in Paranormal Activity, which was made for $11,000 in seven days and as of last week had already brought 33.7 million dollars into the box office. It's got two stars and two support players and a single set, almost a single room, and was made by an Israeli-born video-game designer named Oren Peli. It's been compared to The Blair Witch Project, but it's less original and a lot more professional; I expect Peli to do a lot better than the Blair Witch people have, because he can obviously deal with much more conventional material.

The less you know, the better off you'll be, so I'm going to leave out as much detail as I can. But the two characters are roommates Katie Featherston who may have it to become a star, and her roommate Micah Sloat, who has less chance to shine because his role has less emotional range. The set is Sloat's house, almost entirely the bedroom, though the action does not always take place there: director Peli doesn't believe in letting you see everything, but knows how to arouse your imagination and concentrate on feelings of fear, in both audience and characters, instead of on the things you will be afraid of. Paranormal Activity is old-fashioned enough to rely on suggestion instead of gruesomeness and gore and blood and pain; it is about as far from the Saw and Hostel movies as horror can get: the R rating is because of scary moments, not violence, sex or language.

Techniques I ordinarily hate are used effectively in Paranormal Activity. The handheld camera fits so well that even I have to admire it, and use of black-and-white footage aids in clarity and helps us anticipate awful things - which again is appropriate, because Peli doesn't thrust the horrors at us without buildup in our minds, which too many current moviemakers seem to regard as a waste of time and film. Superimposed titles and numbers give us information economically and naturally, through the use of technical equipment that even I can understand.

In all, Paranormal Activity is remarkably realistic within the tradition of things like Robert Wise's The Haunting 43 years ago. And Katie Featherston develops a very attractive, ordinary character who seems to grow more dreadfully understanding of the situation as events go along. Paranormal Activity is clearly based on supposedly authentic records of supposedly actual events, taking advantage of experiences even people like me can remember, regardless of our attitudes toward the paranormal.

There are few real horror movies any more; three cheers for Paranormal Activity.