Paranormal Activity – Blu-ray/DVD Review

The Film:

A little film “that could” if there ever was one, Paranormal Activity not only scared American audiences into forking over millions of dollars to see it, but it also scared Steven Spielberg into championing the film as is, since Paramount was going to remake it. Hype is such a double-edged sword. It can either kill one’s entertainment of a film, due to failed or unrealized expectations, or it can help a film out. What Paranormal Activity does so well is it uses the resources that were available to director Oren Peli and it hits all of the proper notes for a horror to be successful properly.

Now, these are notes that haven’t been hit much lately. I don’t know who or what to blame, but horror films are technically more gross than scary now days. I know film makers ramp up the sound design to make a “jump scare” scary, but it’s really just a loud noise we are scared by, and not what was on screen. What is scary is always up for debate, but Paranormal Activity treats everything like the horror films of the past. Peli slowly builds the scares periodically, with each encounter building towards the scariest climaxes in recent memory. Atmosphere is key, and again Peli plays with it. He turns this seemingly nice house, and by the looks of it, a pretty penny must have been forked over to buy it, and by the night vision footage of the camera, he twists this home into a perversion. Slamming bedroom doors, bed sheets moving, or a light flickering on and off, might not sound scary, but it has this affect on you because these are normal things that are twisted.

By cranking this all up, Peli can rope us in, because over the course of the scant running time, we’re invested into this normal, average couple. We buy this terror they are experiencing, because they are so normal. We really have to thank Spielberg, because he saw what we felt and told Paramount to release the film as is. With no name actors, no CG ghosts, little gore, the cinema verite aspect of the whole film works in the favor of the on-screen terror. Imagining this film with name actors and a bigger budget, would do little improvement over it, and it would be just another film. I paid more for my car, a modest four cylinder, than Peli did on this film, yet it’s the scariest thing in a decade.

While they are a lot of things this film did right, one of which wasn’t by the film or the director, but by its marketing team. By playing this film only on midnight screenings around colleges, not only increased the curiosity factor, but increased the scares, and the hype. This film dethroned Saw in October during its theatrical run, something no film has done in ages. It’s a rarity in horror: a film worthy of the insane hype, but most importantly, it forced us to be scared of the dark. What horror film has done that recently?

The Blu-ray/DVD:

Audio/Video: A film like this-a low budgeted shot-on-digital-will bring up the question: to buy on DVD or Blu-ray? While everything looks better on Blu-ray, and in terms of audio and picture quality, there’s little difference between the formats. Here, the DVD is sharp and accurately represents the film, like it was seen theatrically. For what is essentially a wanna-be home movie, the results are great. Blu-ray is detailed and sharp, but I wouldn’t call it a huge step past the DVD. In my opinion, the DVD makes this “found footage” seem more real.

The audio is where it’s at. Loud, punchy, everything I was secretly hoping for when I walked out of the theater. I wanted a great sound design reproduction for the DVD, and cranking this up, might scare you more than it did theatrically. Paramount in this department, delivers.

Extras: The only extra is an alternative cut of the film, called an Unrated Cut, that features one of the many endings that you might have seen on Youtube. To remain spoiler-free, I won’t say which ending this has, but personally I’m glad Paramount will give us the option here on which version to play. Actually, you’ll be fine with either choice first time around. I know many have stated they prefer the other endings to the theatrical cut (known as the Spielberg Ending), so to each their own.

The Blu-ray only has the Digital Copy, if that’s your thing, otherwise, that’s all the extras. While lacking, having no extras sells the terror to me. Knowing little of the behind-the-scenes info aids the overall scariness.

Conclusion: Simply put: Paranormal Activity is scary fun. Do yourself a huge favor and follow these four steps: 1) Gather some friends; 2) turn off all the cell phones and lights; 3) Wait for midnight; and 4) Press play.

The Film: Rating:

The Blu-ray: Rating:

The DVD: Rating: