By Heather Bench/reporter
Paranormal Activity, the first feature film from writer/director Oren Peli, causes viewers to squirm in their seats and feel paranoid after watching it.
Katie Featherson and Micah Sloat, the film’s main characters, play themselves. Katie and Micah make viewers believe they’re in the room with the couple and think the characters are real.
They are a 20-something couple who move into a house together in San Diego.
Katie believes spirits have been following her since she was a child. In the movie, she talks about seeing the image of something frequently hovering over her bed when she was young. Her childhood home also burned down, and her family never learned the cause of the fire.
Micah doesn’t believe Katie’s claims at first. But as they begin to hear loud thumps in the night, such as one that shakes the whole house and leaves a chandelier swinging, he changes his mind.
They also find a charred picture of a younger Katie that had been in the burned house.
As more of these strange happenings occur, Micah decides to capture the action on film. He sets up a video camera in their bedroom at night and carries it around during the day.
Shortly after he starts recording the events, Micah gets a Ouija board despite Katie’s disapproval.
His goal is to contact any spirits that may be in the house, but Katie believes this will only anger whatever is present.
She is right.
The disturbances begin to happen more often. Katie also experiences physical attacks, such as when something pulls her out of bed and drags her across the floor one night. As a result, she becomes afraid to go to sleep.
The couple contacts a psychic, Mark Fredrichs, to help them.
When Fredrichs walks in their house, he immediately starts telling them he feels something bad. He panics and leaves immediately.
At this point, the couple takes matters into its own hands. The two try calling the spirit out to deal with it face-to-face.
The film uses a combination of simple scare tactics, such as flickering lights and unexplainable door openings, to more extreme events, such as Katie’s not having any recollection of an entire night, to make even the most skeptical person think twice about supernatural activity.
Amyone looking for a great scary movie to watch around this Halloween season should see this one. It will scare you, creep you out and make you reach for your teddy bear.
