First of all, I liked this movie. Is not ground-breaking, is not the best horror film ever, but it is a very decent take on demonic possession and faux-documentary movies. The acting was very good (specially Katie.. Micah I felt was a little overdone) and the first half of it promised a lot horror-wise, IMHO. What I mean by this post's subject is that this movie did exactly what the people who dislikes TBWP criticized that movie for NOT doing. The main criticism I've heard of TBWP is that there's almost nothing in the whole movie to be scared of. Sticks and stones are moved around overnight, the film crew gets lost in the woods, they freak out over noises from the woods... other than the final minutes with something hitting their tents and the final showdown in the abandoned house/cabin, there's almost nothing that can be considered "paranormal" in the movie (I mean, all these other things could be logically explained if you wanted to). Nowhere is the witch to be seen. No monster is shown. No real supernatural things are shown in camera. And it still freaked the hell out of most of the people who watched it. This movie (PA) does the opposite on the second half of the movie. It all starts with that Ouija board moving around and being magically burned. Then we learn that the demon is a giant chicken (footprints). And the final scene is just plain ridiculous (the demon face eating the camera in the final shot). That, for me, killed the movie. I insist, I still like it, but it could have been WAY superior had the makers stand their ground of NOT showing too much like they finally did. Once you know the demon is a monster like in any of those cheap B-movies, the movie moves from the realms of deep, real horror to the lighter horror-fantasy. For years I wondered if TBWP would have been better if only they showed a little bit more of the actual witch and/or what she was doing to the film crew, but now I know that the answer is a rotund NO. I am not comparing these 2 movies to say that one is better than the other one, but to say that what one lacks (showing too much in PA) is the strength of the other one (TBWP).
Review of Paranormal Activity
