Paranormal Entity

I decided to review this film as if it was not a knock off of Paranormal Activity. The title and the execution invites comparison, but what are the film's own merits?

The set up in Paranormal Entity is quite interesting: Having lost her husband, a woman seeks contact with him through automatic writing. Something from the beyond reaches out to her, but it becomes increasingly clear that is it not her dead husband. And soon the entity starts showing an unhealthy interest in her nubile, young daughter. What is it and how can they stop it?

In the hands of a skilled film-maker, this plot could have had the makings of a blockbuster. Instead the device used is "found footage", which is very much hit or miss. If it's done well and is believable there is very little chance of screwing it up. If it's done badly, it is vaguely embarrassing to watch, like failed attempts at viral videos. Paranormal Entity is not too bad, although, occasionally over-acted.

The pacing is more of a problem. It starts out fairly decently, with the creepiness being turned up slowly. But about halfway through, the creepiness is dialled up to 10 and left there for the remainder of the film, completely desensitising the viewer. By the end of the film, I found that I just didn't care any more.

Another problem is the inactivity of the family. Beyond calling and calling a parapsychologist that inconveniently has gone on holiday, they don't actually do anything to solve the problem, which means that it's difficult to root for them.

This film should have been thrilling, but it isn't. The concept is good, but the execution just doesn't live up to it.

OK, the first thing that must be said about this movie is that yes, it is essentially the same exact premise as "Paranormal Activity." Therefore, it loses serious points in the originality category right from the start. It is unsettling to me that a filmmaker would make such a blatant copy of another film rather than trying to make something truly original but nevertheless, here we are with "Paranormal Entity." All that being said, I was surprised to find that this movie is actually good. Despite being upsettingly similar to "Paranormal Activity", it does set itself apart in certain subtle ways that make an interesting difference in the overall mood of the movie. The "real footage" gimmick is starting to get a little worn out, but it's used very effectively here.

While I think good film reviews in general should not compare films directly to another one, in this case I think it's safe to say that that's a little unavoidable, so I will say that next to "Paranormal Activity" this film almost comes out superior, originality issues aside. While I found the first version of this story to be a solid, suspenseful build-up to a satisfying pay-off, I felt that the "rip-off" was in fact more suspenseful throughout. While there were few actual scares, several of the scenes were incredibly tense. It did a very good job of putting me on the edge of my seat and getting my heart rate up from anticipation. I normally don't expect to be able to say this about such an unoriginal film, but I genuinely felt nervous about what was going to appear on the screen next during 2 or 3 of the scenes, which I have to admit is horror the way it should be.

Unfortunately it didn't quite pay off as well as "Paranormal Activity." The ending seemed rushed and while it was a bit unsettling, it didn't leave me feeling as tense as some of the scenes earlier on, and most certainly didn't leave me feeling terrified. The acting in the film is nothing Oscar-worthy but I found it to be adequate and mostly believable. There are a few continuity goofs that some may notice. I personally didn't find them to be terribly distracting, though they do suggest a bit of laziness by the filmmakers.

While some may feel that the obvious lack of originality should make this film completely dismissable, I feel that some of the content of this movie is indeed impressive and is worth checking out. Therefore, on a scale of good film-making i'm going to give this a fairly lenient 6/10. However, on the overall enjoyment scale I would give it an 8/10, and had this film been completely original and perhaps had a more exciting ending I would have given it a solid 8.5 or 9 out of 10 overall.

So in closing, it loses significant respect for obvious reasons but gains a little back in certain ways and is worth watching.

I have to give Shane Van Dyke some words...just because you come from a TV family does NOT mean you are capable of being a TV or film star! I have seen Shane in a few productions and to be honest, he is a talentless actor and now, as a writer and director, he proves he is also useless at these roles too. I have just sat through one of the worst productions I have ever seen. It was not only badly filmed (we all had a giggle at the shot of him on his lap top when he is pretending to press keys and scroll!), the acting was bad! The woman playing the mother in this film was terrible! if you want actors to improvise Shane, then get actors who can improvise! This woman was appalling. I watched Paranormal Activity a few years ago and found it boring and terribly written, acted and directed, however, having now seen this atrocious piece of garbage, I consider paranormal activity a genius production. I have read some reviews of this on IMDb and am totally surprised anyone could class this as good. Are these people part of Shane's gang? Look folks, before you consider watching this, let me save you time, it is a complete and badly done rip off, using a cheap camcorder and BAD acting. Writing wise, it's suffering a great deal from the fact it has no writing and seems all improvised. Badly Improvised I might add. Somebody should inform Shane that a new career really does need looking in to. It is surely not enough to merely trade on your family name, surely you Americans can see where the talent is and where, in Shane's case, it is so obviously lacking. I am a fan of Dick Van Dyke, but Shane, I am sorry love, you just haven't got what it takes.

Wow they ripped off the plot of paranormal activity so much I am amazed they were not sued! I would guess they got away with it because this "version" is so poorly acted and boring that no one would want to watch it. What a piece of crap movie, super generic and super boring. The acting and effects are terrible. Do not waste your time with this movie. Terrible, just terrible. For those that rated it high, you must have really low standards. How anyone could think this is worth watching is beyond me. Awful, just awful.

Paranormal boring. Paranormal poor acting. Paranormal piece o crap. No one should have to suffer through this trash.

This movie start with Thomas who is document the house, while Samantha Finley ( he sister and their mother Ellen think they have made contact with their deceased father and husband David. Then are series of horrible attacks upon Samantha, they begin to suspect a Demon is Haunting the house.

This movie got bit more activity then ( Paranormal Activity) and It's did not take long for think start to happen however those scene did not have the same impact as Paranormal Activity as there was no hint of Back Story at all, It's did not make those scene lit.

The acting was descent in this movie and there some really interesting scenes, which could have been much better. This movie is was just way too similar then paranormal activity.

I think it was good movie 5 out of 10