Paranormal Entity

Paranormal Entity (2009)

** (out of 4)

The Asylum's "mockbuster" of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY has a brother (Shane Van Dyke) filming his sister (Erin Marie Hogan) and mother (Fia Perera) when strange things start to occur. You know, you have to love the cheapness of The Asylum. For very little cash, very little time and very little talent they manage to make all sorts of dough with this generic little films. This one here is actually much better than the rest of their "found footage" films but at the same time it's very weak when compared to the other movie and its biggest sin is the fact that it's not scary at all. It's pretty funny to watch this movie and see how closely it comes to PARANORMAL ACTIVITY. There are several scenes that are nearly the same with the only difference being that here it's not scary. I personally loved the other film but as a film buff I'm curious to see the rip-offs. For the most part I thought it was technically a good movie. The cinematography was nice for this type of movie and I thought there were a few good ideas sprinkled across the picture. I won't spoil exactly what's doing the hauntings but this was a nice item that is sadly wasted in a not-so-good movie. I also thought Erin Marie Hogan was good as the sister and her nude scene towards the end did at least wake me up. The highlight of the film? The speech given by mommy when the son asks her and the sister to go to a motel while he stays at the house with the ghost. Priceless.

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'm surprised that the same people who made Monster, Transmorphers the fall of man, and H.G. Well's War of the Worlds made a relatively descent movie. the Asylums rip off of Paranormal Activity isn't great, but it's definitely in the category of good.

The acting is, OK, it isn't amazing, but the actors do their jobs. The atmosphere is great, although stolen. The scares are pretty descent, and it's an entertaining time.

Can I say it's amazing, no. Paranormal Activity is far superior to this film. But if you want something to warm you up before you watch that scare-fest, watch this.

6/10

I'm a huge fan of the first "Paranormal Activity" but I love B-movies and especially horror films so I gave this a shot. Granted, it's of course no masterpiece, but The Asylum's more or less direct rip-off of the "found footage" hit has its moments.

The film begins when Thomas invests in a few small home camcorders to videotape the odd and supposedly paranormal events that have been plaguing the house ever since his mother's attempt at communicating with their recently deceased father. The entity has had a particular inclination for terrorizing his sister, Samantha, who bears an intolerable likeness to Katie Featherston in terms of hairstyle and large endowment (which also of course get more screen time in this film than P.A.).

Beyond that, the film is more or less a cookie cutter copy of the original's even most minute details: the night-time photography, the possession scenes, the cinematography, the "low rumbling" sound when the spirit is present, the title cards for the night scenes, the idea that leaving the house will do nothing as the entity will "follow" the cursed, attempts at contacting a demonologist, footprint markings, you name it.

With that said though, this film does have its gems. This film is definitely more visual and graphic in its depiction of the entities' activities, which is in a way good and also bad. It's nice to see that they didn't skimp on special effects as what you actually see on camera is more interesting and in a way, scarier (one night in particular). However, it's also a lot less subtle than "Paranormal Activity," as the long, patient scenes of waiting for something to happen are less common. A lot of the original film's subtlety is sacrificed for immediate scares and it works against it rather than for it.

The bigger issue with this film is that, while the acting is not nearly as bad as one might think given The Asylum is behind it, the characters are a lot less likable and developed than the original, if you can actually believe that to be possible. Beyond milking the loss of their dad and the direness of the situation for all its worth, the characters are completely one- dimensional and the beautiful and entertaining chemistry between Katie and Micah is nowhere to be found. The scenes add up more like a series of irrelevant moments and transitions are far less smooth. The ending in particular is fairly abrupt and leaves you with a sense of complete and total confusion.

Also, the camera-work and editing in "Paranormal Activity" was far more subtle in the ways that it made you feel like it was legitimately a 'found footage' film (while the sequel did indeed break that formula). Beyond the fact that the multiple cameras break the laws of the film not feeling "edited," there are multiple scenes where any audience member could discern that there is legitimately no reason for the camera to be running at that given time and that certain angles feel very forced or deliberately edited, which unfortunately takes you out of the moment and works against the "mockumentary" style.

Overall, it's not bad, but it's certainly not as good as the original. Good for fans of the genre and style but not much else.

I'm telling you..it is way more exciting to read the reviews than watch the movie!! Nothing happens ! Absolutely nothing !! Everything is Paranormal Activity wannabe ! And they fail ! It is 1h 28 minutes wasted.

The acting is so bad that it is ridiculous!!

The only cool thing is the house ! It's a cool house!