Movies
Paranormal Activity (limited)
“Paranormal Activity is one of the scariest movies of all-time. YOU WILL BE AFFECTED as it’s hard to ignore the imprint it leaves on your psyche. You know it’s fake, and yet, you can’t shake it. Nightmares are guaranteed.”
Editor’s Note: This review is ONLY for theaters, you MUST see it in a theater!
It has been two long years since I’ve seen Oren Peli’s Paranormal Activity, a micro-budget horror film that we were lucky enough to see before anyone else. Weeks after watching the film in my apartment, the Los Angeles Screamfest Horror Film Festival premiered the haunted house flick to 300 unsuspecting theatergoers. While I wasn’t blown away, everyone I talked to who saw it in that theater was. In fact, we ran BC’s review of the film after he convinced me the ONLY was to see it was in a packed house with a kickass audio system. I felt the film deserved as much, so I waited…and waited.
Two years later, I have finally seen Paranormal Activity proper. I cannot believe Paramount has yet to put this in theaters. What awaits you dear readers is a terrifying, chilling, remarkable independent film that can be described as an evil cross-breed of The Blair Witch Project and the horrifying (at least the first half) The Entity.
In Paranormal Activity, a young couple suspect that their house is haunted by a malevolent entity. They set up video surveillance to capture evidence of what happens at night as they sleep. Their surveillance and home videos have been edited into the feature film. To tell you more would ruin the experience.
Paranormal is structured almost identical to Blair Witch, which is the main reason that it works. In both films we have the ying and the yang, or the black and white if you will. First, we have the “daytime” scene, where there’s dialogue, discussions and most importantly a break from the madness. The second night falls, we enter the “nighttime” scene, where everything goes silent, and it’s only a matter of time before something happens. The audience is conditioned to relax during the daytime and react at night, a tactic that once realized, has endless possibilities. The second the duo hit the hay, a chill is guaranteed to go up each and every one of your spines as the entity’s “attack” grows stronger and stronger throughout the film. Peli begins small, but small means nothing in this world, and because he starts small, each and every encounter is effective and just as convincing. At no point does he start whipping out CG or ridiculous FX; everything that happens keeps you locked into the film and believing nearly every second of it.
The main flaws in Paranormal are those that are inescapable, so it’s kind of hard to reprimand such a brilliant little heart filled project. Peli makes a commendable effort to keep everything hyper-realistic. Constantly you’re asking yourself, “Why don’t they just LEAVE the house?” Peli comes up with 40 different reasons why they stay and really (and I mean really) tries to keep you in for the ride. Even though some of the reasons might be stretching it a bit, it was enough to keep it believable. Another flaw was the final, final scene of the film, which was too effin’ milk toast and Hollywood for my taste. For a movie that has you believing this could be real from frame one, it’s shocking to me that they reshot the ending to give the audience “one final scare”. While it doesn’t ruin the movie in the least, it does leave you scratching your head for a second and spewing “why?” to the person next to you.
While simplicity and conditioning are the building blocks of Paranormal, the use of sound is the glue that holds it all together. There is no score, just terrifying, horrible, loud noises that walk you through scenes. While you can brace for the hit all you want, when something happens, you’re bound to jump out of your seat at least once.
While this review really deserves to be about 15 pages long, it’s impossible to dissect this masterpiece of indie filmmaking without ruing it for you good folks. But I can promise you this, seen in a theater, Paranormal Activity is one of the scariest movies of all-time. It’s a movie you should trick your girlfriend into seeing, your younger brother, or maybe even your parents. YOU WILL BE AFFECTED as it’s hard to ignore the imprint it leaves on your psyche. You know it’s fake, and yet, you can’t shake it. Nightmares are guaranteed. Go put a fresh bulb in your hallway, you’re going to be keeping the lights on for quite some time.
In this day and age, the word “troll” is often used to describe various online nuisances. Yet as abundant and irksome as the modern troll can be, they aren’t usually as fearsome as their mythological counterparts. I’m not talking about the small and gentler versions that have become more common to see in media. No, there are much bigger and scarier trolls out there—and André Øvredal’s movie Troll Hunter is one of the best places to find them.
It doesn’t take long for Troll Hunter (or Trolljegeren) to dump the Blair Witch Project-esque setup and aim for something a lot fresher. The trajectory of the story is augmented by Otto Jespersen’s character Hans, the titular Troll Hunter. The second he comes barreling out of the deep, dark woods and shouts “troll” at the camera, this movie takes a turn into what feels like uncharted territory. Not only subject-wise, but also conceptually.
For fantastical and made-up subject matter in cinema, found footage is a fast way to add a guise of believability. After all, what we accept to be the most crucial aspect of documentaries—the truth—rubs off on pseudo-documentaries, despite our understanding of the pretense involved. That is what Øvredal delivered with Troll Hunter: a movie so convincing that some viewers wondered if trolls really do exist. So, had this been straightforwardly made, it likely wouldn’t have been as effective. Conventional narratives would be more inclined to treat something like trolls as flat out unreal, and never try to convince the audience to think otherwise.
Hans petrifies the three-headed Tusseladd troll.
The viewers, like the characters trailing Hans, are quickly thrown into the deeper end of that extraordinary story. They have to process all this new information while staying on the go. So, although there is no significant amount of meandering, narratively or physically, there is still a good amount of atmosphere, not to mention tension building. It’s never anything frightful, but then again, Troll Hunter isn’t your standard offering of horror; it’s more on the low end of the dark fantasy spectrum. We aren’t ever spirited away to a faraway world—we stay in rather familiar surroundings, as well as dip into those less so. The outcome is a movie where you’re constantly more in awe than in terror.
As fantasy fiction might do, Troll Hunter prefers not to deal with incredulity. There is no time to waste on doubt, as interviewer Thomas (Glenn Erland Tosterud), soundperson Johanna (Johanna Mørck), and cameraman Kalle (Tomas Alf Larsen) all follow Hans around, recording whatever this character is willing to reveal about his bizarre job. Of course, the Troll Hunter himself is not an open book; in that respect, the diegetic documentary fails to fully capture and unpack the more interesting of its two subjects. Yes, all those giant, monstrous trolls are indeed incredible, but understandably, your mind wanders to their pursuer. What kind of person signs up for this gig and then chooses to stick with it for so long?
Reviews have called out Troll Hunter for its lack of character development. In regard to Thomas and his fellow documentarians, that criticism is valid, but bear in mind, they aren’t the focus of the story, either. Meanwhile, Hans is a well-crafted character. At least better than first realized. Before he was introduced, Hans had already grown tired of the troll grind. Fed up with that low compensation for his services, resentful of the bureaucracy, and wanting to expose his employer on a large scale, Hans’ discontent is glaring.
Then there are those finer details about the Troll Hunter, such as that indifference to both the natural splendor of his everyday surroundings and the affections of an obviously smitten colleague, that also suggest some level of despondency. So it is fair to say this movie doesn’t feature any sizable growth for its characters; however, the namesake isn’t underwritten. No doubt, putting a real-life character like Otto Jespersen in that role is partly why Hans is so fascinating—maybe even relatable.
Otto Jespersen as Hans the Troll Hunter.
There is always a small risk whenever using the term “mockumentary” to describe a found-footage movie, as the word could imply humor where there is none. In the case of Troll Hunter, the term’s usage is appropriate. Some folks have claimed the English-dubbed version has the more comedic tone, however, the Norwegian cut isn’t exactly humorless. Apart from the trolls’ absurd appearances, this is a movie where the characters nearly choke on the monsters’ farts, and Christians are like walking targets. Hans’ complete apathy towards everything is another cause of laughter. Overall, the comedy is intentionally dry and inconsistent. Unfunny, though? Absolutely not.
In a movie where endemic creatures are maltreated, as well as disavowed from living freely and peacefully, it’s hard not to notice the ecological message buried beneath the story. In addition to that is the unmistakable political satire. There is this whole business about intrusive and unsightly power lines—like trolls, they’re big blemishes on the land—that leads to what is perhaps the movie’s funniest moment. The scene in question is that one where certain electric lines, the ones secretly being used to keep the trolls at bay, go in a loop and don’t actually send power to any residents. Yet the monitors of said lines don’t find this at all weird. So it stands to reason that Øvredal was having a go at those who accept the government’s doings without question.
Looking past the fact that trolls aren’t actually real, this movie is an enlightening source of information. And not just for international audiences; Norwegians, too, get schooled about their homeland’s own mythology. It’s also evident from everything on screen that Øvredal and his crew were enthusiastic about the topic. The creature designs are the most indicative of that zeal; those imaginative yet myth-accurate manifestations are equally amusing and grotesque. One second you’re laughing at their phallic noses, the next you’re white-knuckling during a hairy sequence. Most surprisingly is how well the trolls’ visual effects hold up after fifteen years. It’s not all spotless, but on the whole, they remain impressive.
Vouching for a mockumentary about trolls isn’t easy, but those who do come around and give it a shot will more than likely be grateful for the recommendation. For Troll Hunter is a real find in that vast and varied genre we call “found footage“.
A bridge troll reaches up for food and finds Hans decked out in armor.
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