Paranormal Entity (2009)

Here's a fact: If Paranormal Entity was released before Paranormal Activity, it would have gotten better reviews. I'm not saying it's better than "Activity", but it's a decent little mockumentary which more or less copies this years mega-indie-hit. What would have happen if "Activity" was the copycat? It would still get good reviews, but complains about slower pace and less likable characters. But on the other side, "Entity" would never have become the same success.

Thomas Finley (there's not actors credited, so I have no actors to make references to) is a young man that want to prove, and probably make a buck from, that the supernatural stuff that's happening to his mother and sister is real. A year earlier his their husband and father died, and the mother thinks that he's communicates with her. But the spirit is getting more and more violent, and they start to believe it's not the father anymore... Night after night, and the spirit is getting more and more violent, and now it turns to the sister...

What can I say? After this movie, when I'm writing this, I had to go and turn on the lights in the hallway and kitchen because I had a feeling that something was watching me from the darkness. I guess that's a good thing with a horror movie. Paranormal Entity clearly has a better flow than Activity, it goes fast into ghost-action and the characters are way more interesting (in my humble opinion) and likable. The last thing is important for me, because I have no wish to spend time with characters I don't like. The actors are also good, especially the sister and mother. We don't see much of the brother, and his two moments of panic are less convincing - bordering to parody. He just can't scream like he's scared. But expect that, it holds up well to the original movie.

The horror. Yeah, it's a problem. It's sometimes creepy and intensive, but this thing, this concept, isn't new anymore. The shocks are much weaker, and so also the effects. You remember the scene in Activity when one of the characters is being dragged away by some... entity? That scene is more scary than this whole movie. The best scene here is when the brother is alone in the house and he's attacked by something, and also a scene reminiscent of The Blair Witch when he's looking for his sister out in the garden and in the attic.

But don't let these things scare you away. It's a good little copycat that will have you looking behind your back for a couple of hours after watching it.

Now I will turn on the lights in the bedroom to, it makes the hallway brighter, and then check so nothing hides in the bathroom...