A new indie horror film is making the rounds and is being heralded by many as the heir apparent to the Blair Witch Project.

Paranormal Activity is being compared to Blair for a couple reasons. The first is the film's miniscule budget of 15,000 dollars, a figure that makes Blair's 500,000 dollar cost seem gargantuan by comparison. The second and more significant similarity between the two films is the way that Paranormal is being marketed. The advertisement hasn't gone quite as far as Blair in trying to pretend that the events depicted in the film are real, but the movie is presented as a series of home-video footage so the effect ends up the same.

The real focus of the advertising thus far has been on audience reaction. They actually use test screenings in the marketing materials, and the general tone of the viewing participants could be summed up as "scared shitless", at least from what we've seen in the commercials.

As to whether it's actually frightening, you can judge for yourself:



Personally, I'm not quite sure what to make of the film. I've never been that big a fan of supernatural investigation shows. For whatever reason they just don't grab my attention. That said, I find the attempt at verisimilitude in this film and others like it intriguing.

There's currently a contest going on to vote to get the film released in your city. The nature of the budget means they can't screen it everywhere, so
those interested should definitely cast a ballot for their neck of the woods.

I'm fairly confidant it will come to Chicago and if it does I definitely intend on trying to see it. If I do I will of course report back here with a full review. Until then I'll continue to keep tabs on this one and see what transpires.

This fall is looking like a pretty good season for fright films.

-Quoth the Raven

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