Paranormal Activity

Would the Exorcist be as scary without the slime chucking and creative chiropractic? No, of course not. That stuff is freaky. But we all know the Exorcist was a one shot deal; it opened and closed the book on exorcism fu. Those crass tactics would never be truly effective again (especially now with CGI, which, if you are aware of it, is always just a tad more frightening than Svengoolie) because there's just no way to top what Friedkin did. One word: crucifucking — a moment so upsetting that it's rarely even mentioned, as if people are in denial of what they saw.

The Exorcist is the most Catholic movie ever made, the culmination of centuries of fanciful gothic scaremongering. By the same token the movie represents the death of the Roman Catholic Church, its last battle with the forces of darkness, its last moment of dignity after giving up all pretense of authority in Vatican II. Father Karras and Pazuzu both go down together. I've stood at the base of that precipitous staircase in Georgetown and do you know what I felt? Nothing. The old ghosts are gone.

Since then the demonic possession beat has been little trodden by any creations original and scary. The Evil Dead series was the most important thing to happen to horror between Halloween and the Blair Witch, but the only genuine fright it provides is the thought of Sam Raimi's ex-girlfriends. *shudder* In a way Evil Dead so thoroughly lampooned the concept of the Exorcist that it became impossible to treat seriously. As recently as this summer Raimi was still rattling the chestnut for yuks with Drag Me To Hell. But then it turns out that, two years ago, someone found a way to resurrect the kin of Pazuzu.

A no-budget independent movie called Paranormal Activity, shot as cinéma vérité with a single handheld camera, premiered at a horror film festival in 2007 and since then has been searching for a nationwide distributor. A one-night-only midnight screening was held at the Music Box on Thursday for a super-capacity crowd. A great night at the movies. Don't watch the trailer — in trying to draw an audience it errs by over-revealing. If and when this thing gets a DVD or wide theatrical release it should be seen and seen cold.

The film terrorizes in the vein of recent fare like Blair Witch, Open Water and The Descent: by exploiting the visceral fear of powerlessness. It's fun to be scared when you have a way of fighting back against the monsters and a chance of survival...not so fun when you are helpless, hopelessly lost and doomed. The makers of Paranormal Activity had an insight: Keep the demon, lose the priest. Now you're fucked. This experience, something like the drowning of your heart, is amplified by the implication that you are watching "found footage". What's even worse is that often you are watching stationary tripod footage of the characters being terrorized while they sleep. And there's nothing you can do.