Normal Pair

Although I am the Queue Master, I do let Ms. Spenser have some input, especially during OctoBoo. And speaking of found footage, she suggested Paranormal Activity (2007).

PA is about a young couple. He (Micah Sloat) has just bought a fancy video camera, partly just because it's a fun toy. But she (Katie Featherston) has been haunted since childhood by a mysterious presence, and he thinks he might be able to detect something with the camera. So he sets it up in the bedroom to monitor the house while they sleep.

Katie invites a psychic over, and he says he thinks it isn't a ghost, but a demon. This calls for a whole different skill set. He recommends a demonologist, but Micah doesn't take it seriously and won't call. Meanwhile the camera is picking up a few things while they sleep. It starts with little things - noises, a door swinging, but gets more and more scary. 

As Micah discovers these things reviewing the tapes, his attitude is more, hey cool, than oh shit. He shouts at the demon, asks what it wants, and suggests they use a Ouija board to contact it. The psychic specifically said no Ouija boards - that's just inviting the demon in. So what does Micah do?

Of course, things get worse and worse, and they call the demonologist - who is out of the country for the week. They call the psychic back, and he won't even go into the house, due to the bad vibes. And then things get really scary.

It's interesting what you can do with a camcorder and a couple of characters. Some of the shots and styles of this movie are now kind of cliches - like the fast forward scenes of the couple in bed, until something spooky happens. But it's also kind of a good story: Katie and Micah have moved to Santa Barbara from Nebraska, maybe so she can get away from her troubled past. He is a day-trader, rich enough to buy a big house and expensive electronics. He is also kind of a dick, not taking Katie's fear seriously (also trying to get her to make a sex tape). 

However, I don't buy one of the central premises of the movie: that trying to film demons causes them to become more bold and present. I thought that trying to record them made them shy. Or is that only ghosts?