THIS FROM ANTHONY GRAHAM, ONE OF OUR TOP SOUNDBOARD CONCERT BLOGGERS:

It’s 2:30am as I write this. I should be asleep. Instead, I have goosebumps. I actually have goosebumps. You know how long it’s been since I’ve had goosebumps? Especially goosebumps from a movie? Yep…it’s been way too long. And that is pretty freaking neat.

So last night, I found myself at the midnight showing of Paranormal Activity, the debut film from writer/director Oren Peli that was originally finished back in 2007, but is now getting a more widespread release thanks to a very clever marketing campaign from Paramount, which relied on word of mouth to generate buzz. And the buzz on this one has been ridiculously intense.

But you know what? Enough about that. If you want to read about the marketing campaign, then go read about it elsewhere. Also, if you want me to go on and on about the similarities between this and that there Blair Witch film then you are also in the wrong place. Plenty of critics have talked that up, and if you want to read it, then knock yourself out.

I want to try something a little different. I want to try and explain why this little movie, a movie with four actors, one camera, no gore, and no big huge effects managed to scare the beejeesus out of an auditorium filled with 17-21 year olds and one stunningly handsome 40 year old (that would be me…stop laughing).

The story is pretty stupid simple. Kate (Katie Featherston…who bears a resemblance to my wife, which made watching this all the more agonizing) has a problem. Seems that she has been stalked all her life by a malevolent entity that’s seems to be bent on making her life way more interesting than it should be. Her boyfriend, Micah (Micah Sloat), wants to help out in the manliest (and therefore dumbest) way possible, so he buys a very expensive digital video camera with the idea that he can use it to film everything, figure it all out, solve the problem and save the day. The entire film is shot from the point of view of that one camera as Micah takes the damn thing everywhere to film, well, everything. Things, of course, go from merely annoying to eye poppingly insane as the sounds emanating from dark of the house get louder, things start to break, something big starts coming into their room (much of the action takes place in their bedroom from the camera that Micah puts on a tripod) and then the wheels start to really come off and HOLY CRAP WHAT WAS THAT?!?!?!

Okay. Let’s step back.

See, when you think about it, it is really very easy to effectively scare someone. So simple that you would think it would be employed more often than it is in modern horror films. All you need is Darkness. The Great Unknown. The shadows just outside your bedroom door will suffice just fine, thank you very much. If you are in your bed safe and sound in the middle of the night and you are awakened by a BANG coming from the hall, I can pretty much guarantee that your pulse will quicken, your palms will get sweaty, your hands will shake as the adrenaline starts pumping through your veins and that old fight/flight mechanism kicks in. It’s fear, man. Raw animal fear. And it doesn’t need a puppet that wants to play the latest torture game with you or a 7-foot tall behemoth with bad teeth, a hockey mask and a rusty machete to do its thing. The chances of you running into something like that is slim, no matter how many sequels get made. It’s darkness. Or rather, what is just outside the darkness waiting to munch on your tender yummy flesh. It’s there. Just wait until nightfall, buddy.

Secondly, if you really want to cement that scare, combine that fear with something familiar that is twisted beyond recognition. If one night your lovely spouse, who has done the same routine with you every night for a decade and is as reliable and boring as a well worn overcoat, all of a sudden sits up in bed in the middle of the night screaming curses in Samarian in a Darth Vader voice while bleeding from their eyes, chances are it’s gonna freak you to the core. Considerably more so than if you ran into a random weirdo on the street doing it. Why? Because you were comfortable with that person and the routine you had established. Once that comfort is gone, the reality around you has been upset and you may find yourself vapor locked like a dear in the headlights. And you can’t cross to the other side of the street…they are your life and like it or not you have to deal with it.

That’s it. Do those two things, and you got yourself a horror film that will really get under your skin.

And I think that’s what those kids I saw the movie with had happen to them. No buckets of blood being tossed about as nubile young hard-bodies were mangled to pieces in 3D. Instead, you got a film about two straight up likable people dealing with…something. Something in their own house in the dark just beyond their perception and understanding that is slowly getting stronger and stronger until…

Well, let’s just say this. Micah and Katie’s performances are top-notch, Peli’s direction builds the suspense perfectly and the ending?

The ending will simply kick you in half.

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