- Directed by Oren Peli
- Written by Oren PeliKatie Deatherson, Micah Sloat, Mark Fredrichs
- Stars
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 26 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_UxLEqd074
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
It’s creepy, suspenseful, builds nicely. A found footage film that sells itself as real events being recorded. Events that get worse and worse as the film moves along. How far will things go? Must watch to find out.
Synopsis
On September 18, 2006, in San Diego, Micah has a gigantic new video camera. Katie thinks he’s insane and spent too much, but he says he wants to record any kind of “paranormal activity” that happens. Once they figure out what’s really going on, they can figure out how to deal with it. If it’s a neighbor kid, they’ll find out.
Micah sets up the camera in the kitchen while they’re eating, and even in the bedroom. He starts recording every part of their rather ordinary lives. The first scary sound they hear turns out to be the ice maker (shudder!). They set up the camera in the bedroom and turn in around 11:30. At 2:08, we hear footsteps.
The next morning, Katie’s keys are in the middle of the floor. They are expecting a psychic to come over and give them a reading. He asks them for details of their experiences. Both Katie and her sister used to see “someone” at the foot of their beds. She’s moved houses several times since then, but it keeps coming back, so it’s about her not a specific house.
Micah shows the psychic all his recording equipment, and we get a walkthrough of the whole house. The psychic explains that these things feed on negative energy. It may be a demonic presence, but the psychic doesn’t really deal with those. He gives them a phone number for a demonologist. He also warns against trying to communicate with it, as that’s just opening the door to let it in more. Katie is pleased with the meeting, but Micah laughs it off.
That night, they get to bed at 12:31. At 2:09, the bedroom door moves just a little. The next morning, they look at the footage. Micah wants more “ghost footage.” That night at 2:55 a.m., Katie has a nightmare, and then they hear something downstairs.
Nothing happens for a few days, so Micah yells at it and calls it worthless. That night, at 3:13, they hear something again. Something roars, and when they go downstairs, the chandelier is swinging.
Katie thinks maybe the demon is acting up because of the camera. It wasn’t this bad before the camera, but Micah doesn’t believe that’s it. On night #15, at 1:35 a.m, Katie gets up and just stands there for two hours without moving. Then she walks out of the room. The next morning, Micah finds her sleeping outside. She’s in some kind of trance.
The next day, Micah brings home a Ouija board, even though the psychic specifically warned them not to do it. Katie gets angry and leaves. The camera shows the Ouija board doing its thing all by itself and then spontaneously setting itself on fire. Later that night, nothing happens.
The next night, they put baby powder all over the floor in case the thing has footprints. Around 3:15 a.m., there are the sounds of steps, and they both wake up. They do in fact find footprints– as well as the attic entrance in the hall closet ceiling that is partially open. Micah goes up there and finds a partially burnt photo of Katie as a child. Katie says that’s impossible, it’s from her childhood home that burned down years ago. How did that get up there?
On night #18, someone turns on the light downstairs and comes up the stairs. It then slams the bedroom door and beats on it from the outside. When they go outside to look, something locks them out of the bedroom.
They bring the psychic back, and he won’t stay. He says the energy here is terrible, and the demon doesn’t want him there. He says leaving the house won’t help at all, it will just follow. Call the demonologist when he gets back in the country in a few days.
On night #19, something messes with their bedsheets while they sleep. There’s also activity in that hall closet again.
The following night, the entity simply pulls Katie out of bed and drags her down the hall. Much screaming ensues. Katie’s got a big bite mark on her back. Micah wants to go to a hotel, but Katie wants to stay. “It’s better if we stay.” She almost sounds… possessed.
Night 21. Katie wakes up and the covers slide off of Micah. She walks to his side of the bed and stands there for two hours. She starts screaming, Micah runs downstairs, and everything gets quiet. There are footsteps coming up the stairs, and we see Katie throw Micah across the room. Then she attacks the camera…
“Micah’s body was discovered on October 11th, 2006. Katie’s whereabouts remain unknown.”
Commentary
The audio isn’t great and the video looks just like it came off a hand-held video camera, which fits the story perfectly, but it also gets annoying to watch after a bit. Still, the story progresses quickly, and the various events happen fairly often, so it doesn’t get too bogged down in details.
They couldn’t just stay up all night watching movies or something? Change their schedules to “night shift?” At least to bed with the lights on in all of the rest of the house?
It’s super, ultra-low budget, but it’s also really suspenseful and works really well. You know things are going to happen, and the keep getting worse, but where will it end and how far will it go?
I liked it. Kevin liked it all the way up to the ending, which he hated. There were actually three endings considered, one where Katie kills Micah and herself, one where the police come in and find her in the morning, unaware of what happened, and the one we got.