Things I learned while watching writer-director Oren Peli's ingenious, spooky, much-hyped and ultimately disappointing Paranormal Activity:

• Before you move in with your significant other, make sure you know a bit about their lives before you met them. More specifically, ask them if they happened to be haunted by a ``shadowy figure'' that would materialize at the foot of their bed when they were kids, burned down their childhood home and then followed their family around, continuing to terrorize them as they moved from city to city. It's helpful to know this sort of stuff about people you intend to live with and eventually marry.

• Even in the post-Hostel/Saw era, it is still possible to terrify audiences almost entirely by suggestion. I've never been more freaked out by the sight of a door swaying back and forth a couple of inches.

• The Israeli-born Peli, a former video game designer with no formal film training, made Paranormal Activity for less than $15,000, and is now working on his second film (Area 51) with a budget of $5 million. He is living proof that sometimes, if you have a good idea and execute it well enough, your dreams of becoming a director really can come true. It helps, though, if Steven Spielberg happens to watch a DVD screener of your film and gives it his stamp of approval.

• The first-person ``found footage'' filmmaking style that worked such evil wonders in the no-budget The Blair Witch Project, and translated so effectively to huge-budget proportions in Cloverfield, still has plenty of life left in it. The key element to making it work is finding unknown actors who can convincingly portray ordinary people constantly videotaping themselves, such as Paranormal Activity's Katie Featherstone and Micah Sloat, who play the charismatic couple documenting the increasingly strange goings-on inside their home.

• Humor remains an indispensable tool in getting a horror film audience to relax before the scary stuff starts to go down. It also helps humanize your characters. When a paranormal expert informs the couple hauntings feed off negative energy, the still-skeptical Micah tells Katie ``We shouldn't let your mother come over any more.''

• When you're fairly convinced there's a ghost or demon or other evil creature haunting your home, and the ghostbusting psychic you call in to investigate is so freaked out he hightails it out of there a few seconds after stepping through your door (``Whoa! I can't be here!''), it may be time to move. Or at least call in Max Von Sydow.

• Cinematic suspense is a tricky thing. It is highly elastic and can be stretched to delirious extremes, like in Inglourious Basterds or every other Brian De Palma picture. But stretch out the suspense too long, and tedium starts to creep in. Once the viewer grows bored, it's almost impossible to draw them back in, and the seams in your movie start to show.

• When an expert in demonology tells you never to use a Ouija board to talk with a demon, because that's an invitation for them to cross over into your home, heed their advice. Better yet, never use a Ouija board at all, just to be safe. You remember how evil and dangerous they seemed when you were a kid? It's all true.

• I understand marketing is critical to getting your movie seen, and the campaign Paramount Pictures has created for Paranormal Activity is ingenious. But did they have to spoil almost all of the spookiest moments from the film in the trailer?

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@