Found Footage comes in two flavors. There’s the Blair Witch variety where people are running and screaming and sometimes something terrifying appears in front of the lens, hopefully in focus but don’t count on it. Then there’s the Paranormal Activity model, where stationary or limited security cameras are set up around a location and your stomach ties in knots over the banal absence of excitement. You know something is going to happen, but you don’t know what or when or even where. Mark Kermode dismissed it as “quiet-quiet-BANG!” cinema, but dread is its own demon, especially with a crowd of people feeding off each others’ fear.
The secret to Paranormal Activity’s success wasn’t the low budget, that’s what turned this into a profitable franchise. What made it special was that shot of the bedroom with the white open door on the upper left of the frame leading down a dark hallway. That felt like the place where bad things would happen and the film tested you to see how close you would gaze into that spot. You didn’t have to shut or hide your eyes, you could put the bad place in your peripheral vision and brace for a loud noise that would penetrate the quiet.
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