What is Paranormal Entity and Is the Ending Any Good?

When you think of scary paranormal movies that involve strict use of video cameras, one thinks of either The Blair Witch Project or, more recently, Paranormal Activity. However, a studio called The Asylum is trying to get in the game. The Asylum is best known for recreating some of the more big blockbuster movies into their own style. These "mockbusters" are sometimes pretty good, while others are rather ... bad. With the success of Paranormal Activity, The Asylum had to make a movie in that style and on the same subject. Thus Paranormal Entity was born.

I haven't seen Paranormal Activity yet, but from what I have seen in the previews of PA, Paranormal Entity is just like PA. Either way, does Paranormal Entity (I'm calling it PE from now on just for length purposes) actually do a good job of creeping you out? We shall have to see.

PE is a fictional (despite what the movie says) story about a family that had lost their father in some sort of accident. The mother, daughter, and son are all just like a normal family, until the mother decides to try and contact the fathers spirit. She decides that she is going to start writing notes to the dead father and when she starts to become possessed by something and it is writing back to her, she thinks that it's her husband. What happens though is something completely different as some sort of evil spirit enters their home and begins causing a ruckus. The spirit then begins to move from the mother to the daughter and forms some sort of sick connection to her. What ensues is a mix of decent effects and a few awesome moments at the end of the movie.

PE is shot in the style of guerrilla film where everything is filmed in shaky cam a la The Blair Witch Project or Cloverfield. It's not terrible like Blair Witch, but there are some moments where the camera just stares at the wall, or at nothing in particular. When the movie isn't filmed in shaky cam, it's filmed with stationary cameras in three rooms of the house: The living room, the mothers room, and the sisters room.

Because this movie obviously has a lower budget, many of the VFX are never seen when they actually happen. In one instance, the house is being attacked by this spirit by way of pounding on the ceilings and walls. The three members of the family are running through the house trying to get away from it and they run into the living room where everything goes black. When the lights come on there are black footprints all over the ceiling.

Another scene that stuck out to me as being lazy is a scene where the mother and sister go to a hotel to get away from the spirit. The son stays at the house to continue filming and watch the house. When the spirit starts to mess with him he runs into the living room where what sounds like a cordless phone is ringing. I am a tech nerd. I love technology and all things related to it. So when he picks up his iPhone to answer the phone and it shows the blank screen, I called foul. I know an iPhone ringtone, and I also know that when an iPhone rings (because I have one) the screen lights up and shows the number. This is a free effect, so why not bother adding it in? Just add a number and label it "Mom" and then have someone call you so you can then deliver your lines. I know I know, it's nit-picking, but that's straight from the lazy filmmakers handbook.

The movie has only one jump scare in it's entirety. It's all suspense until the end when the proverbial poo hits the fan. The ending will leave you scratching your head a bit though, with what is assumed and what is really happening. I'm referencing the very end after the big "scene."

Acting in this movie is... hit and miss. In some places it's really forced, and in other places it's mediocre to decent. It's hard to get a dynamic group when you're budget can't be that large. The main girl is pretty good though considering she has the most important part, and she's easy on the eyes as well.

The worst of PE though, are all of the pointless walking scenes. I know this is a "documentary" of these events, but do I really need to watch in first person as this guy walks into each and every room at night and turns his camera on? There is a place near the end of the movie where he looking for his sister. The scene is literally ten minutes of him walking around outside the house looking for his sister only to find her in the attic. He had to walk outside and get the ladder to go in the attic where he finds her just standing there in her underwear. This begs the question of, if he needed a ladder to get up into the attic, then how come she's up there without one? Semantics aside, there are just some parts of the story that could have been cut simply for the sanity of the viewer.

Did PE do what it set out to do? I think it did. It is a movie specifically to cash in on PA and set it's own twist to the style of movie. It was suspenseful and when things started to happen in the movie it got legitimately creepy. Other than the iPhone bit and a few of those needlessly long scenes, it was a decent watch. I wouldn't buy it, but if you have Netflix or a local video store, then go check it out.