Paranormal Entity (2009 Video)
1/10
I hate 'found footage' films & films made by The Asylum so guess what what I thought of this...
18 September 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Paranormal Entity starts as Thomas Finley (writer & director Shane Van Dyke) makes a frantic call to 911, he claims that his mother & sister are both dead & have been murdered. What follows is real footage leading up to the death of his sister Samantha (Erin Marie Hogan) which proves conclusively that no living being could have been responsible & that Thomas is innocent of the horrible crime, released against the wishes of the authorities the families of those involved wanted the footage released so the truth can come out...

Written, directed & starring Shane Van Dyke who also lists the classic Titanic II (2010) in his directing résumé this is yet another rip-off 'Mockbuster' from the very untalented folk at The Asylum & your not going to win any prizes for guessing Paranormal Entity was made to cash-in on the huge success of Paranormal Activity (2007) & as expected it's total crap that I found painful to endure, I don't watch films like Paranoraml Entity I endure them. Sitting through Paranormal Entity is a real double edged sword for me since I hate this kind of 'found footage' horror film & usually despise anything that The Asylum makes so I pretty much knew that the chances were I was going to dislike it even though I was willing to give it a chance & boy I wasn't proved wrong in the slightest. The whole idea that this is real is just ridiculous, there's one huge continuity goof that is unmissable as during Thomas's opening phone-call he clearly says that his mother & sister are both dead & that it killed them but some text at the end states that the mother committed suicide in hospital which is a massive contradiction. As has already been said Paranormal Entity should get it's fake facts right before claiming to be real. I found the whole film so boring it took me about four attempts to make it to the end, this really is dullest & most boring film I have seen in a while. Nothing of any note happens, sure there are some feeble attempts at cheap scares & something happens to Samantha at the end (off-screen, by the way) but otherwise it's like watching paint dry. There isn't even anything here to laugh at as the script takes itself extremely seriously, I just didn't care enough about anyone or anything to be interested or want to carry on watching it. At almost 90 solid minutes of this crap I am amazed I managed to sit though it all.

Paranormal Entity is one of the most basic & minimalist films ever made, there are only four people in it & one of those is in it for about five minutes at the end while I will admit the makers got the whole amateur home made camcorder vibe spot on. Whether this was deliberate is probably up for debate as it could just have easily have been down to ineptness but whatever the reason Paranormal Entity is a chore to watch with long scenes & shots where nothing happens or where the action takes place just off-screen & the camcorder is totally static. There's some night vision & plenty of shaky cam too just to add to the cheap do-it-yourself feel. I really dislike this style of filmmaking & I found the look & feel of Paranormal Entity utterly horrible. Forget about any blood or gore or special effects as there aren't any but Samantha is seen topless for a few seconds if that's any sort of recommendation.

Filmed in about three or four rooms in some house Paranormal Entity never leaves this location, surely this didn't cost more than a few hundred dollars. I mean there's no special effects, no outside locations, no music score, only four people in the entire thing & it looks like it was shot on hand-held camcorder. The acting is maybe a little better than I expected but no-one is going to win any awards.

Paranormal Entity is a film that I hated, maybe not liking 'found footage' films & films made by The Asylum means I am biased a bit but I really can't the average person getting anything out of this crap film where next to nothing actually happens. Definitely one to avoid & if you do see it don't say you weren't warned.
3 out of 5 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed