Paranormal Entity (2009)

Well, here it is. My first zero rating. I couldn't think of a more deserving film. A film that not only is a complete rip off of "Paranormal Activity", but is a completely shit film that does nothing to earn itself any kind of redemption. Asylum is a film company that truly promotes the worst films (some in a good way), but "Paranormal Entity" is a complete waste of time. It's repetitive, cliche, poorly crafted, and doesn't make a lick of fucking sense. All in all, it's one of the worst movies I have seen in a very long time.

A family finds themselves at odds with a pissed off ghost/spirit/entity or whatever the hell it is, when the mother tries to communicate with the recently passed father. They begin to experience hauntings in their house not long after so the son decides he is going to document the entire thing with cameras in each room and a hand held. When the hauntings begin to get a bit scarier and more malevolent, the family begins to take action to sort of stop....or figure out...or just sort of...well they don't do shit. Sorry. Spoiler.

"Paranormal Activity" was a cleverly executed, effective, and respectable film that took its low budget and made it work. "Paranormal Entity" is none of that and it never works. When I call it a rip off, I really mean its a rip off. It blatantly tries to steal what worked in "Activity" tries to paste it together to no effect and then sends it off with such a poorly crafted film that one sits through it wondering just who could screw it up so badly. I mean, its a very basic idea that anyone with a couple grand could make work to some degree, yet "Entity" seems entitled to the idea of half assing it the entire time. The directing is shoddy. The acting is sewer level crappy. They didn't seem to even want to finish making the sets look real (did they only paint the doors with one coat of very thin paint? Why are the walls unfinished in the house?) and the story is so completely void of actual elements that it seems to be random dialogue and 'plot twists' that come out of the blue. No build. No atmosphere. No realism. Just what the hell is this movie?

I would call "Paranormal Entity" an exercise in bad filmmaking. Unoriginal and completely empty of any sort of redeemable quality, I'm just going to forget I watched it. Even the randomly placed scenes of nudity (of which there is really no need nor want for), seemed like it was a last minute addition to try to earn the film some sort of viewing audience. Didn't work there either.

I'm done with this film and I hope this review and its first ever zero rating for me serve as warning enough to those out there that are even thinking of watching it. Don't. It's not even laugh worthy like most Asylum films. It's just really sad. A bane on horror films everywhere.

Written By Matt Reifschneider