Supernatural Activity   Starring: Philip Marlatt, Donny Boaz and Derek Lee Nixon Signature Entertainment RRP: £9.99 SIG63 Certificate: 15 Available 13 August 2012

A minor TV celebrity leads an unlikely crew of reality show paranormal investigators, who are rather conceited and over-confident due to a string of hoaxes or set-ups, on a quest to film a strong first episode for the new season of Supernatural Activity. While Damon Dealer is reluctant, his girlfriend Blair Woods is determined to follow-up sightings of the mythical creature known as the Small Squatch. Along the way the team experience a lot more than they bargained for, tackling a haunting, a demon possession, and something in the woods. But the biggest surprise is yet to come, as Damon begins to lose control of reality and his eclectic crew...

The banner above the title for this release promotes the fact Supernatural Activity comes from the the imagination of one of the creators of Scary Movie. In fact you get the distinct impression it’s the main selling point. I thoroughly enjoy movie spoofs when they’re done right; it’s just that they are seldom done right. Horror and comedy are too ingredients which have the potential to make a fine movie, but the balance is very difficult and has to be spot on. This film makes the fundamental mistake of merely referencing horror and going all out for comedy. The danger then is that of falling into the potholes of silliness.

If you haven’t guessed already, this film is totally unfunny. From start to finish not only did I not laugh once, but I couldn’t even break into a smile. It’s a sad indictment but the thought crossed my mind perhaps this sub-genre has run its course. We’ll probably not again witness the heights of The Naked Gun, Airplane and Top Secret.

Of course, the movies that get the treatment here are Paranormal Activity, and The Blair Witch Project. But we also get some ghosts and a possession. The main search is for the Small Squatch, a parody play-on-words cross between Bigfoot and Sasquatch. The protagonists are all plain annoying, and the attempt at a twist at the conclusion comes out of nowhere and is simply nonsensical. My advice would be to avoid this one like the plague. It just isn’t in the same league as Scary Movie, and shouldn’t be permitted to invoke its name.

2

Ty Power