I thought all horror had gone the way of gross, that all scares in movies had devolved into violent gore-fests and convenient startles, that creativity had been reduced to new ways of killing people.  I’m used to it.  I expect it from every modern horror movie.  Gorey movies have their own hilarious charm.  Because they’re so ridiculous, I appreciate them for what they are… hardly scary, but still fun.  This is only important to mention because I finally saw a legitimately scary horror movie.  Sleeping that night was actually difficult.  Paranormal Activity was genuinely frightening, more horrific than most of its contemporaries.  And of course it was only given a limited release.  But that might change.  Visit http://www.paranormalactivity-movie.com/.

The most satisfying part of Paranormal Activity was the lack of gore.  Guts are completely unnecessary to elicit the scares that are intended by horror movies.  Instead, Paranormal Activity utilizes something that is fairly rare nowadays: suspense.  Strangely, my visceral reaction was separate from my rational reaction.  I found myself thinking about how little they actually put in the movie, and what effect that should have on the audience.  At the same time, I was perched on the edge of my seat driving my toes into the ground.  This movie is tense.  It has a perfect sense of timing.  It’s amazing what can be done with a little bit of noise and a lot of silence.

It’s another handy-cam movie which initially made me leery of the direction of the rest of film.  It actually worked.  Unlike Cloverfield, which was painfully hyper unrealistic, and Diary of the Dead, which was at times gratingly realistic, Paranormal Activity stayed within the realm of possibility without being irritating.

There were only four human characters in the film, only one of which was given any background.  From her early childhood, Katie (Katie Featherston) is potentially haunted by a supernatural entity while also having some traumatic past experiences.  Katie lives with her boyfriend Micah (Micah Sloat).  Micah has no background in the movie, but he’s almost the protagonist.  Katie becomes mostly passive while most of the movie follows Micah’s fascination with documenting Katie’s situation.  All action emanates from Micah, but he becomes antagonistic because he directly disobeys both Katie’s and the psychic’s (Mark Fredrichs) protests and desire to call a professional.  We are told why Micah is reluctant to call a professional, but the motivation for his belief in his own capabilities over the professional’s isn’t quit clear.  During a small speech, Micah states that he’s trying to protect Katie because she’s his girlfriend.  Micah basically claims that it’s a personal battle and thereby exudes ownership over Katie.  It’s a weak explanation considering that all information necessary to combat the entity Micah has to research which puts him at a dramatic disadvantage.

The major problem with the film is its numerous double beats.  They give information that is implied and then they explain it.  They show the characters watching handy-cam footage the audience has already seen.  It’s a mistake at the scripting level.  It wouldn’t be so bad if the characters had something necessary to add during the reviewing of the footage, but mostly, they only have gasps.  However, it doesn’t slow the pace of the film. 

Also the acting is impressive.  Usually movies like this are prone to over actors who would cry or yell at the drop of a hat.  Featherston and Sloat are reserved and natural.  Realistic acting comes through trying to control emotion rather than simply letting it all out.  The actors obviously understood this, and the movie is that much better for it.

The Verdict:  If you’re interested in the movie, do yourself a favor: don’t watch the trailer.  Don’t do research.  Just go see it.  I give Paranormal Activity a 4.5 out of 5.  This could be the most significant horror film in years.

-Vince

In the early 1900s, America was in the throes of a full blown tuberculosis epidemic.  Hit hard was the State of Kentucky.  According to James C. Klotter’s book, Kentucky: Portrait in Paradox, 1900-1950, the state ranked second in the nation in the early 1900s for its death rate from tuberculosis.  Black populations were particularly at risk, with a disease contraction rate twice that of the white population.  Something had to be done.  In 1910, Louisville opened up a forty-bed hospital, but it was quickly over-run with patients.  Then, after much fundraising, the Waverly Hills Sanatorium was built and opened in 1926, and was a state-of-the-art TB hospital with over 400 beds.  Built high on a hill, Waverly Hills offered the best “cure” for tuberculosis known at the time: lots of fresh air.  There were other treatments available, some of the remarkably barbaric in nature, but Streptomycin, the first real treatment for TB, was not discovered until 1943.

The Body Chute 

At the height of the epidemic, Waverly Hills took in entire families, some of which lived, many of which died.  The death rate at one point was calculated to be one death per hour, twenty-four hours a day.  A 500 foot long tunnel was built, with stairs on one side and a ramp on the other, to transport the dead from the facility so that the other patients wouldn’t have to see the dead being transported from the hospital.  The tunnel became morbidly known as “the body chute.”

Patient Resting at Waverly Hills

Life at Waverly Hills was not all bad.  Though most did not survive “the white plague,” the staff and physicians were dedicated to trying to make a stay at the sanatorium as pleasant as possible.  Radio, horseback rides, movies, and visits from Santa for the kiddos were all part and parcel of convalescence at Waverly Hills.  This government video features Waverly Hills in its hey-day.

When antibiotics finally became available, the population of people in need of the services of places like Waverly Hills dwindled, and eventually the hospital was shut down in 1961.  It was reopened in 1962 as a geriatric sanatarium called WoodHaven.  WoodHaven was shut down by the State in 1980 for alleged patient abuses.  The building has remained unused since that time.

With ownership of the building bouncing around for the next 18 years, the building fell into immense disrepair.  One owner, who wanted to tear down the hospital to build a massive statue of Jesus but was told he couldn’t because the building was on the National Historic Register’s “endangered” building list, opened the building to vagrants and vandals.  The damage done at that time was intense, with rubble piling up three feet deep in some areas.  Then Waverly Hills was purchased by its current owners, who are using the proceeds of both historical tours and ghost tours to renovate the property to its former glory.  Several years into the project, they still have miles to go, and much of the building is still in a horrible state.

Vandalism at Waverly Hills

 It was during the time when the building was open to vandals that the first reports of restless spirits began to surface.  An investigation by the Louisville Ghost Hunter’s Society in 2001 showed high, moving EMF readings.  Electromagnetic Field Detectors are often used in paranormal investigations because it is believed that ghosts use a lot of energy to manifest, and this energy will register on an EMF meter.  At the time, all electricity to Waverly Hills had been disconnected, and the electrical poles had been torn down, so it is certain that the EMF was not picking up on any electical energy being run to the building.  They also reported hearing footsteps, drastic temperature changes, and the smell of baking bread.  Room 502 also caused the EMF meter to react, and the temperature rose and then dropped suddenly.  Room 502 is notorious in Waverly Hills lore because of the deaths of two nurses who worked in that room.  One jumped from a fifth floor balcony to her death for reasons unknown, and the other hung herself from a light fixture in that room in a fit of depression.  It is rumored that she had become pregnant by one of the married doctors that worked there at the time.  Photos taken from this investigation show spectral lights, shadow spirits, and a disembodied face behind two of the investigators.

Room 502

Many investigations have take place at Waverly Hills in the seven years since this one, and the tales of the paranormal get ghastlier and ghastlier.  A little girl is seen peering out of the windows.  A ball has been seen rolling out of one room and changing course so that it rolls into another room down the hall.  And scariest of all, a woman has been seen running out of the front door in chains, wrists bleeding, begging for help.  Several people have reported seeing objects move of their own accord, doors open and slam shut on their own, and one investigator actually had a brick lauch up at him from the floor and hit him in the small of his back.

Waverly Hills continues to be a hot spot for paranormal investigations.  The Most Haunted crew recently came over from Great Britain to film a show there, and the gang from T.A.P.S. has also done an investigation there.  The Sanatorium is also featured on the Travel Channel as one of the “World’s Scariest Places.”  I had planned on including some youtube investigation footage here, but there are so many decent clips, I recommend you go there yourself, search for Waverly Hills, and just enjoy.

Yours in this life and the next!

GhOsTwRiTeR KiM

sources:  http://www.louisvilleghs.com/LGHS_MASTER/SUB/Investigations/Waverly/, http://www.emedicinehealth.com/tuberculosis/page3_em.htm, http://www.therealwaverlyhills.com/, http://books.google.com/books?id=o58mJavC4msC