After being treated to the so called 'Horror of the year' Paranormal Activityflick it was only so long til a similar title comes out to cash in on its success. Quite like the stream of movies that followed the 'Blair Witch' film.

So along came Paranormal Entity.  The first screen you see contains the following:

"Last fall, Thomas Finley was arrested for the rape and murder of his 19 year old sister, Samantha Finley. He was also charged with the murder of Edgar Lauren, a paranormal investigator. Thomas claimed the victims were attacked by a demonic entity of unknown origin. Shortly after, he committed suicide while in prison."

The company behind this film have a record of creating lower budget remakes of big films such as 'Transmorphers' and 'Snakes on a Train' but this time they really went to town to sell their Paranormal Activitymockbuster as legit found footage. So determined is The Asylum to convince viewers the film footage is the real deal, they go so far as to proclaim it all to be 100% legit in the plot synopsis, do not roll any filmmaking credits or even a title card for that matter, and the various production credits on their own website are billed as "n/a". After all that effort what is the only text that appears on the screen when the film concludes?

"All events, characters, and firms depicted in this photoplay are purely fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental."

Genius, idiocy, or sarcasm: you decide.

A little birdie tells me that the production of Paranormal Entity was made for a budget roughly 4-5 times greater than that of Paranormal Activity, and from the moment The Asylum got the idea to make it to the time they completed it, it was a whopping two weeks. The actual shooting process lasted all of two days.

Now me, I'm nowhere near as enamored with Paranormal Activity as many people who i know or have spoke to. I saw it expecting a great film thrill but alas it failed to impress me. You can read the review of Paranormal Activity here.

So is Paranormal Entity better than Paranormal Activity?
In some ways it was, in others it lacked the gloss that Paranormal Activity had.

Lets talks about some aspects of Paranormal Entity. Some way into the film there is a six-minute sequence that is meant to be creepy consisting of the guy working the camera waltzing through the house recording his search for his sister - calling out her name the only dialogue during this period - only to find her in the attic standing there doing absolutely nothing and then absolutely nothing comes of it and the scene ends.

Looking faker and ringing phonier even
as it follows the exact same night-by-night
plot structure and camcordervisual style of Paranormal Activity, cameras are set up in the sister's bedroom and the living room, perfect for recording such edge-of-your-seat-because-you're-reaching-for-the-remote-to-fast-forward non-chills as the mother sleepwalking out of her bedroom and into the living room to begin psychic scribbling gibberish onto a piece of paper. More blackouts. More loud noises.
More screaming. No clue how to make any of it work. . The only area where Paranormal Entity improves upon Paranormal Activity is the brother working the camera being far less annoying than the Paranormal Activity boyfriend, at least until he starts screaming and yelling. Another plus is that the sister is a bit nicer on the eye that the girlfriend in Paranormal Activity. Also, there are some camera shots where you almost get a glimpse of the sisters flesh..... untill eventually you do. BOOBIES!!! A great ploy in an otherwise fairly dull film to pay attention! After the initial view of BOOBIES! there follows a few more flashes of gratuitous nudity.

If you loved Paranormal Activity, you'll roll your eyes at this. If you hated Paranormal Activity, you may just hate this even more. Although saying that, I think, after much deliberation, that I personally prefer Paranormal Entity! If like me you watch Paranormal Entity and think it is the superior film, you're either letting your contempt for Paranormal Activity cloud your judgment or you clearly have horrible taste. again, like me!

Ok, so what about the evidence? Paranormal Activity had loads but does Paranormal Entity? Ummm in a word, yes, but its all a rather bit more bizarre. Remember the Paranormal Activity scene involving the inhuman footprints? Here we get the "terrifying" discovery of what looks like muddy human footprints - on the ceiling! So the horny ghost of Fred Astaire is after the sister or what?

Even though this phantasm walks on ceilings, later on the brother will set up a series of bells on strings tripwires along the ground as a warning system - AND IT WORKS!

One of the first caught-on-tape signs of the entity's existence saw the crucifix hanging above the sister's bed falling off the wall, which in turn leads to a heated discussion the next day over whether or not this seemingly mundane happening was a surefire sign of a demonic presence in the house.

The token psychic is a tad more
believable in Paranormal Entity and
at least tries to lend a hand even
if he does look a tad familier.

So lets sum this up, is Paranormal Entity any good? I liked it. Being in the paranormal game for a long time now had a negative effect on my viewing of Paranormal Activity as it tried too hard to be 'Paranormal'. Micah tried some cliched techniques of ghost hunting and it came across inaccurate which kinda turned me off it.
Paranormal Entity however is alot easier to watch, flows smoother and seems as though it doesnt try as hard to shock or scare.

If you like 'Blair Witch', 'Poughkeepsie Tapes', 'Cloverfield' and of course 'Paranormal Activity' and all other docu-films that try to be real life then give it a try.