…it’s exactly what is expected of a comedy movie.

Malcolm is a happy homeowner who’s started a hobby of recording everything with his brand new camcorder. He has his Latina maid, Rosa, and he’s just asked his girlfriend Kisha to move into his house. Unfortunately, there is a bad start as soon as she arrives when she runs over Malcolm’s dog Shiloh and he doesn’t take it well at all.

After a very sexless night, Malcolm tells the camera that he doesn’t have anything good to report and neither does Kisha. She finds her keys on the floor and thinks something weird is going on so she wants to hire a psychic. Malcolm tells her he has a better idea and hires Dan the security man to install surveillance equipment around the house. He tells them it’ll pick up everything going on and he can even put it on the web if he wants. Night after night, things get worse for the couple and they call in Chip the psychic to read the energy in the rooms. That’s when things take a bad turn.

I know the way that this reads makes it sound a lot more serious that it really is. “Serious” couldn’t be further from the feel of this movie. This is a spoof comedy of the “found footage” and it takes points from movies such as the Paranormal Activity series and The Devil Inside. The screenplay is written by Marlon Wayans and Rick Alverez who have collaborated on several other comedies. It’s directed by Michael Tiddes and stars Marlon Wayans as Malcolm, Essence Atkins as Kisha, Marlene Forte as Rosa, David Koechner Dan the security man, Nick Swardson as chip the psychic, and Cedric The Entertainer as Father Williams. The cast is a mix of comedians who’s comedy is similar in many ways and this makes their acting flow a little better. They also have Marlon Wayans’ writing to use as a guide to show how far they can take the jokes.

The transfer is in 1080p AVC but it falls only about average on the video scale. For the most part, the colors are warm but they can fluctuate with saturation. This is very minor but easy to notice without looking for it. The coloring in the transfer also affects the flesh tones. Also, there are some contrasting issues and it stands out the most in the darker scenes, creating crushing in the blacks. For the most, the flesh tones look great but they also suffer from the saturation issues as well. On the other hand, the sharpness is very crisp and the detailing looks great. On the whole, it’s exactly what is expected of a comedy movie.

The audio mix is encoded in DTS-HD Master Audio and it’s a very strong soundtrack. The movie is about 50/50 of dialogue in the front speakers and effects in the rear channels. There isn’t very much ambient sound so when the dialogue scenes are happening, unless there is music playing at the time the rear channels are practically silent. However, when the film utilizes all of the channels for sound effects and channel movement, it happens smoothly across with no problems. Also the low-frequency audio is very solid. The heavy subwoofer usage rocks the home theater without breaking a sweat. I was very impressed and the lossless audio is par for a Universal release.

The special features on this release are practically non existent and effortless. There is only one featurette on the release and it’s very short.
Supplements
How to Survive a Paranormal Presence- 2 min 7 Secs- This is a quick featurette, interviewing the cast about their roles in the film.

Edition Ratings
Rated R

Disc Details
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set including 1 BD and 1 DVD
UltraViolet digital copy
Downloadable Digital copy
DVD copy

Video Resolution
1080p AVC MPEG-4

Audio
English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1

Subtitles
English
English SDH
French
Spanish

It’s a very funny movie and exactly what I expected of it. It has a few very funny jokes that you can’t help yourself but to laugh. It’s a goofy comedy that does its job: to entertain. Unfortunately, the release itself was a little inconsistent, mostly in the video. The issues could’ve easily been because it was mostly filmed with digital handhelds but the audio track was excellent. It takes advantage of what the technology has to offer and had minimal flaws. Overall, I would say at least rent the movie if you want a good laugh and a fun night or pick it up if you’re big in the genre.

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