Paranormal Activity... Completely Terrifying

I seldom see a movie that is actually terrifying, but this is one of them.

Clearly this is not your standard Hollywood movie. It doesn't start with a credits and a fanfare. The movie is presented as if the footage we're seeing is real. I was immediately reminded of seeing The Blair Witch Project in my home town's local indie theater ten years ago. I still get the creeps when I remember Mike standing in the corner at the end of the The Blair Witch Project. I have a bad feeling that Paranormal Activity will have the same effect on me. But that's a good thing.

Like The Blair Witch Project, the film quality is not great and that just adds to the frightening atmosphere. The thing that makes paranormal activity truly frightening is that it plays on our fear of the night. All the creepy stuff that happens to them, happens while they sleep. There is nothing they can do about it. It makes you wonder what would happen if you filmed yourself while you were asleep...Ahhh!

Anyway, I like the mood of the film. It's often very funny. As the film goes on and they get more stressed out the humor fades and the tension rises.

A lot of the movie is filmed from the first person perspective. Every time they hear some scary noise they run to the camera, pick it up and go looking for the noise. When a movie is filmed like that, it feels like it narrows your viewing angle. So it just makes you wonder whats on the left and right that you can't see. The first person perspective just creeps me out because it seems like something could jump in the way of the camera at any moment.

All of the terror in the movie is psychological. Little things like a door moving really freaked the audience out. It was all about what we didn't see. That's what was really scary.

I think this was a really good movie for the horror genre. I hadn't seen anything this good in a while. I rate movies out of 10 stars for IMDB. I would give this movie 8 stars. I think the director did exactly what he set out to do. My only critical comment would be that the very ending is pretty cheesy and it doesn't fit the rest of the movie.