Paranormal Activity [2007]

I guess you either love or hate this movie. It’s very similar to the Blair Witch Project with the whole fake documentary thing going on. So a young couple, Katie and Micah, is living a normal life in their big house. But when strange things start to happen in the house and to Katie, they will suspect that the house is haunted. Jump scares are the thing that lifted this movie from obscurity. The buildup and tense atmosphere before them set the stage for expected, primal response. The subsequent hype was gathered from gen pop who saw this horror in theater and had the same feeling.

Although the movie does not have any intro or credits, this is not the real deal. I am saying that because at the start of the movie they are trying to convince you that you are watching authentic footage. This is not the case here, this is a well-constructed and directed project shot with a budget of surreal $15.000. Although Katie is very convincing in her role, Micah is just terrible, but I guess that they wanted that effect. There are a lot of somewhat creepy scenes, especially when the couple goes to bed (not those creepy scenes, although Katie does have something big to show us). I watched it with my girlfriend in small old house and I can tell you that it really got me, listening to everything I could hear later in the night. But it definitely does not deserve this much attention and praise. It is a low budget horror that has one good scene, other than that it is pretty boring. And then again, it depends in what mood you watch it. Enjoy.

Director: Oren Peli

Cast: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Mark Fredrichs, Amber Armstrong, Randy McDowell

Fun Stuff: Oren Peli intended to make the film for around $10,000 but the final budget ended up being between $11,000 and $15,000.

Rating:

IMDb Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179904/