Have not commented on anything in a long time. But after reading all the overly positive "scariest movie of all time" and overly negative "two hours of my life I'll never get back (hour and a half actually)", I had to comment. I heard about this in Entertainment Weekly and was waiting patiently for it to come out in wide distribution. All in all, it's a good movie for what it is. A low budget horror movie using the faux documentary premise. Compared to The Blair Witch Project, where you couldn't see a damn thing to be scared of, and Cloverfield, which just made me nauseous from the jerking camera, this film at least has steady camera work most of the time. If you are a die hard horror movie fan, will this movie terrify you? Probably not, except on a psychological level possibly. The notion of a demon haunting a person as opposed to a haunted house, while nothing truly original in the sense it hasn't been done elsewhere, is still not seen to much in horror (except in possession films), least these days in the days of Saw and Hostel and other crap. There are a few startling moments in the film. They are comparable to a friend sneaking up on you from behind and shaking you. But honestly, that's what I want from a horror movie. To be in suspense and have something shock me and get my heart pumping for a few. I can't remember the last film I saw to do that so at least Paranormal Acivity got my blood flowing a couple times. But mostly its disturbing. Some of the night scenes would be slightly shocking, others would just be creepy to watch. But in each something different happens. In terms of acting, nothing spectacular but hardly as terrible as some are whining about. And while the film suffers from all other faux documentary films with the "'WHY ARE YOU STILL FILMING? TURN THE CAMERA OFF!' 'I WOULD BUT THEN THERE WOULDN'T BE A MOVIE TO SHOW.'" moments, there are actually times when the boyfriend gets yelled at to turn off the camera and does so. And his character is shown from the beginning to be stubborn, frat boyish, and egotistical. So, while his stupidity starts to wear on you, its a slightly more plausible reason for the continual filming than say Blair Witch Projects "THE CAMERA IS ALL I HAVE LEFT!!!" moments. To sum up, is this the scariest film of all time? No. But it is without a doubt the scariest film to be shown in the mainstream theater in the last few years. Its more terrifying then the endless remakes and sequels we have been plagued with. One thing I hope for with all the hype is that horror fans want more genuine shock moments than over the top gore.
Review of Paranormal Activity
