by hisbabydoll

Created on: November 17, 2009   Last Updated: November 18, 2009

Movie Review: Paranormal Activity, Paramount Pictures, 99 minutes, 2009, Micah Sloat, Katie Featherston, Mark Fredrichs, Amber Armstrong, and Tim Piper.

Forty movie goers fled my theatre in fear less than an hour into Paranormal Activity. Usually this sort of mass exodus occurs when a movie sucks. These people were literally fleeing in fear. To quote one brave soldier who made it to the 44 minute mark - holy F'ing crap, I can't take this anymore, are you KIDDING ME? More people left closer to the end of the movie, but I had lost count.

The movie starts out sort of slow and builds up to absolute terror. A young couple living together in a new house are awoken by noises in the night. The industrious boyfriend decides to film the couple's life, especially at night when the noises occur, to see if they can figure out what is going on. The girlfriend has experienced "haunting" on and off for most of her life. Is she insane? Is the house haunted? Or is something more terrifying lurking in the hallways and attic of their home? The story unfolds in both "real time" and while reviewing film from the night while the couple was sleeping.

I love horror movies. I've been watching them as long as I could sneak down the stairs and watch through the railings when I was supposed to be in bed. My son loves horror movies. We watch everything from hackers and slackers to creepy ghost stories. I went camping in the woods two hours after watching the Blair Witch Project. These things don't usually scare me. Paranormal Activity, scared me. The movie is almost entirely devoid of blood. For Special F/X seekers - this movie is not for you, as effects are few and far between. The tension is built up by dialogue and plot devices.

I'm going to pause a second and say that any comparison being drawn between Blair Witch (which wasn't a horrible flick itself) and Paranormal Activity are off the mark. While both were low budget, low effect, small cast productions - the comparison ends there. The story is different, the story-telling style is different, and the quality of acting is far superior in Paranormal Activity. You believe the people are real, you become drawn into their story.

The most effective thing about Paranormal Activity is the way you are drawn into the mystery with the couple of the house. They are average and likeable. By the end of the movie I felt as if watching a home video friends had made - which of course makes what happens ten times harder to watch! During the movie I found myself clutching my chair babbling "no, no, no, NO WAY!" on several occassions, and left the theatre shaking my head. I promptly went home and called four different friends to tell them they HAVE to see this movie.

Best horror flick of the decade - hands down.

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