Paranormal Activity

What's it about? After moving into a suburban home , a couple become increasing disturbed by a nightly demonic presence. 

Starring? Micah Sloat , Katie Featherston 

Usually I am not one for scary films but for some absurd reason I thought Paranormal Activity would be a good idea. I personally blame crowd mentality , I was with my friends , It was a sleepover and it seemed an appropriate time to scare ourselves. As the film began to play it dawned on me the consequences , sleep deprivation , increased electricity bills from leaving the light on , and so on. Alas I remained a naive viewer , convincing myself that no matter how hard it tried this was utter fiction. Strangely enough at first the film gave no indication as to being frightening , but viewers do not be fooled. Cleverly Oren Peli catches us off guard , luring us into a false sense of security as the minutes wind past fearlessly. From the moment that door starts mysteriously slamming everything takes a sinister turn for the worst.  Everything quickly escalates and soon you'll be left covering your face and grimacing in fear. Without a doubt writer/director Peli succeeds in  scaring us , despite a relatively low budget and use of handheld cameras - but perhaps it is this Blair Witch Project style that makes it so realistic. Peli builds up tension beautifully as each event ascends and more information is revealed about the mysterious presence in the couple's house.  In many ways I commend the film , for the genre its original and favours the more respected physiological terror over gruesome Saw style gore. The ambiguity of the satanic presence creates a fear of the unknown that becomes mutual between characters and audience. Peli's plot is simplistic and admittedly generic at points but nonetheless the idea is clever. I feel it is a note worthy horror , although it is worth noting I am somewhat of a novice in the genre and do in fact scare easily.  

Verdict? 4 stars , you’ll be sleeping with the lights on