A genuinely creepy film! Shame about the rest of the sequels...

Rating: 7/10 (22 November 2014)

Katie & Micah are a happily married couple that have moved into the Suburbs. Unfortunately for them, Katie has brought a demon with them from her childhood. Micah decides to record everything with a camera, but becomes overly incessant with it. This ends up angering the demon and Katie get slowly terrorized by it. This one is far from perfect, but it's actually a well done film. The effort is clearly here, unlike the egregious sequels that followed suit. The formula is wildly overdone and it's become very tiring. Even though it did get tiresome in the sequels, I did love the "everyday" feel this movie had. Incorporating realism is actually a clever move, and it panned out pretty well for director, Oren Peli. This movie had something in common with The Blair Witch Project. Both had an enormous amount of hype. This movie is much scarier than Blair Witch Project. I actually enjoyed the slow-build. Oren Peli knows how to control the tension just perfectly until it reaches the boiling point. We never actually see the demon and I thought that was for the best. Kate's paranoia slowly increases and it was quite interesting. All the shots of the house and people wandering around does get a tad redundant, but there is stuff to keep you occupied. The shots of Katie just standing there, staring at Micah in the bedroom gave me the creeps. The sleepwalking scenes were effective as well. The viewers patience is rewarded with a finale that packs a major wallop and it scared me silly. It isn't often that I get scared anymore. I've seen far too many horror movies, but I'm not afraid to admit that the ending made me regret having the lights off. I was afraid to go to bed for a while. If you don't feel a few chills go up and down your spine during the ending, check your pulse. The acting is competent, but I wouldn't necessarily wanna spend time with these people. Kate Featherstone is fine as Kate. She's got semblance of natural charisma and is fairly likable. I wouldn't call it a great performance though. Micah Sloat is a different story. His performance is fine, but I hated his guts. He was a major reason they were in the predicament that they were in. How many times did Kate politely ask him to put down the camera? He was very recalcitrant towards her and it became obsessive. Do you need to film EVERYTHING? He rarely stops filming! It got unrealistic after a while. I also got tired of his smart ass routine. If I was Kate, I would have thrown him out much sooner for being such a jerk. He was much too abrasive for my liking. Those two are forced to carry all the weight and they did an adequate job, all criticism aside.
I did have some major carps with this movie, but I won't deny that it's a genuinely frightening film. The effort is there and I can see why it was so popular. Thanks to the popularity, we got three atrocious sequels (Haven't seen "The Marked Ones" spin off) that somewhat tarnished the original's impact to the point where I think people forgot how efficient this movie was. See the original and avoid the sequels like Ebola.
7.5/10