Suspenseful but at times Annoying

Rating: Null/10 (21 January 2011)

Was this movie supposed to be scary because I wasn't really scared at all? I am not a horror movie fan, get scared easily & usually avoid the genre because I don't find pleasure in being terrified which is why it took me this long to finally see this popular film. Perhaps it was the lack of visual effects/quick camera shots/scary music (horror movie standards) but it just didn't scare me. There was a lot of footsteps and banging, etc.. but I couldn't help but imagine the film crew making the sound effects on the stairs as the 2 lead characters lie in the bedroom. I don't know - the movie just wasn't terrifying whatsoever.
What the movie lacked in fear, it made up for in suspense. It was the suspense that kept me on the edge of my seat watching and waiting to see what would happen next. There is absolutely no way to know the ending in advance, assuming one hasn't read spoilers, which makes it a lot better than clichéd movie endings that one can see coming a mile away. There is a nice buildup of action that finally leads to the ending climax.
This movie was shot in a 1st person manner by the 2 lead characters - Katie and Micah. This means that all the footage in the film was created by the 2 leads which means that they end up filming anything and everything to give the audience a portrayal of their lives and a cohesive storyboard. Filming at night when the couple was asleep trying to catch paranormal activity on camera worked for me but the filming of anything and everything, no matter how random didn't. It was weird how they would randomly shoot their lives 24/7 as if they were on some reality show or shooting a documentary when in reality, they were trying to catch the entity mostly at night. Again, this was necessary to actually get the footage to create the film but from a logical standpoint, it didn't work. Why was the camera always on?
As for the 2 main characters - great acting. I bought them as real people truly fearful of what was happening to them or really Katie, specifically, in the home. The movie is fictional but it was done in such a realistic manner that it would be believable that this was a movie about 2 real people and what happened to them.. although, again, it isn't - it's all fiction.
I will say, however, that the first 15-20 minutes of the movie, before I got into the 2 characters and their dynamic, I found them and the movie to be extremely annoying and hard to sit through. This actually takes me back to the previous paragraph where I pointed out the random recordings of anything and everything - that is basically what the beginning of the film is ... it's the intro to the home, the layout of the home and the characters BUT at the same time why the heck is Micah, specifically, annoyingly recording everything? What's the point? He may like cameras but still...the camera was on 24/7 taping randomness for no reason especially at the start of the film. Again, yes, this was the only way to get footage for the movie BUT it was odd.
6/10 Suspenseful but not really scary. It was good and original but nothing fantastic. I'd definitely consider this movie overrated based on the heaps of praise and the box office numbers but it isn't bad either - I'd recommend it because it IS good, it's just not great. I do plan on watching Paranormal Activity 2 so it was enjoyable enough for me to want more.
Lastly, I saw the movie with the original ending which is apparently different from the theatrical version. After watching the theatrical version online afterwards, I'd recommend trying to see the version with the original ending, it was better.