Not a movie to watch over again, but still worth watching.

Rating: 5/10 (22 October 2011)

A number of people that I have spoken to did not really like this film, and to be honest with you there was little about this film that really stood out for me with the exception that it cost only $15000 to make but ended up pretty much breaking the box office. It has gone down in history as the movie with the biggest taking on an opening night ever. Not bad for a guy with a camcorder and a couple of mates.
Obviously it is the little tricks that Peli uses to make it appear that there is a ghost in the house. Okay, they are a little bit more explicit in labelling it as a demon and that this demon is a dangerous entity to mess with, and it is clear from the movie that there isn't really anybody to assist them with the problem.
Basically the movie is about a couple, Micah and Katie, who suspect that their house is haunted, so they purchase a camcorder so that they can attempt to capture the ghost on video, or at least try to work out what is going on. The actions start off really subtly, such as a door swinging in the middle of the night, or the occasional bump from downstairs, but as the movie progresses the events become more and more intense until it ends badly.
This is one of the things I generally like about horror movies like this and that there is generally no happy ending. The Blair Witch Project did not have a happy ending, and neither does this movie. However, we are left in the dark about a lot of things, however I suspect that this is Peli's purpose. He is not attempting to explain anything beyond what we are told in the movie. This movie is about things that go bump in the night, but does not endeavour or even attempt to explain what these things are. Further, it has no intention of having any realistic explanation about it either. The other effect that he uses quite well (though it comes out much better in the next movie) is the shock value. Not shock as in doing something on screen that absolutely appalls us, but rather having a long stretch of nothing, and then suddenly a door slams, startling the characters and startling the audience. That, I must admit, is hard to do, but it is the reason we go and see these films, to jump out of our seats.
I would have to compare it with the Blair Witch Project as the style is very similar, but while I may have liked the Blair Witch Project when I watched it it made me feel very ill, and I know that I was not the only one to find that. This film is nowhere near as bad as that, though the camera shots of them just living their normal lives do get quite boring. However it adds to the entire suspense of the movie, as we are made to let our guard down, and we then forget that there is paranormal activity occurring in the house, and suddenly BANG, the door slams shut of its own accord.
All in all, not a bad movie, but not something that I am probably going to watch over and over again.