Possibly the best horror film of the decade

Rating: 9/10 (21 December 2009)

My biggest recommendation to the movie-watcher interested in seeing Paranormal Activity is to PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do yourself the service of knowing as little about it as you possibly can before going to see it. I know that we live in a society where trailers basically give away the movie before it is even in theaters and where film industry executives will exploit this to try to connive as many people into spending their money on a movie as possible, but there is something to be said for being pleasantly (or frighteningly) surprised. I had the pleasure of being one of a select group of people who knew almost nothing about this film before seeing it and if you go in with an open mind and an active imagination it will be a rewarding and supremely fun experience.
Paranormal Activity is a faux-documentary about Micah and Katie, a young couple living together in San Diego who begin videotaping their daily and especially nocturnal activities in an effort to try to capture some bizarre, possibly paranormal occurrences that have been plaguing their picture-perfect suburban home. The film is shot entirely by the characters themselves and the audience is led to believe that this is entirely "found footage" after the events in the film (a la Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield, etc.). What begins as an investigation of the unknown spirals downward into a truly terrifying and powerful film of relentless suspense and beautifully slow-paced shocks that send shivers up your spine.
The film is an exercise in the old virtue that "less is more." While this technique has been used by countless films such as Jaws, Alien, and Blair Witch where the trick is to show as little of the antagonist as possible, Paranormal manages to perfectly utilizing the audiences' imagination to fill in the gaps with what they really don't see. Consequently, what you DO see is just enough to make it plausible and more than enough to scare the hell out of you.
There are any number of things I could say about this movie- how likable the characters are, how completely convincing these performances by complete no-name actors are, how it is one of the few "found footage" movies where it is entirely believable that the characters would've actually shot everything in the film, how it was made for less than $20,000 and in a few weeks became the most profitable film ever produced, and how this incredible little movie with its low budget effects managed to make it onto my very short list of films that completely, legitimately freaked me the hell out. This film is evidence that even in our over- saturated market for blood-and-guts slasher films that try to scare us with cheap shocks, stock sound effects, and CGI, this is one movie that, with its old-school creeps and chills, can make the most inane thing- a bedroom, a hallway, a suburban American home at night, legitimately frightening in a way that is more personal and disturbing than many other films have ever dared to go.
So that's it. And please... watch it in the dark, with the sound turned up and lots of bass, for maximum enjoyment ;)