Unfortunate happenings made this one more of a miss in my books

Rating: 7/10 (2 February 2010)

First of all my beautiful fiancée put me in the credits...how cool is that? I'm talking about the Blu-Ray release of Paranormal Activity where they allowed fans to write in and they added their names to the credits. Anyways something I'm sure you'll look into. There were some definite extenuating circumstances that made Paranormal Activity a little more like a dud to me. While I enjoyed the basic ideas behind it and some genuinely creepy scenes, and I enjoyed the low quality angle like Blair Witch or Cloverfield. However, I knew, as many did, going in that this wasn't real, they weren't even trying to pretend it was real. Secondly there were three girls in the theater that giggled and screamed and were downright stupid through the whole thing so thank you ladies for ruining my experience. On top of both of those I felt like both stars in the film really weren't giving their all. It felt like they were "performing" which takes away from the aspect of this being a true story or all too real or anything like that. It just didn't fit. And finally there was a lot of hype around this movie by the time I saw it. People were raving about it so it probably inadvertently raised my expectations.
Micah Sloat is the doting boyfriend who is also the unbeliever at first. Boy will he get his just come-uppins. Sloat is significantly better than his female counterpart but still doesn't really show off any terrific acting ability. He's new to the big screen so I guess this will likely help a budding acting career. Katie Featherston is his girlfriend and the one being haunted. She was good in some scenes and then other scenes she just came across as really phony. She got some of the creepiest scenes (like simply standing over his side of the bed for hours) but that still didn't really take a lot of effort. The two of them together however are really terrific. They have great chemistry and work well together, lucky for them. I personally would have worked overtime to find the perfect "psychic" but instead they found Mark Fredrichs. As the psychic come to try and help the couple which he doesn't...at all...he doesn't even try but rather runs away every time. He doesn't even come across as believable.
I'm not trying to harp on the creation of newcomer Oren Peli because he wrote and directed and the movie made millions, tens of millions and already has a sequel slated (which I will see!) However, the movie was sloppy, and it seemed to win over millions of people but I saw it for more of what it was which was a run of the mill, not strongly performed movie that tries to make you believe in its reality. Now all this being said it takes some talent to completely and utterly send a creepy chill through you by moving a bedroom door and nothing else. But that is one of the creepiest scenes in the movie. Add in that her behavior throughout the film and it will give you some shivers. But don't believe ALL the hype because it isn't the best horror movie of the year, there are zero special effects and all the chills are done cheaply which only work some of the time. Overall you'll end up seeing it because of its popularity but I think you'll see what I saw. Average for what it is. 7/10