A very scary, and unsettling movie

Rating: 9/10 (27 November 2009)

Katie and Micah, a young couple are being plagued by some strange noises during the night. Micah buys a video camera to record the events.....
Paranormal Activity is a rare thing. It is a genuinely scary American movie! The key to its success, is simple. It doesn't rely on gore and violence. It has genuine scares, and builds to a very unsettling ending. What also helps is the performances of the leads. Katie Featherston is brilliant was the events get worse, and is very convincing as she begins to fall apart as events get worse. Micah Sloat playing the boyfriend is also good, despite being possibly one of the most annoying boyfriends ever on screen.
Oren Peli, the writer and director gives as much time to the deteriorating relationship between the couple, as he does to the actual scares too. This helps the actors be more convincing as the events escalate.
The use of sound is important to the success of the movie. There is no music, which is understandable given the movie is meant to be the footage of the events. As a result, the sound is key to the success or failure of a lot of the scares, and it works wonderfully well. Both unsettling the audience, and leading to other scares.
Crucially, the director/screenwriter never fully explains what is happening and why. After seeing the movie, I have my own theory and I'm sure other people have theirs, but as befits the story, he credits the audience with intelligence.
There are little flaws in the movie, but nothing that will spoil the movie. And as I mentioned, the ending is very unsettling.
Some reviewers have said the movie is one of the scariest movies ever made. I would certainly add it to that list.