Not great... but better than BLAIR WITCH

Rating: Null/10 (7 January 2010)

If you were as disappointed by "The Blair Witch Project" as I was when it first came out, you will probably understand why I passed on "Paranormal Activity" when it first came out, since this new movie seemed to have been inspired by "Blair Witch". I only ultimately rented this new movie when I had run out of other choices.
To some degree, I was surprised. Overall, this is a better movie than "Blair Witch". For starters, this movie does a better job of laying out the situation at the beginning - there's no fat in this part of the movie, and the explanations for what is happening does not come across as forced. Also, the movie is clearly TRYING to spook its audience a number of times during the running time, unlike what I felt in "Blair Witch". Some of the low budget effects are impressive, and will have you thinking, "How did they do that?" There is also a genuine feeling of building terror towards the end.
But the movie is far from perfect. I didn't really care if the characters lived or died. For one thing, they seem pretty dim-witted at times - if this spooky stuff was happening to me, I would immediately get out of there or immediately contact the professionals! Also, though the terror starts building towards the end, the bulk of the movie is not very spooky at all. And the ending... well, I'll just say that I thought "That's IT?" when the screen turned blank.
This is a movie more interesting than scary. It's not recommended when you're in the mood to be entertained. But if you are a low budget filmmaker who wants inspiration, or interested in what filmmakers can accomplish on a micro budget, then this movie may be up your alley.