Great *One* Trick Horror Movie!

Rating: 8/10 (11 October 2009)

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY is a pretty decent horror flick based on a deceptively simple idea.
Like "The Blair Witch Project," PA is basically an "amateur" film that has been discovered after some horrific events befall a young couple. As the audience, we don't yet know what that is but the video tells us that the guy is a tech-gadget junkie and he decides to make home movies to document his live-in girlfriend's story about being visited by "something" ever since childhood, which she feels is still making regular visits (and we're not talking about her monthly visitor either, lol).
There's a slow build up of minor events happening, as they continue to grow in scope and weirdness, to the shocking ending. It had me and others jumping at certain points and so it definitely had its moments.
The film is a lot like those cable reality shows where people go into reputed haunted houses and other places, flick on the night-vision camera, and end up scaring themselves half-silly.
But the main difference between those shows (and even "The Blair Witch Project" movie) and PA is that "PARANORMAL ACTIVITY" actually shows you the strange and spooky stuff that's going on and it's not just the people suggesting it or showing dust specks and claiming that that's a spirit. You will see what's going on and it's pretty odd and frightening.
Creating an amateur-ish like quality, most of the film is shot in a locked-off camera point-of-view, although there is a little shaking and swinging in the beginning and peppered throughout--not too much or long enough to cause motion sickness--only adds to the movie's mystique. Some shots are shot with the character's head only in partial view which lends to the idea that this is just a candidly shot home movie.
Anyway, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY is a fun and frightful film that's great to see with a packed audience and perfect for this Halloween season.
Unfortunately for the filmmakers this can't be repeated (like "Blair Witch"), because everyone will be jaded to this clever filming and marketing technique.