Good but not excellent

Rating: 6/10 (13 October 2012)

I watched this movie because one acquaintance, pretty loud-mouthed guy kept talking about how this film is so low budget and super scary in the same time. So I decided to see it for myself.
He was right on one thing. Despite the movie's non-impressive budget it looks very well, I would have never thought about it. But what about the scary part? Well...
The movie is scary. And one thing you should like about it is how different it is from other horror movies. It's not a B-category slasher with tons of blood and sexploitation. It returns to the classical horror movie concept " There's nothing scarier than an unopened door ". However I have a few objections. The movie is scary, but not scary enough for what they declared to be the best horror movie ever. And you know what it did lack, the exact thing cheap horror movies are full of : screams and unexpectedness.
Don't take me wrong, the style is flawless, the 1st person view offers a great immersion experience, but that is just not enough. Yes the effects were very good for this movie, but still...
We all know how it works, ever since Jaws made the appearance on the big screen. First everything is calm, then the tension arises, the illusive calm-down and then BOOM something happens. In a attempt to look "non-hollywood" the makers of the movie seem to have ignored this rule. Sometimes they skip the tension part throwing us straight to action, other times there just is no culmination. Of course alternation is important, but it's a very sensitive thing, a thing the movie-makers couldn't squeeze maximum results of in this movie.
Horror movies should be like roller-coasters, they should go fast-slow , first making you feel the overwhelming sensation of rising g-force then making you nervous waiting for the next fall. Unfortunately 'Paranormal activity' doesn't exactly feel like that. It feels more like driving a car accelerating at a constant pace on a highway, no sudden skidding, almost no unexpected turn. Instead of feeling as if I traveled on a road with very bad conditions: disturbed, cranky, nervous; this trip felt like a slide on butter. The movie has few really scary moments, the rest are not so scary. Plus to that the movie is too linear, i caught myself thinking "wow this is just like in those old ghost stories, right now thing x should happen" and I guessed, A LOT. Because of this you can't fully enjoy the movie, the sounds aren't loud enough, the events aren't scary and unexpected enough, developing too predictably, slowly and monotonous .
Now, of course I am being strict right now. The movie is flushing with originality . It re-raises standards of the genre by once again proving that a movie can be scary :

even with a basic ghost story you heard hundreds of times

even without excessive violence, blood, sex and profanation

even without a immense budget

and most importantly it proves that tension alone and originality can still make a good horror movie.

On the background of the achievements, the minor problems like sometimes asking yourself 'Why are they acting strange?' and the fact that the relationship of the characters looks a little not genuine just fade away.
However...
Yes it has good effects, yes the acting is quite believable, yes the scenes are creepy, but still it just missed a little bit of spice.
This movie will probably enter the manuals of 'How to make good horror movies' but it was just a few steps away from perfection.