Paranormal Activity Review

Hey folks. Thanks for checking out our Paranormal Activity review.

You’ve gotta love stories like this one. A little, ultra low budget indie film that YEARS after it’s made gets some traction, gets picked up by a “name” studio, and then gets a theatrical release with some MAJOR positive reviews. Such is the story of Paranormal Activity.

The hype surrounding this film has ben of the scale. Many well respected horror sites going so far as to call it “the scariest movie of all time”. Those are some big claims.

So does Paranormal Activity live up to the enormous praise and hype? No, not at all. However, that’s not to say it isn’t still a solid little horror film that is quite enjoyable.

THE GENERAL IDEA

The synopsis for Paranormal Activity reads something like this: “After a young, middle class couple moves into what seems like a typical suburban ‘starter’ tract house, they become increasingly disturbed by a presence that may or may not be somehow demonic but is certainly most active in the middle of the night. Especially when they sleep. Or try to.”

THE GOOD

The very best thing about Paranormal Activity to me is the concept of escalation. I can honestly say I’ve never seen a horror film do a better job of slowly, gradually and effectively “taking it up to the next level” throughout the run time. As the film progresses it gets a little more creepy, then a little more… then a little more… then holy crap… then HOLY CRAP… then CRAP I JUST CRAPPED MYSELF! It never moves backwards and it does a fantastic job of not “blowing its load” too early. The result is that it you’re never given a chance to really catch your breath. With the fear level ALWAYS going up, it creates a pace to the film that leaves your fingers digging deeper and deeper into the theater chair arm rest. This is where the real strength of film resides.

The use of the handycam may be a little “blair witchish”, but in my opinion it’s the reason the film works at all. The FEEL of it being real is what gives the movie its underlying sense of eerieness that quite frankly I don’t thing would have been there if this would have been a multi-million dollar production. You could have done this exact same movie, same dialog, same action, same location, same everything… but if you did it on a huge budget with multi high quality film cameras and lighting crews and editing, it would have completely lost the effect of the film.

The performances by the 2 actors in the film is what sells it. They were both so natural that you sometimes forget you are watching a movie and not a real home video.

The movie is scary, and that’s the #1 most important thing about any horror film. No, it’s not the scariest film I’ve seen, no it’s not as scary as some of the hype suggests… but it IS scary and has the theater jumping out of its seats on more than a couple of occasions.

There are obviously not a lot of visual effects in Paranormal Activity, but when they are used, they are PERFECT.

THE BAD

Remember that old comedy bit by Eddie Murphy where he talks about how black people would never make good horror movies… because the moment they heard the house say “get out”, they would actually GET OUT. The problem is, if the family or couple actually “gets out”, then the movie is over. That’s the dilemma for the filmmakers in Paranormal Activity. Because listen folks… if ANY of the stuff that was happening to these people in this house were happening to ANYBODY, they would get the hell out of the house and run. EVERYONE… except these two people. That’s the only time the movie didn’t feel real to me. All this crazy stuff starts happening, and they just stay in the house… which is stupid and would never happen. They needed to come up with a better device to explain why they would stay there.

There is a friend character who shows up a couple of times in the film that I thought was just a complete waste and didn’t need to be there at all. Whenever the character showed up, the story seemed to stall. That’s not a criticisms on the ACTOR playing the character, but rather the character itself.

Dead empty time in a horror movie can be very effective to built tension, and for the most part Paranormal Activity uses it quite well… however, it also uses it too much in spots. It also repeats the same conversation between the couples too many times that makes some of the scenes just feel like time filler.

OVERALL

While Paranormal Activity may not be the “scariest movie of all time” or live us to the insane hype its been getting, it is nonetheless a VERY GOOD movie executed very well that will leave you both entertained and pretty creeped out. What more can you ask from a horror movie? Overall I give Paranormal Activity an 8 out of 10.

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75 thoughts on “Paranormal Activity Review

  1. I have been surfing on-line more than 3 hours nowadays, yet I by no means discovered any interesting article like yours. It?s lovely worth sufficient for me. In my view, if all web owners and bloggers made good content material as you did, the web shall be a lot more useful than ever before.

  2. Same Room, Same Bed, Same Side over n over n over again. i mean c’mon what the hell… i dont even understand how these ppl could sleep after somthing lyk this has happened even once. ok fine the girl has experienced it before but the guy is a nut job… the movie was a big scare but has its negatvz aswel. 9/10.

  3. I thought the film was excellent and I can honestly agree with John on almost every points he mention. But I’m a bit surprised that people didn’t like the ending. To me the ending is what made this film one of the scariest for me (The theatre version, not the alternate on DVD).

    *SPOILER ALERTS*
    One of the bad point that I like to add is that I don’t understand why the girl kept sleeping near the door where most of the harassment from the demon happens? If I was the guy, I offered to sleep on that side and I shut the dang door! Make no sense.

    I still think Sixth Sense and The Shining are both scarier but this film is definitely up there and will be a classic!

  4. I enjoyed the movie, a very good scare in a long time. It’s a low budget film, so no complaints. Actually very good for low budget, and it worked out better…making it more realistic. I was just annoyed why the girl didn’t switch sides of the bed, but that would ruin the movie. 9 out of 10 for me.

  5. Adam… yeah i agree with that side thingy… the movie was nice 9/10 but when you finish the movie der r still question that is not answerd

    1. why they didn’t try 2 switch sides in the bed.( maybe dsnt even help a thing coz the “DEMON” dragged her once only..)

    2. wer did Katie stabbed and what happened to the other girl who saw Micah ?

    3. if the medium really wants to help them why he didnt event try a phone call or something.

    4. on the trailer.. wer is the part wer someone is thrown to the camera.

    5. the foot steps wer small but on the movie you can hear some big thing or you can imagine a huge thing is really moving.

    6. the 1st shadow was its like an image of a guy.. but very small. and it is just like a normal shadow

    7. in the 2ng shadow it did change. its like a woman wearing a hospital dress for patient.

    8. if the demon really hates the medium. when Katie was calling it why the demon didnt cut der conversation.

    9. as i can see its like the demon wants her..
    so why the demon didnt killed micah by it self.

    10. why only 1 camera? if he did bought alot he can monitor all the things happening every room and corner of hes house and

    11. was the demon already in the body of katie when micah asked her to leave the house? coz she smiled after micah leaved the room.

    1. sorry if i got a bad english. ^_^

      again 9/10 for “PA”

      simple but very effective movie

      is the part wer someone was thrown in the movie? or it is just in the trailer?

    2. Dude, the part were someone was thrown to the camera, was like in the end…

      SPOILER

      when Micah is thrown to the camera by Katie.
      Second… You must know that the movie… is meant to be that way. Also to all others… It is supposed to be a home made movie.. (also made in 2006) The camera angle was done pretty well.. sincerely when I saw Blair Witch I got headaches and it was dark ALL the time.

      They didn’t monitor everything bcuz… first of all… they are just like… checking out what happened… as it said… nothing bad really happened until they installed the camera and dragged it around…
      Now… some may say that a problem was that it wasn’t all that surprising.. but hey… that’s not the point… the point is, to make you think… every heard a door creak? ever swear that you feel observed… hey you just might be right. That is the point of the movie.. To scare the hell out of you, and get you thinking: what if…?

      I saw it like two hours ago, and I loved it…
      the crowd I was with, were all very quiet and you could enjoy every single effect. It strikes your senses and you are waiting for the minimal thing to happen. And it is quite shocking that it does… now it does hint you that it will happen bcuz time slows down and all that…
      But it was a cleverly made movie… very effective, and I enjoyed it ^^

  6. What a waste of money and time. Talk about being a HUGE disappointment!!! All talk and no action. Another Blair Witch Project; the erradic camera movement gave me unrelenting vertigo leaving me nauseous. A shallow, half baked, boring, and laughable plot with little to no imagination.

    I feel like a fish ~ hooked, cleaned, and ready for the frying pan. Instead of being “scared”; the viewing audience when I saw the movie was laughing.

    I want a refund and an apology!

  7. Ok so i just got done watching the movie and i thought it was not as good as it could have been. Let me just say that i dont think it was a bad movie, i love the whole home video thing, that was great. The effects are perfectly done as well. Now for the bad. The things that just didnt make sense were this.
    1) When they left to go out for the night and the board is sitting on the table and caught fire, he never did bring it up to her!! Like WTF

    2)The foot prints in the powder had THREE huge toes! Like thats not a clear sign that your pretty much screwed!

    3) The whole picture in the crawl space was lame. What was with that? what did it just fall out of the demons wallet or something?

    4) Was BURNING THE CROSS such a good idea?

    5) And the last thing, why is it that everytime something happens or the demon made it self known it the middle of the night, they just instatly wake up?? They both spring out of bed and try to find it.

    In the end i would like to have seen more people come into the picture and more realistic reactions

  8. All i wanna know why is why it latched onto her ?? i know they said it was random but i think that could have been told a bit better like it looks for certain things in a human blah blah.
    But i loved this film i saw it yesterday and i got no sleep at all cos i kepy looking at my door and hearing the floorboards creek haha.

  9. to everyone saying why don’t they just leave the house the film goes out of its way to cover that. the medium says it will follow them. he says it a couple of times. he says this has to be dealt with it will follow you wherever you go. so while you might find that flimsy at least the film does go out of its way to cover that.
    plus you know…the entire thing most films rely on…suspension of disbelief most certainly applies here.

    and john i love ya and all but to complain about the friend is a bit nit picky isn’t it?? she is on screen for what…maybe five minutes in total spread out over two short scenes.

    1. Hey Alfie,

      Yes… they do “address” that the demon would follow her… but that was flimsy. They would have left regardless. They would not have kept sleeping in the same bed. As I said in the review, they needed a better device to explain that.

      Suspension of disbelief? Sure, but you still need to do a good job of it, and in this one instance, I don’t think they did a good job.

      Dude, I HATE it when people say “aren’t you knit picking”. No. It was a negative part of the film, and I mentioned it. Just because the rest of the movie is pretty solid, doesn’t mean I pretend like there aren’t flaws and ignore them. It was a REAL weakness of the film, and I pointed it out. No more, no less. I didn’t say it ruined the film or anything like that.

      1. !!!Semi-spoilers!!!

        I agree 100% with John’s review on this one. It was a good movie and worth seeing but it had some big flaws in my eyes. The whole “the demon follows the girl” aspect of the film was lazy. Just because the first & ONLY person (yes, I know they tried a second person) they spoke to about their problem tells them it is attached to her doesn’t mean they have to take it at face value. I felt the characters never truly tried to address the haunting and just decided to play Ghost Hunters.

      2. I’ve been saying it all over here and I’ll say it again: They decided to leave the house and had the car packed when the chick decided that they no longer needed to leave. I don’t know why everyone chose to forget this part.

        Plus, addressing the sleeping in a different bed part, I’m with ya there John but I would’ve been scared s**tless to sleep downstairs where they hear all the crashing around. But they probably should’ve shut the door to their bedroom…

  10. Just saw PA tonight.

    I reeeeeeally liked how it ended. Mucho mucho mucho. You were right on all your points except the “why didn’t they leave” point…but that’s been voiced by several commenters already, so no point in doing THAT.

  11. My thoughts about the movie: meh. I found it predictable, kinda silly, and the handycam motions kept me nauseous. I mean, seriously…Eddie Murphy was right! Even if leaving the house wouldn’t solve the issue, it might’ve delayed the inevitable, as it did in her past. If it were me, I would’ve gone to someplace where there could be 24-hour monitoring, so the minute something happened, someone could be right there. And please, I can’t believe anyone would be foolish enough to try to prompt an escalation with ouija boards and outright challenging.

    Sorry. Didn’t think it was remotely realistic and I wish I had spent my money on another movie. I found more entertainment value with Blair Witch.

  12. If you remember John, the reason they didn’t leave is because “it” had been following her since she was 8 years old and would only continue to do so.

    Great flic!

  13. If you remember Jon, the reason they didn’t leave is because “it” had been folowing her since she was 8 years old and would only continue to do so.

    Great flic!

    1. Took the words out of my mouth. He’s obviously a good dude and could have left the house, but he didn’t. I definitely would’ve left her alone though, hahaha. I actually want to see this again. The movie actually did give me chills in certain parts. I loved it.

  14. John not to be an ass but the girl can’t get away from the demon thing, it follows her. The guy on the other hand can, and after seeing that bitch over my bed for 3 hours in the middle of the night just staring id be right the fuck out.

    1. and I could go to a comedy an not laugh once. everyone is in control of their emotions, you just have to be willing to surrender yourself in order to have a good time.

  15. John, finally something above 5/10 xD. But this movies is really worth its 10/10 , that only for the low budget making a movie that looks like something thats been made for 25million – Cloverfield for example. But at the end, good review.

  16. Wasn’t scary at all to me. The point John makes about getting out of the house is probably one of the most crucial points. Don’t treat it like a moinor detail that doesn’t prevent the movie from working. It does. I understand if they leave the house the movie is over, which is why maybe they should have put more thought into this movie while writing the script. They could have went to a hotel, and have the ghost still follow them. Something. Staying in one location an entire movie is a no no in film world. Hate to bring up Blair witch, but they had the right idea. Stick the main characters in the woods, and make it impossible to get out. It adds a whole new element of terror. The ghost is keeping them in the woods; not only that, but other than the ghost itself, how are they going to live? How are they going to eat? Where will they sleep?

    In this movie, they get to sleep in a bed every night, and eat at will; go out to dinner with friends. There not enough conflict other than the ghost. And I disagree about the slow build up. A lot of the terror happens in the very first act. I was actually surprised.

    1. Read all the comments above you for an explanation on why they do not leave.

      Also, I think the effectiveness of the scares can have a lot to do with prior experiences. This movie handles a haunting very realistically.

      1. Well i thought it obvious why they didnt leave, as it was pointed out, the hauntings was happening since, i think she said six yrs old and it followed her whereever she moved to, so they realized that it wouldnt matter where they went to it will follow her.

      1. Well. Yeah. Sure. It is. I don’t know if POLTERGEIST, THE DESCENT of any of the 28 [whatever’s] later holds a candle to The Exorcist. It just seems we’re skewing awfully young here. I haven’t seen Paranormal Activity.

        Just sayin…

  17. I am pretty stoked to catch this film. I’ll have to check if it is coming to my area.

    Now…as far as horror movies go…

    It’s my contention that 28 Days Later (NOT the dreadful sequel) is the scariest film of all time. Only movie to ever give me nightmares. It moves along with such an anxiety-inducing feeling of desperation that it made me leave the theater needing a zanex.

    Aside from that, for some reason the movie Signs really freaked me out. That scene at the Mexican kid’s birthday party…priceless.

    1. Dave, I totally agree with you.

      When John was discussing the scariest films he’s seen above, I instantly thought of Signs. That was creepy as hell.

      28 Days is scary in a completely different way. That awful feeling of utter hopelessness was done brilliantly.

      I don’t know if I’m really all that excited about this movie. It really doesn’t seem to offer anything new or original, and that’s what’s really keeping me from getting too interested. Maybe it’s better than I’m expecting, but it just seems like a combination of The Exorcist, Blair Witch, and a few other horror movies. Nothing about it really seems unique.

    2. Gosh Dave, “28 days” was as boring as sitting in a kindergarden storytime circle!!!! but “Paranormal activity”…well lets put it this way, at the end of the movie i kinda wished i brought along an extra pair of underwear

  18. Good review though I’m a bit surprised you didn’t mention the ending among the bad things.

    Also now you’ve gotten me interested in watching “An American Werewolf”.

    1. Actually Markus they did at the end of the movie, it said “the next morning the police found Mikus(did i spell that right?)dead and his GF had fled and is still out there” hmmmmmm….could that be the start of a beautiful sequel???

  19. I thought the reason why the couple wouldn’t leave was because the ghost or spirit was “attached” to the woman in some way and followed her where ever she went. So moving wouldn’t solve it. At least that’s what i read from other reviews.

  20. To tackle your point about not leaving the house John – would it be possible that this entity was going to follow the lead female character everywhere she went regardless of how far she went? (pretty similar to the Poltergeist sequels where the property the family lived in was irrelevant – it was the blond little girl who attracted the evil ghosts). Am I completely off-track here?

    1. It’s not possible, it’s that it WOULD follow the lead female character. they say it in the movie, i can’t belive he thought that was a negative part of the film. i thought it was awesome great that they didn’t leave because they knew there would be no point.
      **SPOILER**
      she said she moved to different houses growing up and the thing followed her

      1. I think by staying in the house, the demon was more empowered. It did not want them to leave. Yes, it would have followed them somewhere else, but I don’t think it would have been in a position to do as much harm.

      2. first let me start off by saying the movie is not based on a true story. the ending credits will tell you that the movie is entirly fictional and any similiarties to names of characters or events are entirely coincedental. that being said if the girl and the dude left and went somewhere where there are alot of people the thing would of left them alone. i have never seen a movie where they A left the house in the first place and B when they did leave they went somewhere populated, not a forest or lake. i wonder what would happen then if they did go somewhere populated that would be a movie worth checking out if the thing didnt care about how many people

  21. John, i’ve been reading the movie blog for a while now, and i’ve seen all the movies you recommended and i like them all, also i’ve tried to avoid the movies you dislike and if i see them i hate those movies…
    Anyway,i have to disagree with one of those bad points you gave the movie, the part where you didn’t understood why the stayed in the house… isn’t the house that is haunted… it’s the girl that has a demon that follows her, because remember that used to happen when she lived with her family in another house… so, it wasn’t matter of staying or leaving the house…

    This movie one of the scariest i ever seen, i really liked it, and Mikah he is a funny dude, lol!

      1. Gerlach – thanks for warning about the spoiler. My peripheral vision caught your warning when I was halfway down the post. I like it when new people post here but… sigh.

      1. wow really…..the decent was not scary at all, it was a cool movie but not scary to me…just to unreal for me to comprehend it bieng scary.

        An american werewold in london really had some amazing efx for the time and they used a lot of monets to make u jump…but to me jumping in a film isnt as scary as bieng actually scared…for that i would go with poltergiest….but london would be up there for me too….i think the reason i didnt like paranormal and the decent is what u mentioned in the bad portion…..i just would leave the dam house and called ghost hunters and made some money….poltergiest scared me cause even when they tried to leave they where followed…..even though i wasnt scared watching paranormal i would say it had more jumps in it then any movie recently,,,,problem i had with the movie was the lame ass audience..they kept chatting and ruining the dam film.

      2. **ALLUSIONS TO SPOILERS**

        I gotta agree about The Descent. I just couldn’t really become afraid of the creatures in the dark, mainly because I couldn’t get past the cattiness between Juno and Sarah (I think those were the names). I mean,it had some good fright scenes like the husband dying and then the twist at the end (those endings are a little depressing). Then again, to each his own. Personally, movies with dolls (first Chucky, Dead Silence) scare the shit out of me.

        As for An American Werewolf in London..never seen.

        Interesting choices though.

      3. I find horror movies like this that feel very realistic are what really are the scariest, movies like The Descent and American Werewolf in London, which are still scary, I find them a little less scary for me because the addition of these “creatures” as what you’re supposed to be afraid of is less scary then something that freaks you out because of how it makes you think “This could happen in real life and that scares the shit outta me!”

      4. OK…first “An american werewolf in london” and “the descent” were childrens stories compared to “Paranormal activity” i slept well and with the lights off…but i kept one eye open all through the night though!!!

    1. If you want Scary try The Original ALIEN !!!

      None of this pu–ified crap of today comes close!
      That 1979 movie is still TRUE/Horror/SciFi/WiFi/
      SkiHi/BloodyFi/GutWrenching/BallsHolding/Freakin/
      Real Scary.
      Try it young guns.

      JohnS

    1. Paranormal Activity will leave you chilled. I watched it 15 minutes ago, and right after i watched it in my pitch dark house, i ran around and turned on all the lights. This movie will leave you CREEPD out. it may be a low budget, scripted film, but it is defintly worth your time. Some may think its slow, Some may think it makes your heart race. me, well… It gave me chills throughout all of the Bedroom scenes. The ending is kind of dissapointing, i would have rather saw them get an exorsist.

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