Movie Review: Paranormal Activity

If you want to enjoy this movie, try to ignore all the hype. It is a good movie. Is it the greatest scary movie ever? No. But this VERY low budget film is good and will stay with you and make you scared when you get into bed at night and shut the lights. The beauty of this movie is its simplicity. First time movie maker Oren Peli knows what Hitchcock knew and all the other great scary movie makers know; less is more. You don’t have to show a lot to scare people. Noise is scary. Low lights with shadows are scary. You don’t need blood spurting, heads rolling, monsters or psycho killers. The movie is shot documentary style like The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield. It uses suspense instead of violence and very few special effects which allows you to think, “Could this really be happening?” The premise is simple. A young couple, Kate and Micah (their real names by the way), decide to investigate a spirit Kate believes has been following her since childhood. They set up a camera in the bedroom and the audience witnesses what happens. Although I have a feeling this movie will become a slumber party favorite, for the full scary effect, it needs a dark, packed movie theater. So go, sit back in your seat, be patient and I promise, you will experience Paranormal Activity.