Paranormal Activity, the Emperor's New Clothes of canny (actually genius) internet marketing. The most amazing thing is the Pavlovian Dog effect it seems to be having on gullible auds who've been convinced that it's the scariest thing they've ever seen when it's actually a lot closer to watching paint dry. I guess P.T. Barnum was right.

Neither are there moon-sized space ships or giant robots or houses that can fly because of balloons or vampires or zombies or...

It's make-believe. You put yourself in the film. I don't believe in God, but when I watch The Exorcist, I fully assume the Devil and God exist in that world.

It's different with horror movies. In order to truly be disturbed, I have to feel that what I'm watching could happen in the world in which we live. At least The Exorcist has some basis in reality as there have been exorcisms performed by the Church. People may think their house is haunted but there's never been anything definitive to prove it.

There's never been anything definitive to prove demons were involved with exorcisms. And considering the antagonist in Paranormal Activity is a demon, it's the same exact situation as The Exorcist, simply without the priests.

No house has been proven to be haunted.

The house in Paranormal Activity isn't haunted.

The fact you call Libs a prick kind of says it all.

Paranormal Activity freaked me the hell out. I don't care about the inevitable backlash. I don't care about people using it against me later. It's the scariest film I've seen in many years.

I never said anything about demons, just that exorcisms have actually been performed. No house has been proven to be haunted. All The Exorcist did is take something that does happen and expand on it. Why do you think the Church was angry about it when it came out?

BKB, who the fuck cares if it's R-rated? Like, why are you even bringing up that point in all your posts? It had language. It had enough f-bombs that the MPAA wouldn't pass it as PG-13. The end. This isn't a mystery, nor something you should mention more than once ever in life.

BKB, usually no more than one or two Fuck's are allowed in PG-13 rated films.

BKB, usually no more than one or two Fuck's are allowed in PG-13 rated films.

Building hype since its debut in select college town’s three weeks ago, the horror phenomenon “Paranormal Activity” has finally gone wide. Not since the “Blair Witch Project” a decade ago has a horror film drawn so much attention through critical and audience response.

With bone chilling imagery and fierce build up through perfect plot pacing, “Paranormal Activity” not only lives up to its hype, but solidifies itself as one of the most haunting films of all time.

Set in the fall of 2006 of a suburbia area of San Diego, the film follows Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat (playing a modified version of themselves), a young couple “engaged to be engaged” as Micah puts it. Ever since childhood, Katie has been followed by a sort of demonic/ghostly presence that haunts her in her sleep. In order to understand this intangible presence, Micah purchases a high tech video camera to record the nightly events that occur while the couple sleeps. Over the course of nearly three weeks, the presence’s appearances intensify, tearing the couple and their lives apart.

What happens when you sleep? It is a question no one can truthfully answer and it is disturbing just to think about. This idea of the unknown has provided some of the best psychological horror/thrillers of all time in such films as “Jaws” and its question of what lurks below the surface and Hitchcock’s “Psycho” with its idea of vulnerability while in the shower. Taking this focal theme to an even more personal level, one’s bedroom, first time director Oren Peli crafts a film that demands viewers to question how sure they are that ghosts and demons do not exist.

You can tell yourself it is not real. You can say that it is just a film and all events are staged. You could consult your local film professor to have him explain the realities of the filmmaking process. But when you see a girl violently torn from her bed by an invisible force, and you hear her shrill screams for help as she is dragged into the menacing darkness, a memory is burned into your head that is hard to shake.

Shot for an unheard of in today’s filming world $15,000, “Paranormal Activity” relies not on special effects or an intricate plot to carry the film, but its actors’ abilities to emote the rarely felt emotions that create a unique and truly horrifying atmosphere. And it is often that Peli relies on Katie and Micah to react to the effects that were obviously added in post production.

Acting as the everyday girl whose love for her boyfriend is topped only by her fear of her curse, Featherston creates a genuine character. She is the most relatable character in the film and her memorable mental breakdown towards the end of the film only makes viewers more sympathetic to her experience.

As the testosterone driven boyfriend, many will undoubtedly find Micah to be the film’s antagonist. Constantly ignoring his girlfriend’s requests by continually trying to interact with the being, his actions come off as stubborn. This stubbornness is understandable though in the basic understanding that a man will go to any lengths to protect his girl, even if those lengths are quite retarded.

Starting off slow, “Paranormal Activity” understandably drags throughout its first half by setting up its characters and events. It doesn’t take long before the soon to be iconic night time bedroom shots begin to become more prominent and terrifying. Through the use of fading to black and the growing boom of the eerie sound that accompanies the presence, Peli lets audiences know when they should hold on to their viewing partner for dear life.

In summary, “Paranormal Activity” is an instant classic in the psychological horror genre. It is a movie that should be experienced by hundreds of others in a theater just as willing to get the crap scared out of them. It is one of the more memorable films of our generation.

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I love when people think the reason other people are scared of a movie is because they psyche themselves into being scared... but it's the exact same thing that happens for someone not scared. They go into the movie, wanting to pick it apart and psyche themselves out of being scared.

God, shut the fuck up. SERIOUSLY. You are so obnoxious and annoying. I don't know why the hell you are still on this fucking site. WHY DO YOU CARE IF PEOPLE LOVE THE MOVIE? Or find it scary for that matter? You didn't like it. Boo fucking hoo. We all knew you wouldn't like it. You don't need to be BASHING the people that did love it and found it scary. GROW THE FUCK UP.