A haunted house story told from the POV of a "found footage film," Paranormal Activity works as long as you play along.  It's pretty effective considering what it is, a no budget video.  With such limited resources, the film relies on the talent in front of and behind the camera to great effect as well as something that can't be itemized on a budget but is probably the most important component in a film like this, the audiences' imaginations.

It's the story of Katie and Micah, a couple living in a San Diego home that appears to be haunted but not too haunted.  It's not freakish enough to drive the couple to the nearest hotel but just enough to get Micah to buy a camcorder to record some of the noises and strange disturbances that have been occurring around them.  And this is when the film starts, when he first turns on the camera. 

It's our point of view into the film and it carries with it all its sub-genres staples, the intentionally shaky camerawork, the apparent natural lighting, actors doing double duty as camera operators, the night vision, the time code burn in at the bottom right corner of the screen, which matched with some of the well choreographed and timed blocking of the actors, gives us some incredibly creepy scenes. 

Being the "found footage film" that it is, the sub-genre's constraints glides it into being the work of art that it is without frustrating the audience too much.  It gives us a chance to fill in the blanks of the possible horror stalking this couple in their own home and when you get the audience to play along, when you unleash the audience's imagination onto the film, that's when it plays best.  Another strength of the film comes from the two leads.  Their non-heightened performances give us a normal and likable couple that becomes another very necessary ingredient here, sympathetic characters.  Once we relate to the couple, we are hooked.  What happens to them happens to us.

CraveOnline Rating: 8 out of 10


Rated R.  86 minutes.  A Paramount Pictures Release, A Blumhouse Production.  Written and directed by Oren Peli.  Produced by Jason Blum.