Paranormal Activity

Is this movie actual footage of a haunting? Despite the film's implication that the footage was found by police and released by the families of the victims, this is a fictional movie. It is not inspired by real events. The director experienced odd noises at his home and was inspired to write a script about what might have caused it.

At the start of the film, you meet Micah (the curious and protective boyfriend) and Katie (his scared and confused girlfriend). Micah decides, after Katie voices concerns that shes been haunted since she was a child, that hes going to videotape the events of their lives, all day and night in order to get to the bottom of whatever situation theyre dealing with, whether natural or supernatural and slowly the couple begin to get answers to the question of what it is thats going bump in the night.The film is NOT your typical fast paced horror flick. It takes its time developing characters and does so flawlessly. You understand who the characters are and why they react in the way they do as the events in the film get progressively worse.The actors owned their roles and did an incredible job getting the audience to care for their characters. They did such a good job in fact, that its easy to forget that youre watching a movie. The characters, as well as the supernatural activity was very realistic. Simple, believable and most importantly, not over the top. I can honestly say that Paranormal Activity is by far the scariest film that Ive ever seen and Ive seen A LOT of horror films. Its creepy, suspenseful and gets under your skin. The effect that its had on me lingers even now, weeks later. I remember hearing someone say, "An effective scary film will follow you long after leaving the theater, while a poor one is forgotten by the time you hit the parking lot". Much like JAWS made it scary to go to the beach, Paranormal Activity makes it scary to sleep in what USED to be the comfort of your own home.