After premiering at a couple of film festivals, word of mouth started to flow around about Paranormal Activity, a new documentary style horror film with an extremely low-budget of around $15,00. The film has been dubbed by many as “one of the scariest movies ever made”. After the movie passed a petition of over 1 million people demanding for it to be shown nation wide, I was finally given the opportunity to see it the way it was truly meant to be seen; yes, see this movie in theaters. You’ll thank me later.

Paranormal Activity follows two characters for the entirety of the film, Micah and Katie. The premise of the film is that throughout various occasions in Katie’s life, she has experienced some very strange occurrences of paranormal activity. After moving into a new home with her boyfriend Micah, once again, these occurrences begin. While the majority of these happenings occur while the couple are sleeping, Micah decides to buy a camera where he can monitor any strange activity that happens while they are sleeping. This concept sets up the main structure of how the majority of the film will play out.

Now, I’m sure you’ve heard that this film is absolutely terrifying and that it is in fact the scariest movie ever made. I assure you, this is not the scariest movie ever made. But, it is a wonderful surprise for horror fans, as it does deliver on both genuine horror and suspense. The only film I can closely compare this film to is “The Blair Witch Project”. It follows the same sort of pattern (random occurrence, brief moments of dialogue, another random occurrence, shocking ending) of delivery, but what makes this film much different is the way each scene is executed. Because the film was shot in one house for its entirety, it gives the movie a genuine feel of realism, and also helps the viewers connect with the characters that are on screen, who do an excellent job of delivering moments of believable terror and disbelief. In the aspect of acting, I really enjoyed Paranormal Activity. At no point in the film did the characters ever manage to lose my grip of interest. Both of the characters are perfectly casted, and deliver performances that will surely have you feeling whatever emotion they are currently going through on screen. Whether they’re laughing together, or completely terrified, you’ll be on the same page because of just how well the film successfully manages to connect you with the two characters.

When it comes to the actual horror and suspense of the film, I’m going to start by saying that I was SLIGHTLY disappointed. No, nothing about the film was “bad”, but due to the large amount of hype that came attached to the film, it’s not surprising to me that I was slightly disappointed. There are particularly two types of scenes that you will see in Paranormal Activity: there will be a day time scene, which is when most of the story and plot line is delivered, and then there are the night scenes, which are usually when the occurrences tend to happen. The day time scenes are all great and do an excellent job of explaining why the entity may be in the house in the first place, and also give us a good amount of time to connect with the characters. For the first hour, all of the night segments are good, but weren’t anything that made me truly unsettled. It does make sense within the context of the storyline, though, as the entity in the house doesn’t become very violent until one of the characters does something in particular to antagonize it, which gives the film a nice boost for its final 30 minutes.

So, the first hour of the film does have it’s moments of scary atmosphere and solid plot development, but it really is the third act of the movie that delivers the most of what it promised from the beginning. Some of the strongest material that was shown either left me slightly creeped out, or paranoid and anxious that a loud noise or sudden movement would make me jump, definitely the most fun aspect of the movie. There are a few scenes that completely took me by surprise by how totally awesome they were, and immediately set the movie into a league of its own. Paranormal may be like Blair Witch in terms of what type of film it is, but unlike Blair Witch, you DO see some activity on screen, and it’s all very believable and at times, freaky.

If you have been following the movie, you may have read that the original ending had been reshot because of suggestions made by Spielberg in a previewing of the film. If you happen to come across the original version of the film, I highly advise avoiding it before seeing the new ending. The old ending is highly inferior to the new one, and lacks any kind of suspense. The reshot theatrical ending wraps up the film much smoother, and at least gives the viewer one more good scare before the credits role.

If you’re wondering if Paranormal Activity is the scariest movie ever, the answer is no. That is not in the least bit saying that this movie isn’t great. It just doesn’t do anything to exceed the expectation that I had going into the movie. In my opinion, there could have been more scenes or terror and activity, but what is delivered on screen is definitely quality stuff, and completely genius on the creator’s part. The film is played best in theaters with no distractions and where it is pitch dark. This will help to further immerse you into the realm of the film, which will make the experience unforgettable. One last thing; if you don’t watch horror movies often, then I do believe that this film may be very terrifying at times and could give someone a panic attack. But, if you’re like me and are fairly accustomed to the genre, then this is a film you need to see immediately because of just how unique and well made it is. Paranormal Activity is unlike any film I’ve ever seen, and it IS scarier than any movie I’ve seen in theaters in quite some time. Highly recommended.