After a young, middle class couple moves into what seems like a typical suburban "starter" tract house, they become increasingly disturbed by a presence that may or may not be demonic, but is certainly most active in the middle of the night. Especially when they sleep. Or try to.

I read that the plan originally with Paranormal Activity was to remake the low budget indy film with Hollywood flare and then just release the original on DVD. This smacks with how out of touch Hollywood can be with the movie going public. For some reason there is this thought process that the only way to make a good movie is with an extremely large budget and going all out on everything they do. Its like throwing glitter paint on the Mona Lisa and calling better because now its all shiny. Horror movies should take note from Paranormal Activity that its not gore and blood and CGI that scare us it can be things that go bump in the night and a sense of realism that this could really happen. I am glad they just released the original as it is a fantastic horror movie and would not have been improved upon with a Hollywood treatment.

What makes the movie so good is that sense of realism and that could this be really true element. Its been a decade now since the Blair Witch Project shook the world and when it fooled many into believing that its story was true and that nativity may be gone and you might not be as easily fooled this time around in a more cynical world it does grasp that could be or might be philosophy and run with it. And better yet the shaky camera work is mostly gone, the majority of the film is shot from a tripod near the bed of our sleeping victims and you don’t feel like you need a barf bag for the majority of the film. So you still get a sense of the realism and reality of a low budge film shot from a hand camera but at the same time don’t have to feel whoosy watching the film.

What makes this such a good horror film and generally creepy is that they understand build up and slowly dialing up the creep factor much like older horror movies like Halloween that just absolutely lost their way with their remakes. Nothing really happens at first a door just slowly creeps open a little and that’s it. But as the movie progresses more and more happens and the characters become more frightened with the increased occurrences as do the audiences. It is a perfect build up to a somewhat inane and silly ending but it generally frightens you something that can’t be said about most horror movies released today.

Another thing that works well is that the two characters are complete unknowns it would be impossible to accept an actor in these roles that you might recognize as it would take away the realism and escapism of the film. Had Hollywood got their hands on the film and cast an recognizable actor in the film it would have ruined the film completely. I hope more producers and film makers are taking note of this film and learning that sometimes less is more.

Grade: B+