The climax is deliciously scary, and Peli gets considerable mileage from the simple matter of lights inexplicably going on in another room.
Paranormal Activity
What happens when you sleep?
2007 · 1h 26m · R
Horror, Mystery
Directed by
Oren Peli
Overview
After a young, middle-class couple moves into what seems like a typical suburban house, they become increasingly disturbed by a presence that may or may not be demonic but is certainly the most active in the middle of the night.
Director and cast
- Oren Peli Director
- Katie Featherston as Katie
- Micah Sloat as Micah
- Mark Fredrichs as The Psychic
- Amber Armstrong as Amber
- Ashley Palmer as Diane
- Crystal Cartwright as Exorcism Nanny (uncredited)
- Spencer Marks as Dr. Johann Averies (uncredited)
- Randy McDowell as Lt. Randy Hudson (uncredited)
- James Piper as Richard (uncredited)
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
It illustrates one of my favorite points, that silence and waiting can be more entertaining than frantic fast-cutting and berserk f/x. For extended periods here, nothing at all is happening, and believe me, you won't be bored.
It's this feeling of vulnerability that Peli's slow-burning supernatural chiller so effectively exploits, fashioning heart-stopping scares out of almost nothing.
Though it never poses a question more abstract than "Where's that scratching sound coming from?" Paranormal Activity is all about spiritual and ethical debts coming due.
Peli is to be congratulated for pulling off such an audacious project, but he needs a sharper sense of timing: The film's pacing is uneven, which weakens the suspense.
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