All Critics (187)
|
Top Critics (25)
|
Fresh (156)
|
Rotten (33)
|
DVD (10)
The climax is deliciously scary, and Peli gets considerable mileage from the simple matter of lights inexplicably going on in another room.
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.
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.
Like legendary producer Val Lewton in the '40s, director Oren Peli, who shot Paranormal in seven days in his own home, understands that what's most frightening is what you don't see but merely suggested.
It's like watching a YouTube clip of your irritating neighbors, knee deep in muck, as they argue the effectiveness of plumbers.
Peli teases the audience expertly. Scenes remain silent and still; not for long, but long enough to make you sweat. The terror of anticipation and its abrupt release, particularly in the final scene, is exhilarating.
A suburban couple mess with dark spirits in the effective low budget chiller.
Oren Peli in his feature debut has a few jolts in store, and the natural performances of the cast and the aura of reality provided by the video format keep the tension high.
Paranormal Activity isn't an actor's film per se, but it wouldn't be as eerily effective without Featherston and Sloat's believable, lived in performances.
I'd rank being stuck in a big quiet house at night as one of life's most easily unnerving experiences, and this movie capitalizes on it.
... a fairly satisfying piece of filmmaking and an overhyped piece of cult marketing.
Indie scare fest doesn't need blood and gore to terrify.
Authentically unnerving, exploiting basic fears with flashes of real brilliance and creating something that lingers long in the memory -- and definitely will come back to haunt you in the dark of night.
It's not the scariest movie I have ever seen, but it's probably the most efficient and insidious. The noises in my house never seemed so loud or inexplicable as they do after seeing this. It's a great scary treat and the filmmakers should be rewarded wi
Paranormal Activity boasts some scary moments, sure, but the movie cannot live up to its own hype . . .
full review at Movies for the Masses
Extremely unthrilling, very obvious, very clichéd. We've seen it all before.
When the object of the hype turns out to be as lame as this film, the whole exercise becomes just another Hollywood con job.
More Critic Reviews
Top Critic
