Paranormal Activity (2007)

All Critics (190) | Top Critics (29) | 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.

December 15, 2009 Full Review | Comment (1)

J. R. Jones

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

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.

December 15, 2009 Full Review | Comments (52)

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Top Critic

It's this feeling of vulnerability that Peli's slow-burning supernatural chiller so effectively exploits, fashioning heart-stopping scares out of almost nothing.

November 27, 2009 Full Review

Nigel Floyd

Time Out

Top Critic

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.

October 30, 2009 Full Review | Comments (2)

Dana Stevens

Slate

Top Critic

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.

October 22, 2009 Full Review | Comments (12)

Tirdad Derakhshani

Philadelphia Inquirer

Top Critic

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.

October 22, 2009 Full Review | Comments (5)

Lou Lumenick

New York Post

Top Critic

Fun as a communal experience in a crowded theater. Scary? Not that often.

February 1, 2013 Full Review

Roger Moore

Movie Nation

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.

October 27, 2010 Full Review

Simon Miraudo

Quickflix

A suburban couple mess with dark spirits in the effective low budget chiller.

July 6, 2010 Full Review

Matthew Pejkovic

Matt's Movie Reviews

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.

July 6, 2010 Full Review

Peter Keough

Boston Phoenix

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.

January 31, 2010 Full Review | Comment (1)

Mark Pfeiffer

Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema

It's a good try.

January 20, 2010 Full Review

Walter Chaw

Film Freak Central

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.

January 10, 2010 Full Review

Jeffrey Chen

Window to the Movies

... a fairly satisfying piece of filmmaking and an overhyped piece of cult marketing.

January 10, 2010 Full Review | Comments (2)

Sean Axmaker

Seanax.com

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.

December 16, 2009 Full Review

Rip It Up

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

December 15, 2009 Full Review

Karina Montgomery

Cinerina

Paranormal Activity boasts some scary moments, sure, but the movie cannot live up to its own hype . . .

December 15, 2009 | Comments (3)

James O'Ehley

fantastiqueZINE

full review at Movies for the Masses

December 10, 2009 Full Review

Joseph Proimakis

Movies for the Masses

Extremely unthrilling, very obvious, very clichéd. We've seen it all before.

December 7, 2009 Full Review | Comments (32)

David Stratton

At the Movies (Australia)

When the object of the hype turns out to be as lame as this film, the whole exercise becomes just another Hollywood con job.

December 7, 2009 Full Review | Comments (8)

Sandra Hall

Sydney Morning Herald

Paranormal Activity is a remarkable achievement, but ultimately it's just not scary enough to be considered a horror classic.

December 4, 2009 Full Review | Comments (5)

Cosmo Landesman

Sunday Times (UK)

It never really convinces on the demonic level. Yet it does partly succeed as a relationship movie.

December 4, 2009 Full Review | Comment (1)

Jason Solomons

Observer [UK]

Peli's film revives the honourable tradition of chills-by-suggestion, whereby what we don't see is far scarier than what we do.

December 4, 2009 Full Review

Jonathan Romney

Independent on Sunday

Sem sentir necessidade de bombardear a platéia com efeitos visuais e sonoros o tempo inteiro, investe no silêncio e na sutileza para contar sua historinha simples, trocando os sustos corriqueiros por um constante e palpável estado de absoluta tensão.

December 3, 2009 Full Review | Comments (2)

Pablo Villaca

Cinema em Cena

• 1. Katie: I think we'll be okay now.
  – Submitted by Folashade K (4 months ago)
• 1. Katie: [referring to the photograph that Micah found in the attic] Where was it when you found it?
  2. Micah: It was over our bed.
  – Submitted by Folashade K (4 months ago)
• 1. Micah: Well, basically it could be two things: it could be a ghost... [mock whisper] or it could be a demon.
  2. Katie: Dr. Fredrichs said that it wasn't a ghost.
  3. Micah: Well, I've been going by the evidence and I'm doin' my research and I'm going to find out what it is.
  4. Katie: Well, whatever it is that's following me, it doesn't feel... it doesn't feel human. It feels like it's... it feels like a monster. I mean like, it wants to hurt me.
  5. Micah: Well that sounds like, actually like a demon.
  6. Katie: Yeah, that's what he said.
  7. Micah: Well, 'cause ghosts are spirits of human beings.
  8. Katie: Yeah, it's definitely not human.
  9. Psychic: Then maybe you're right, which is bad 'cause demons suck.
  – Submitted by Folashade K (4 months ago)
• 1. Katie: I don't give a fuck what that thing says on the Ouija board!
  – Submitted by Folashade K (4 months ago)
• 1. Micah: [after noises occur after midnight, the two get up, and Micah finds that the panel covering the opening to the attic has shifted] There's something up there. I've gotta look.
  2. Katie: Micah! Micah, please be careful.
  3. Katie: [There are the sounds of his footsteps, but he doesn't reply] Are you okay? Micah, answer me! Micah! Micah!
  4. Micah: [He comes back down the ladder and holds out a photograph which has burned edges] I found this up there.
  5. Katie: No. No no no no. Let me see it?
  6. Micah: What are you talking about?
  7. Katie: This is our old house! What in the hell is doing in the attic?
  8. Micah: I thought the old house burned down.
  9. Katie: There is no way. There is no way you found that in our attic. There is no way that that even exists! I haven't seen that picture in fifteen years. That makes no sense. That makes no sense at all.
  – Submitted by Folashade K (4 months ago)
• 1. Micah: [looking at the powder he has scattered in front of the bedroom door to look for demonic footprints] That's a thing of beauty.
  – Submitted by Folashade K (4 months ago)