Paranormal Activity
Director: Oren Peli
This may be be the best homage to (or rip-off of) The Blair Witch Project since that shaky-cam shocker set the bar for low-budget horror a decade ago. Your stomach may be the final judge.
Writer/director Oren Peli’s lo-fi pulse-raiser, made for a reported $15,000 US, has relentlessly awful camera work that could constitute a serious threat to timorous tummies.
Without explanation, we are plunged immediately into a home haunting. San Diego couple Micah and Katie (Micah Sloat and Katie Featherston) station a video camera on a tripod in their bedroom. It maintains silent sentry of all things that go bump in the night — and they really do.
If you’re a horror fan, you probably won’t be astonished. It’s clever stuff, but not the scariest movie of all time, as the marketing insisted.
On the other hand, the film is frequently chilling.
Extras include an alternate ending, the original one envisioned by Peli before Hollywood got involved.
