With its this-is-really-happening vibe, Paranormal Activity scrapes away 30 years of encrusted nightmare clichés. The fear is real, all right, because the fear is really in you.

Too slow, too overhyped. It nabbed me on a psychological level but it wasn't what was advertised and I don't get how anyone would really jump at those moments. It did a great job of being freaky, all the same.

J'ai refusé d'aller jusqu'au bout du film. Aucun intérêt

I liked this movie in the sense that it differs from the more common horror movie type which aim to make you jump in your seat by throwing a scary figure in the screen along with a scary noise at an unexpected moment. This had none of it. Instead it tells you when something supernatural is about to happen and still manages to build up the tension piece by piece and and keeps you wondering what is gonna happen next. It almost felt like real.

A whole lot of nothing. When the "something" comes, I've already fallen asleep.

While obviously inspired by "The Blair Witch Project," director Peli used his low budget (only $15,000), low special effects, and low gore to go higher on the scare factor. At times slow-moving, the "found" footage and the unknown leads more than make up for the pace. A clever online marketing campaign got the flick off college campuses and into mainstream theaters and probable cult classic status.

Exciting and promising, but the whole atmosphere starts fading away after the first 30 or 40 minutes or so. Psychological and exciting to watch. This film is exellently built up, but is a bit too slow maybe. Good acting, but the Micah-character has some minor characteristics. Starts of very promising, but offers little real creepy moments except the ending, which gave me goosebumps.

Slow and scattered. Touches a lot of bases without really hitting home.

Crap. The handy-cam horror genre has been exploited to death and this film SHOULD prove to be the last nail in its rotten coffin. It isn't scary at all, you feel disconnected from the characters throughout, I guess it just got a lot of good hype. Not recommended.

Young San Diego couple purchase a camcorder to document the "entity" -- diagnosed by a psychic as a demon, not a ghost -- that has haunted the female on and off since girlhood. Dirt-cheap digital horror film builds, not too high, to some effective frissons. The fixed-position camera during sleeptime approaches almost a structuralist rigor. Capably acted by Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat (in the roles of "Katie" and "Micah")

Well, it seems most of my PSI's on criticker all feel the same way; this movie is just completely over-hyped, the beginning is too slow and there are too many pointless day scenes which interrupt the scary and mysterious atmosphere -which is built up very well - at night. Still, the last 30 minutes or so make the movie worth watching.

I have not seen the last few frames of this movie. I had to cover my eyes...

Yes, the filmmakers accomplished something impressive with what they had. The actors impressed me. But the characterization was faulty, which was the script's fault. And despite a couple of good ones, the scares were telegraphed.

Warning! Don't watch before going to bed!

Pretty darn creepy! I don't believe in ghosts or hauntings one bit, but I have a pretty active imagination so I'm still game for a good malevolent spirit flick. I think that the alternate ending on the DVD is the better choice, though.

the movie that has scared me the most in my whole life deserves a full score, no matter what. This is the horror experiance I have personally been looking for since blair witch project changed my life as a kid. The makers of PA understand you have to give more than just shaky footage of scared people to truely terrify someone who has seen it all (in movies at least), they have accutally picked out and used what no other genre than mockumentary horror can use to reach that almost too true horror

Took Blair Witch Project and made it even dumber, which is impressive and sad at the same time. Impressive because I didn't think it was possible to find characters more unlikable than the ones in TBWP and sad because they actually made this and it made a shitload of money. Also the ending blew. Stop praising it, any moron could've written that predictable piece of shit.

More of the same, more of the same, more of the same. How come all these movies share a similar beginning and ending ? Anyway, "Blair Witch Project" was the first, [Rec] got it right, this is "BWP" meets "The Exorcist" and I'd rather revisit these 3 than having to endure anymore of these hand-held camera movies. I hope the director gets 0 $ out of this , for the lack of originality, even if it's fairly entertaining and atmospheric throughout.

As much as I like this movie, it admittedly has a limited appeal, even among horror fans. It is very slow paced, but it isn't wasting time; it gives backstory, visually explains the situation, shows the boyfriend being a total dick, sets up the main conflict and possible resolutions while slowly upping the suspense and tension. it is shot in a documentary style very similar to Blair Witch, so if you liked that movie than definitely check this one out.

Amusing scarefest better suited to watch in large groups for the audience reaction more than the actual events on screen.

A decent, eerie start gives way to a dull, predictable conclusion that takes far too long to arrive. Comparable to the Blair Witch Project in many obvious ways, it's let down by overlong, uninteresting 'downtime' scenes and a super-macho male lead chracter who exhibits some of the worst "Why is he...?" implausible behaviour seen in horror movies (always a sure-fire atmosphere-killer). Perhaps would have worked better as a short film, 99mins is just way too long for something this empty.

A bit of a slow start, but it started getting pretty scary in the last half an hour. Ending was okay, it was too much like a cheap scare though.

Compare Paranormal Activity to Roman Polanski%u2019s first feature, Knife in the Water, to get a feel for the difference between someone making the most of what little resources they have, and someone making a very good movie with little resources. Paranormal Activity is indeed quite an accomplishment. It%u2019s just not a great movie.

Apparently shot on a budget of $15,000 with one camera, four actors and no special effects, it's probably easy to compare this to Blair Witch Project, though the actual stories have little to no similarity - if anything, this is a spiritual successor of Ju-On: The Grudge. And there are things about it that are pretty effective. But it still depends on everyone being utter idiots, and if we don't care about them, we start cheering for the ghosts.

Just a damn good horror film; one of the best in years. Don't miss this.

Silly as opposed to scary. Go rent The Shining instead.

really?