Paranormal Activity
2007
****
Director: Oren Peli
Cast: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat
Katie has been haunted by a paranormal spirit since she was a small girl, and now her boyfriend Micah is determined to catch it on camera. This short but unsettling low budget horror movie is based on allegedly found footage. This gimmick was pioneered by The Blair Witch Project, which featured three unpleasant individuals who deserved everything they got, and it was never believable that the trio would shoot material through their ordeal. Oren Peli's film has equally grating characters but he solves the credibility problem by setting the story entirely inside the couple's home, and actually produces the creepiest scares by placing the camera on a tripod in the bedroom. All in all, Peli manages to create some incredibly tense moments with minimal action.
