By Michael Sullivan

Paranormal Activity (2009) is like a 1 1/2 hour YouTube video. Not to say there will be sneezing pandas or overtly intrigued chipmunks, but rather that you can’t expect high production values. The exposure sucks, the acting is nonexistent (to the film’s credit), and there seems to be little, if any, editorial hand at work here. But instead of being to the film’s detriment, these YouTube-esque qualities create quite a set up. The audience’s guard is down. They’re completely open to the utter worst of scares. If director Oren Peli had just pushed a little harder, this could have been the most frightening film of all time.

Paranormal Activity is about a young couple—“engaged to be engaged” as Micah (Micah Sloat) puts it—that moves in together only to find that their house has a third resident: a demon that pines after Katie (Katie Featherston). According to her, this demon has been following her for years. Periodically, over the course of her life, this monster has manifested in spectral shadows, or whispers in the wind. But only now has she had a boyfriend stupid enough to want to catch the hauntings on camera.
Every night, Micah sets his camera on a tripod in their bedroom, and we the audience watch minor disturbances—a door creaks slightly, a shadow passes, the sheets move. As one can imagine, these events build like a crescendo over the course of the film until the presence of a demon is almost irrefutable. There is also this very evident commitment to realism. You may have noticed that Katie and Micah use their real names. The visual effects are so well executed, if you didn’t know this was staged going in, you might actually think Paranormal Activity is a documentary. Well, to a point.

This is also a problem for the film. It becomes so committed to realism, that it never gets truly scary. It uses its low production values to lure an audience into letting their guard down, and ultimately doesn’t rattle them as much as it has the potential to. I’ll admit, certain moments got under my skin. But when the film ended, and the lights went up, a man in the row in front of me said, “That’s it? I want my money back.” My sentiments exactly. You feel cheated.

I mean, really, Paranormal Activity isn’t a bad movie. It’s risky, and daring, and very cool for accomplishing what it has. But I simply can’t recommend you go out of your way to see a film that will make you feel that cheated by the end. Not only is it not scary, but this cheesy bass sound cues in every time the demon is nearby, thus bracing you for its various attacks. And for a film that is as dedicated to realism as this, it certainly had a cop-out ending. Simply put, Paranormal Activity is one of those films you’ll either love or hate.

However, it is worth noting that the film, which cost $15,000 to make and only $300,000 for Paramount to buy according to the Los Angeles Times, has grossed $61M domestically, Box Office Mojo reports. In fact, despite having been in theaters since September, the film still beat out Saw VI (2009) which just opened, thus winning the weekend by a $7M margin. Hell, the brass at Paramount are already talking sequel. So if what I said is true, and this is a love-it-or-hate-it film, the nation seems to be loving it.