Writer: Lai Swee Wei

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Watch this if you liked: “The Blair Witch Project”, “Cloverfield”

Initially screened at the Slamdance Film Festival 2008, the film certainly sparked a keen interest amongst moviegoers in the United States nearly two year later as Paramount took the unusual approach of launching the movie via free midnight screenings in various metropolitan and college markets. Thus, encouraging viewers to want wider bookings via online service Demand. And with that, it succeeded! One fascinating thing to note was that the ending of the film was reworked on in hopes of turning it into a sleeper success before it hit cinemas.

Writer-director Oren Peli's budgeted horror feature is certainly worth the watch, delivering a simple story with plenty of hair-raising incidents. The story surrounds itself on San Diego couple Micah (Micah Sloat) and Katie's (Katie Featherston) as they struggle to deal with an unseen force in their new home. It is apparently a demonic being that follows Katie ever since she was a child. Skeptical Micah then bullishly determines that he'll "take care of" the problem himself, being a macho, fearless man he is. He then insists on using video cameras to capture any paranormal activities that might occur around them.

Big thumbs up to the creators behind this movie as it was very well executed with a few nifty tricks up their sleeves to form the chilling scenes that goes bump in the night. The effects were real and convincing enough, leaving audiences on the edge of their seats, or nervously laughing or yelping for that matter. With each passing night, viewers are served with various creepy encounters that are uniquely different, keeping all eyes glued to the screen as some take an unexpectedly terrifying turn. The key scenes are a series of nighttime bedroom surveillance-cam sequences whose eerie quiet is tremendously suspenseful, and is best watched in the big screen so you may not lose some of the subtler chilling details such as a faint shadow on a door.

The interaction between the two leads is so real and spontaneous as they deliver their character's raw emotions of fear, anger, and sadness. Audiences will also be pleased to get a few laughs from the sneaky, sarcastic Micah, adding the story's appeal. In the end, the movie delivers a fascinating final twist that will give you a jolt or two that could embed an image into your mind. Don't worry about the camera work as they try to keep it as steady when possible - definitely not as shaky as compared to "Cloverfield".

"Paranormal Activity" is hands down a good film to catch with your mates if you're into horror.

Cinema Online, 07 January 2010