Paranormal Activity - The original (and best)

The `found footage' branch of the horror genre is everywhere these days and, just as 'The Blair Witch Project' acted as the catalyst to the `roaming found footage,' 'Paranormal Activity' moves the goalposts enough by keeping the camera static (well, mostly).

It was made for a meager $15,000 and yet went on to take tens of millions of dollars at the Box Office.  This kind of profit/return meant only one thing... sequels.  And - to date - it has since spawned four further installments (surprise, surprise). However, every last one of them all kind of pale in comparison to this one.

When I first saw it, I was pretty bored. I was even on the brink of turning it off. I just couldn't get into a film which is primarily people walking into empty rooms in their typical suburban American home (sometimes empty dark rooms - if they were trying to be different) and then finding absolutely nothing (rinse and repeat). However, in the second half, it really came into its own. If you were really being cynical, you could probably skip the entire first half of the film, as nothing much happens, but, I guess it has something to do with that filmic lost art of `character building.'

Anyway, when the film passes the halfway mark, things start to speed up. The film is about a young couple who move in together.  However, one thing the woman never told her man was that she's spent most of her life being haunted by some unseen benevolent spirit.  Now, the man takes this well and decides, instead of just rubbishing it, attempts to document the haunting taking place in their home, using video cameras. Because this is supposed to be all filmed as it happens, the film has that 'genuine' home movie feel and the actors have to act like they're not reading a script and playing for the - deliberately-placed - camera.  Anyone who has seen either the British/US version of 'The Office' will know the score.  I'm glad to say that the actors all play their roles well and act like they're just talking normally to one another.

If you haven't already seen it, then I will say that it's worth a watch if you're into horror films. Best to watch it on your own late at night for some really spine-tingling moments. Stick to this one though - the sequels are exactly the same, but in that bad way where they offer nothing different to warrant wasting an hour and a half of your life on.  Just don't expect any major gore or a budget that challenges other Hollywood epics.  Here we have a 'slow burner' with more emphasis on creating a tense atmosphere that the audience can relate to, rather that just throwing every monster they can at the screen.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that