Writer/Director - Oren Peli
The Story - The film is based on a young couple Micha and Katie. Katie has had a presence that has haunted her as long as she can remember and fears that it has followed her to her new house. Micha takes it upon himself to fix their haunting problems and purchases a video camera that he will leave on in their bedroom every-night to see if they can capture an unusual sightings. The video camera continues to capture alot of 'paranormal activity' over the next few nights, including doors violently slamming shut and footprints next to their bed. The following nights proves disastrous and this haunting demon possess young Katie and she kills her boyfriend Micha. The fact that nearly all of the film is filmed by a handheld video camera it really brings you into the story and makes you feel like your apart of what's going on. It makes all of the activity real for you and that is why you jump and scream in unison with the characters because it feels like you are in the scene.
To horror and thriller films it is vital to make us believe what is happening. And Paranormal Activity does this very well. It has it sense of normality that we can relate to; for example it has not only the night scenes that are captured on the camera but they also include daylight scenes where both Katie and Micha analyse what happened the night before. There is also the camera. The fact that is it just a simple camera put in the corner of a bedroom, means its just as easy for you to do the same. The reality of the haunting is clear to us when they bring in experts and even search the internet to find the information their looking for.