So the story goes like this: A couple moves into their first home but unbeknownst to the boyfriend, the girlfriend is plagued by a demon

that has been pestering her since she was eight years old. Most of the film’s trivial scenes broaden their relationship as a cutesy young couple who set up a camera to document their plight. Each night gets a tad worse as they begin to capture unexplained phenomena including voices from the mysterious beyond – sounds good so far but alas, the premise is far juicier than the executed product.

Paranormal Activity, a film by videogame designer turned director, Oren Peli, was originally shelved by Paramount but after performing well in screen tests, they gave the filmmaker the green light to create a more salable version. People love an underdog story; a film that was created for a mere $15,000.00 that has a chance to poke the corporate machine known as Hollywood. This is one of those stories which the detached industry giant was right and in one of the boldest moves in its recent history, Paramount gave the film a chance by circulating Demand It – a website that allowed its consumers to decide whether or not it wanted a national release. Due to heavy response, the studio bent to the will of the masses and took a chance.

The film is a complete bore with scenes intended to be frightening or creepy but misses the mark. A sequence in which the boyfriend spreads baby powder on the floor to track the footsteps of their elusive guest leads to a picture found in the attic of his girlfriend at eight years old was more laughable than the emotion the filmmaker desired. The film is not all bad. The last fifteen minutes begin to boil with intensity but unfortunately, it withdraws, simmers, and never reaches fruition. Paranormal Activity could have been edited into a short film for a bonus feature on the DVD, which is what Paramount wanted to do.

Consider that this film was hyped to be the next Blair Witch Project but instead revealed the most inane composition of lackluster scenes and lazy scares ever promulgated by online media. Paranormal Activity is an over-excited let down that even the most casual viewer will regard as amateur. Yes, we have seen Ouija boards before and audiences have been inundated with mysterious footsteps for generations. It’s not necessarily slashers and big budget nightmares that are craved by fans — it’s intelligent filmmaking and the ability to trick the viewer into the horrific core of subtlety.

As easy as it appears to set up a camera and press record, it takes real intelligence and research along with creativity must be a factor to convince audiences. To critics of today’s short attention span viewers, let it be known that we are much more intelligent and less gullible to accept bullshit.