‘Paranormal Activity’ a great scare

Director: Oren Peli

Cast: Katie Featherston, Mark Fredrichs, Micah Sloat

Cert: 15

Billed as the most frightening film ever made – perhaps a tad over the top – this is still the sort of hair-raiser that comes along once in several decades, and it’s all the more remarkable in that it was shot on a camcorder for a cost of around a mere $15,000.

Thus proving that you don’t require a fistful of special effects and a cast of stars to grab an audience, just an original idea handled with skill. Peli certainly delivers with this journey into tension, menace and fearful terror.

The story revolves around Micah and Katie – two young actors whose performances are quite brilliant – who set up a camera in their apartment to try to capture the paranormal activity that is giving her the screaming nightmares … what they see in the cold light of dawn is horrible.

The strength of the film lies in the authentic playing of the cast and in Peli’s control of the activity. You must judge for yourselves whether or not the hype is deserved, but for some of the most jolting scares ever seen on screen this one will be hard to beat.

Star Rating: 5/5