Sunday night. The screen plays the History channel’s promo to WW II in HD. I’m waiting for three friends to show up to watch Paranormal Activity . As the pre-show comes to an end, my heart begins to beat faster. I wondered if the movie would live up to the hype around it.

As my friends all show up, the trailers begin to roll for movies like The Book of Eli and James Cameron’s Avatar . As the last trailer played, the screen faded to black and a message was displayed stating,

“Paramount wishes to thank the families of Micah Sloat and Katie Featherstone as well as the San Diego Police Department for allowing the footage to be released in this manner.”

I got a chill. I know now from the beginning there will not be a happy ending. But I don’t get scared easily and I feel just a bit uneasy. The movie has a basic beginning with the couple being happy and very much in love. Then the creepy things start to happen, doors slam, lights flicker, footsteps are heard thumping through the halls.

While the movie does have its share of jumps and scares, to me it’s more of a character study. Think John and Kate Plus 8, minus the kids, and throw in one really angry demon. The first half of the movie is lacking a lot of spooky elements but the big finale does more than make up for it. Without ruining too much of the ending, the turn out for the characters lives up to the grim promise of the opening frame.

Rest assured this is not a ‘true story’ movie, while the actors real names are Katie and Micah, the events of the movie never actually happened to them. The house in the film is actually director Oren Peli’s house and some of the activity can be explained if you have a keen eye. But that doesn’t mean late at night you won’t find yourself wondering what that noise was you just heard.