Paranormal Activity
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: September 25, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
5
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
With its this-is-really-happening vibe, Paranormal Activity scrapes away 30 years of encrusted nightmare clichés. The fear is real, all right, because the fear is really in you. Read full review
90
Film ThreatFelix Vasques, Jr.
This is a brutal, exhausting, and genuinely horrifying little ghost flick. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
An ingenious little horror film, so well made it's truly scary. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
The film loses some of its grimy verisimilitude toward the end, but it’s nevertheless a surprisingly effective low-budget shocker with a sensibility as current as the latest viral videos, yet rooted in the suggestive, less-is-more atmospherics of Val Lewton. Read full review
80
TimeRichard Corliss
Beyond the viral ingenuity of the marketing, what's cool about PA is that it's not just a fun thrill ride; it's an instructive artistic experience. A horror-movie revisionist, Peli follows a less-is-more strategy. Read full review
80
SalonMary Elizabeth Williams
It's a hit for the most surprising reason of all: because it's very good. Read full review
80
EmpireSimon Crook
An Amityville for the YouTube age: potent, primal and genuinely frightening. Read full review
80
VarietyDennis Harvey
Paranormal succeeds in staying unnervingly "real." Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
Peli works at mining the unknown, the unknowable, like a minimalist, using small moments and virtually no special effects exceedingly well. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyChuck Wilson
Grounded by strong performances by newcomers Featherston and Sloat, who pretty much have the movie to themselves, Paranormal Activity, which demands to be seen in a crowded theater, is refreshingly blood-free. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad Derakhshani
An impressive, not entirely successful exercise in minimalist filmmaking. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
With a $15,000 budget too puny to empty a petty-cash drawer, the no-frills Paranormal Activity comes packed with thrills. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
Like legendary producer Val Lewton in the '40s, director Oren Peli, who shot "Paranormal" in seven days in his own home, understands that what's most frightening is what you don't see but merely suggested. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
No-frills chills are what Paranormal Activity offers in unrelenting supply. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Hartlaub
Succeeds in its modest goals of building tension slowly and generating a handful of legitimate scares. A few people in the audience were laughing during the first half of the film. No one was laughing during the long walk out of the theater. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
I’ve never seen a movie that so cunningly exploits our anticipation. Read full review
70
SlateDana Stevens
It comes by its screams honestly, earning them with incremental, at times agonizing gradations of old-fashioned, what's-that-noise-in-the-hallway suspense. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
The movie's faults aside, this is the kind of show where half the fun is watching it in the company of a large group of people. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterKevin Lally
"Paranormal" ultimately does deliver in a way that "Blair Witch" never did, but its achingly slow buildup is a test not just of an audience's patience but the power of hype surrounding the latest alternative scary movie. Read full review
60
Time OutBen Kenigsberg
Often has the feel of a film-school exercise in which the object is to wring maximum suspense from rudimentary tools. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
A "Blair Witch"-y creepshow that owes a lot to Japanese horror. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeJustine Elias
Even at 85 minutes, the movie contains maybe 50 minutes that scare. Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
A crudely made, half-clever little frightener that has become something of a pop-culture sensation and most certainly the movie marketing story of the year. Read full review
0
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Don't believe the hype: Paranormal Activity may be a lot of things, but the words "scary" and "movie" are not among them. It is instead nothing more or less than an excruciatingly tedious YouTube gag cleverly marketed to go viral in the broadest and most box office-friendly way. Read full review
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