Paranormal Activity

For a low-fidelity spooky house movie involving only a boyfriend and girlfriend, "Paranormal Activity" does a lot with a little. However, that's not to say that debut writer/director Oren Peli goes far enough in his shallow transition from squeaky doors to full-on demonic possession of twentysomething monster-bait Katie Featherston. College English major Katie and her day-trader guy Micah (Micah Sloat) have been living in their comfy San Diego house long enough for the demon that's been following Katie since she was eight to catch up with her again. New to the enigmatic horror that follows Katie, Micah purchases a video camera to digitally capture evidence of the apparition that makes noises, turns lights off and on, opens and shuts doors, and gets under the sheets with Katie. In the same family of low-budget suspense movies as "Open Water" and "Blair Witch Project," "Paranormal Activity" musters roughly the same level of 8th grade audience torment as those films. Compared with a precision horror film like Lars von Trier's terrifying upcoming shocker "Antichrist," "Paranormal Activity" is just kid's stuff. 
Rated R. 86 mins. (C-) (Two Stars)