It’s been likened to The Blair Witch Project, but I’ll tell you now this movie is nothing like it. Paranormal Activity is actually good – it’s scary and it won’t give you motion sickness.

At the start of the movie we meet Katie and Micah, an ‘engaged to be engaged’ couple. Katie hasn’t been sleeping so well and is convinced something’s in the house at night. Micah sets up a video camera to help discover the truth.

And that’s all I’m going to tell you – I can’t say anything more without giving something away. The movie was actually shot in the director’s own house, and that, more than the ‘home movie’ effect, is what gives Paranormal Activity its realistic feel.

There are also a couple of alternate endings floating about. Steven Spielberg famously suggested the original ending be changed to what’s currently in the film, however there is apparently a third ending that was only shown to a limited test audience. It’ll be interesting to see if either one makes it onto the DVD.

Paranormal Activity was the best horror/thriller movie of 2009 (and for me, one of the better movies all year). You’d be mad not to come and see this movie.

Was there any other movie released in the last year with higher expectations than ‘the new movie from the director of Donnie Darko’? I don’t think so, personally. Richard Kelly has done an Orson Welles on himself by making a brilliant movie as his debut, and then having to deal with the hopes of his fans ever since, regarding his next movie. Southland Tales (it barely got a release, so chances are you didn’t see it) was a failure commercially (although not artistically, in my opinion), and then this one came along.

The plot? A young couple (Diaz and Marsden) get a visit from a strange, scarred man (Langella, showing everyone else up here in the acting stakes) who offers a box with a button. Press the button and two things happen: they get one million dollars, and someone they don’t know dies. How do they deal with this moral dilemma?

The story was based on a “Twilight Zone” episode, and you can see where the episode probably ended, about half an hour into this film (when the interesting twist happens). Kelly takes it further though, and he largely succeeds, as long as you’re willing to go along with the eccentricity. (If you’re not, then trust me, it will be easy for you to sit back in ridicule.)

My suggestion is to not hold on to hopes for Donnie Darko Mark 2, and you will probably enjoy this film. I surely didn’t regret the time I spent in Kelly’s weird and wonderful imagination.