Thump… Creeeak…..  THUMP!

Fear.  The invaluable evolutionary tool that has enabled our survival of predation from prehistoric menaces like the saber-toothed tiger and aided our scattered tribes into eventual planet domination and thriving globalization has become all but useless.  Of course, true danger still exists, but how many times a day, or even in a lifetime, is the modern, cosmopolitan human being compelled to rely on instinct alone and either fight or take flight to save his skin?  Thanks to technology, industrialization and the near eradication of tyrannical government in the developed world, the urgent ultimatum of mortality has become a relic.  But curiously, with amusement parks, haunted house attractions, the advent of extreme sports, and a booming horror movie industry all designed to provoke this obsolete reactionary emotion, modern man seems not only to enjoy the experience of being afraid, but to crave it.

Israeli-born director Oren Peli’s “Paranormal Activity” is the latest offering of manufactured fear sure to satiate that gnawing evolutionary need.  Shot in only seven days on a meager-even-for-an-indie budget of $11,000, the film, in order to heighten its air of realism, takes after 1999′s viral sensation “The Blair Witch Project” and last year’s “Cloverfield” and poses as “found footage” of actual events released by the local police department.  Kate (Katie Featherston) and Micah (Micah Sloat) are a young couple recently settled into a beautiful suburban San Diego home. They have money.  They seem to be in love.  Things are good.

Well, except for the demonic entity, or whatever it is, that terrorizes them almost every night.  Katie is justifiably terrified, but Micah is fascinated by the paranormal activity and gets a professional-grade digital video camera to document the strange happenings.  Some footsteps here.  A whisper there.  What is this thing and what does it want?  The entire film centers on the struggle between Micah defiantly trying to figure that at out, and Katie desperately trying to avoid a ghostly confrontation at all costs and make whatever it is go away.

Slasher flicks have long ruled the horror landscape, in large part because they’re the easiest to make.  They’re generally cheap and hold universal appeal because nobody wants to get diced into to little bits by a chain-saw wielding mad-man.  But there’s little room for innovation.  To make a film like “Paranormal Activity,” where the terror is mostly alluded to rather screaming for attention via blood-splattered butcherings, is decidedly more difficult, but if done right, more effective.

“Paranormal Activity” has been done right.

Peli has created the most effective horror film since “The Blair Witch Project.”  Though not as creative or original as that film, it exploits a more accessible and common set of fears.  For most people, being murdered is such an unlikelihood that it’s just not a prominent concern.  But almost everybody’s experienced a strange noise in their home at one time or another.  That’s something even skeptics of the paranormal can identify with.  I usually just blame it on the cat, but if I really let my mind run wild I could probably work myself into a terrified stupor.

But calculated technical effectiveness isn’t everything.  In a film like this, the stars are the show.  There’s no Panavision cinematography, elaborate set-design or make-up to hide behind.  Featherston commands attention as the sensitive girlfriend, and primary target of the entity’s torment.  Sloat is both charming and a little off-putting as the headstrong boyfriend who unwittingly lets his curiosity take precedence over his girlfriend’s well-being.  Both deliver honest performances that help authenticate the film’s actual footage feel.  A few minor dialogue exchanges feel forced and ring false, but that’s in keeping with every real home video I’ve ever seen.

Despite its sizable disadvantages, “Paranormal Activity” utilizes unbearably slow-boiling suspense and some good old fashioned movie-making to create a lasting impression sure to follow you to your bedroom tonight, and for many sleepless nights to come.

Score: 4/5