Paranormal Activity

"What happens when you sleep?"

2009 1h 26m EN

😐

6.1

MID

🍅

82%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

6.3

IMDB

★6.1TMDB · 5,609🍅82%Rotten Tomatoes●68Metacritic★6.3IMDB · 268,129

HorrorMystery

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

After a young, middle-class couple moves into what seems like a typical suburban house, they become increasingly disturbed by a presence that may or may not be demonic, but is certainly the most active in the middle of the night.

“What happens when you sleep?”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Cast

Katie Featherston
Katie Featherston
Micah Sloat
Micah Sloat
Mark Fredrichs
The Psychic
Amber Armstrong
Amber
Ashley Palmer
Diane
Crystal Cartwright
Exorcism Nanny (uncredited)
Spencer Marks
Dr. Johann Averies (uncredited)
Randy McDowell
Lt. Randy Hudson (uncredited)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Oren Peli
Writers: Oren Peli
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

86 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $193M — a 12890.4× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 17 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Paranormal Activity Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Oren Peli, shot by Oren Peli. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Oren Peli shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat and Mark Fredrichs carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Oren Peli directs. Oren Peli behind the camera. Oren Peli cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

186 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Shot for just $0.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
3Grossed $193M — a 12890.4× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
4Released 17 years ago.
5Part of the "Paranormal Activity Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
6Directed by Oren Peli, shot by Oren Peli. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Editor Oren Peli shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat and Mark Fredrichs carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "What happens when you sleep?".
10IMDB entry: tt1179904 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 13 themes, including "halloween", "haunting", "ouija board", "psychic".
12Released under 21 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Oren Peli
Editing: Oren Peli
Costume design: Oren Peli
Makeup / hair: Crystal Cartwright
Sound: David Barbee
Runtime: 86 min · 1h 26m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $15,000
Box office: $193,355,800
Return: 1289039% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Paranormal Activity (2009)
Rotten Tomatoes: 82% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 68/100
IMDB rating: 6.3/10 · 268,129 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

3 wins & 12 nominations total

Part of

Paranormal Activity Collection

An American found footage horror film series based on the haunting of families.

Also by

Oren Peli

Area 51
2015 · ★ 5.0

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

JPV8522022-10-03
★ 5/10
Second time watching this, the movie that re-ignited the found footage craze that I absolutely hate and while this one has a couple creepy moments, I found this more dull than anything. At least Katie Featherston is cute. 2.25/5
Ahmad2022-10-30
★ 6/10
Paranormal Activity (2007): 6.5/10 (Fair, Above Average) ___ There are some rough patches, but overall, it's not a bad film. “Paranormal Activity” is shot in a found footage format, with believable acting and some effective scares. The film brilliantly capitalizes on the concept that what's scariest isn't often what you see, but what you imagine, and it does so effectively. However, that is about all it has going for it; it is not really terrifying, the story is as ordinary as it possibly could be, and the conclusion leaves a lot to be desired. If you have some time to kill, you probably will not regret checking it out, but I personally don't think it's worth going out of one's way to do so.
Andre Gonzales2023-07-24
★ 7/10
Decent movie but could have better. They took to long for everything to start happening. They could have made it happen faster and also could have added more things happening to them, then what they showed. Otherwise just an ok movie.