10 Dumb Mistakes That Killed Horror Movie Characters

Paranormal Activity (2007) took the torch from The Blair Witch Project and re-popularised the found footage genre... at least for a while.

The film shows the struggles of young couple Micah and Katie (using their real-life names), as the demon that has haunted Katie throughout her life sets up shop in their house. Filming and night ensues, and we are treated to various door-slamming, kitchen-shaking spooks presented from inherently limited and unrevealing angles.

Now, far be it from us to belittle the actions of anyone not willing to take ghosts and the paranormal too seriously, but given the apparent evidence of his eyes and ears (see: door-slamming, kitchen-shaking), Micah's decision to screw around with the spirits is far from advisable.

Going against received wisdom and tackling the situation without a demonologist or any 'professional' help, Micah antagonises the spirit, taking a lot of the happenings with a pinch of salt and even buying a Ouija board to communicate with it.

This all leads to the spirit taking matters into its own hands, possessing Katie and killing Micah at the film's conclusion before throwing his body at the camera. Maybe, just maybe, he could have walked away from this, but now we'll never know.