10 Terrifying Low Budget Horror Movies
4. Paranormal Activity
Much like The Blair Witch Project – something that has been
thus far conspicuously absent from this list – Paranormal Activity popularised
a subgenre. Well, technically it repopularised it, but let’s not stand at the edge
of the bed and rock back and forth in the dark about it.
Paranormal Activity begun life as an independent film, written and directed by newcomer Oren Peli, and shot for a meagre $15,000, and shows just what creativity can do when you’ve got nothing but moths in your wallet.
Shot on a handheld camera and revolving around a young couple who believe that their house is haunted, Paranormal Activity has caught a ton of crap over the years for being nothing more than loud noises and people talking out of focus, but it is so much more.
Tension ramps expertly as a sheet is tugged, ever so slightly, in the night by some unseen hand. As an audience, we implore Micah to believe Katie that something is incredibly not right, and as the film races towards its (admittedly shot for a whole bunch more money that wasn’t included in the initial budget) conclusion, we find ourselves breathless at just how scary a wide-shot of a grainy bedroom can be.
After all, it could be any bedroom.
It could be your bedroom.