Paranormal Activity (2009)
What happens when you sleep?
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.
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| Type | Movie |
|---|---|
| Released | 25 September 2009 |
| Genre | Horror, Mystery |
| Director | Oren Peli |
| Starring | Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat and Mark Fredrichs |
| Runtime | 86 min |
| Rated | R |
| Scores | Rotten Tomatoes (average) 7/10 · Rotten Tomatoes 83% · Metacritic 68/100 · TMDB users 6.1/10 |
| Budget | $15,000 |
Where to watch Paranormal Activity
Paranormal Activity is streaming on Fubo in the US. It is also on Paramount+ ($13.99 a month) and Peacock ($16.99 a month). If that is the only reason to subscribe, one month of Paramount+ is $13.99 at list price.
We check availability daily. Page last updated 28 October 2026. Prices are standard monthly plans and change often, so check with the service before you sign up.
Rent or buy
You can rent or buy Paranormal Activity on Apple TV, Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube and Fandango at Home.
Where to watch Paranormal Activity in 3 other countries
| Country | Streaming on (price a month) |
|---|---|
| Austria | Prime Video €8.99 |
| Brazil | Prime Video R$19.90 |
| Germany | Prime Video €8.99 |
Subscription, free and ad-supported services we track; prices where Binge Boss has a price list for the country. "About" marks a price the service bills in another currency, converted at the day's rate. All countries as data.
What kind of watch this is
Paranormal Activity is an 86-minute horror mystery directed by Oren Peli. It stars Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat as a young couple who move into a typical suburban house. The tagline asks what happens when you sleep. The presence they encounter is certainly the most active in the middle of the night. It may or may not be demonic. The film runs short, which is a mercy for your sleep schedule.
What the critics said
Rotten Tomatoes sits at 83% as of October 2024, with an average user rating of 7/10 from October 2021. Metacritic lands on 68 out of 100 as of August 2025, a figure it files under generally favorable. Roger Ebert gave it 3.5 stars, noting that "silence and waiting can be more entertaining than frantic fast-cutting." He was not alone in his patience. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly called the result "frightening...freaky and terrifying." Not everyone stayed up for it. Marc Savlov of The Austin Chronicle dismissed the whole thing as "an excruciatingly tedious YouTube gag," which is a harsh way to describe a movie that mostly asks you to sit still.
How it did with audiences
The budget line reads $0 million, which is a strange way to describe a film that made $193 million worldwide. It started in 12 theaters, then grew until it beat Saw VI for the top spot. On TMDB, users give it a 6.1 score. The math says the studio made a net profit of $78 million, a result that likely still surprises people who thought it was just a shaky cam.
Where it left its mark
The return on investment was so massive it broke the record for the most profitable film of all time, beating The Blair Witch Project. That efficiency turned a specific camera style into a trend for years. Found footage became the default for horror, spawning titles like The Last Exorcism, Apollo 18, and the V/H/S series.
The marketing blueprint traveled too. Trailers featuring fake audience reactions advertised films like The Woman in Black and World War Z. The cultural footprint even reached the Academy Awards, where Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin performed a spoof in 2010. Parody followed in waves, from The Asylum’s Paranormal Entity to the 2013 release of A Haunted House.
If you liked this
TMDB's recommendations for people who watched Paranormal Activity.
Sources
- Paranormal Activity on TMDB — synopsis, cast, ratings and recommendations
- Wikidata Q381028 — review scores, box office and awards (CC0)
- “Paranormal Activity” on Wikipedia, by its contributors (history) — reception, audience figures and legacy, summarised and adapted here under CC BY-SA 4.0
- Where to watch and prices: Binge Boss, from TMDB watch-provider data (powered by JustWatch) and our own provider list
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