Blair Witch = Emperor's New Clothes.
Here's my thing about taking action.
If the couple had done something to actively provoke the demon (either through aggression or stupidity), then what happens to them would be the result of their own choices. But do they have any choices? The woman is being haunted by the demon (I don't know if there's ever any explanation of why), they record things, and it escalates. From the breakdown I read, it didn't seem like there was any way they could have affected the escalation (as the recording wasn't immediately met with violence). More of a case of "A demon is possessing you, it doesn't really have a good reason, but you're fucked regardless."
I'm not saying that's not
scary - and if the point is mainly to evoke feelings of terror it sounds like it did an awesome job. I'm just saying it sounds that from the point of view of "story" (ie characters being faced with choices and acting to achieve their ends) it seems lacking.
Exactly as with Blair Witch. Go into the woods and you'll dieeeee a horrible scary death. Why? Who knows! Maybe there's time travel, or possession, or maybe it was Josh or maybe it wasn't. Hey, let's just not bother thinking any of it through and then claim that it's ambiguity and part of the mystery! Yawn!
Blair Witch didn't actually scare me, though. Being lost in the woods and attacked by some evil thing isn't inherantly scary because every fool knows that's what happens when you go into the woods. Paranormal Activity sounds a lot more scary though because in one's bed, in one's home, asleep, is the place where we like to feel we are
most safe. So being faced with an enemy that is beyond one's capacity to fight, in that situation, is terrifying all by itself. The breakdown also implied there was a strong emphasis on the uncanny (ie things being almost "right", but wrong enough that it's disturbing - hair blowing when it shouldn't, a wrongly modulated voice, inhuman footprints etc).
I think the main problem I have with PA on a
story level - and I know a lot of these issues might be dealt with if I actually saw it, heh - is the lack of development. "Woman possessed by demon who escalated haunting until BOOO!" is a great concept. But I want to know why the demon is doing any of this? Why did it target her, and why did it go from being slightly creepy to outright nuts? Why didn't the couple try always having one stay awake and watch over the other? What actually
happens at the end? It's a creative choice to leave that many questions unanswered, but IMO it is often a fairly cowardly one. Like the Cube, for example - the entire film consists of the "cool premise" of people trying to find their way out of the various traps . . . but the creative team forgot to attach any actual story or motivation to it.
On the other hand, I thought The Ring did an awesome job of that same "uncanny" terror, and of people being overtaken by horrific events that they feel they have no control over. IMO it succeeded as a story, as well as just a horror film, because the mystery of the girl in the well was explained (and this did not negate the terror of the concept) and everyone from the girl to the victims had coherent motivation.
But like I said, I haven't seen PA and all my opinions are based on a single synopsis of it, lol. I also think Saving Private Ryan is one of the most sensationalised, glamorised, and over-rated war films I've ever seen, and walked out of the cinema saying as much <!-- s

--><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_razz.gif" alt=":P" title="Razz" /><!-- s

-->