Paranormal Activity is being pinned as this generation's "The Exorcist" with reviews ranging from "Scariest Movie of the Year" to describing the audience as having been "physically-shaken". The film follows in the tradition of The Blair Witch Project, REC, Quarantine and Cloverfield in bringing a reality to the events happening with a hand-held camera as a couple investigate the possibility of a demonic disturbance in their new suburban home.

Writer-director of Paranormal Activity, Oren Peli, uses tension, character and the audience's imagination to elevate the film's scare factor. Not being able to make out whether it's a ghost or not, keeps the audience in a heightened sense of uncertainty, where any sudden movements on screen could send an movie-going audience scuttling.

The intimacy of the setting, simplicity of the story and authenticity of the characters, brings this "home video" into our realm. Suddenly, the cinema opens itself up to the world of Paranormal Activity and invites the atmosphere into our space. Big mistake. This is definitely one for the Ghostbusters... Real, Original, Live-Action or otherwise.

Horror fans will love this indie gem for its edge-of-seat tenacity, while the faint-hearted will be talking about it for days. Paranormal Activity is a movie that will stay with you - it doesn't play too gimmicky and is homegrown enough to carry a deep sense of realism.

Watch the original Paranormal Activity trailer and then watch the one with a test audience's actual responses to the film.

 VERSUS

New cinema releases and the SA box office top ten movies now showing...

MOVIES OPENING THIS WEEK: 23 OCTOBER

TOP TEN (SK COMMERCIAL): 16-18 OCTOBER

X-Men 3: The Last Stand rounded off the X-Men trilogy in style. The superhero genre has found a place amongst the greatest films ever made with Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, Bryan Singer's X-Men and X2 and Jon Favreau's Iron Man. The third installation of X-Men is directed by Brett Ratner (Rush Hour, Rush Hour 2) and is by far the most electrifying and fun of the three X-Men movies.

Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, Famke Janssen, Anna Paquin, Kelsey Grammer, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn, Vinnie Jones, Ellen Page, Ben Foster... it's like a wish list cast for the X-Men franchise. They don't all have the screen time they would have wanted, but all-in-all it makes a great team effort.   

The performances, costumes, special effects and visuals are comic book heaven to the X-fan. While the film was downplayed due to Bryan Singer's choice to discontinue in the capacity as director, it still remains faithful to the comic series without the ability of Singer. Ratner's direction is suited to blockbusters, which makes his movies loud, colossal and above all fun.

X-Men: The Last Stand introduces characters such as: Beast, Leech, Juggernaut, Multiple Man, Spike and Archangel to name a few. These new X-Men characters just add to the already large cast. The cast and popularity of the series could easily warrant the need for a TV series, yet Ratner manages to rein this beast of a movie in with an epic conclusion and loads of action along the way without taking 3 hours! If you like action blockbusters, you'll just love X-Men 3: The Last Stand. Find out what went into the making of this epic fantasy superhero movie with behind-the-scenes features in this week's Fan Friday giveaway. 

An X-Men: The Last Stand (2-Disc) DVD is up for grabs for Fan Friday on the SPL!NG page on Facebook. If you want to stand a chance to win fantastic giveaways like this every week, join up... here.