This low-budget horror film has been hyped as the next "Blair Witch Project". The similarities are pretty clear: both films use the "found footage" style (where the film is presented as being pieced together from supposedly genuine footage), and both involve horrific supernatural phenomena with grisly consequences for the unfortunate protagonists.
In this case, the action centres on de facto couple Micah and Katie. The film starts with Micah testing out the new camera he has just bought in an effort to obtain footage of some spooky nocturnal happenings that have started to bother them (more accurately, they have been bothering Katie -- Micah is just collateral damage). This effort is to succeed beyond Micah's expectations, as we soon see.
The main action in the film takes place from the viewpoint of the camera set up in their bedroom with a view out the open bedroom door to the staircase beyond (it's quite a swanky two-storey pad). From the first night, the camera starts recording strange goings-on.
These are subtle at first: e.g. the first night, the bedroom door simply swings slowly closed and open again halfway through the night; this goes unnoticed and is only discovered by Micah the next day when he plays through the footage. However, even at this point there are several features to the way these events are presented that make these scenes chilling. Firstly, the fact that we see the couple sleeping (in complete darkness!) while the supernatural presence begins to manifest itself gives us a feeling of powerlessness as we can only watch while they lie there oblivious. Secondly, there is a persistent ambient hum in the audio recording, which leaves us straining to hear noises in the background.
As the days pass, the "activity" becomes more disruptive: the door slams shut, Katie starts sleepwalking, and Micah foolishly brings in a ouija board in an effort to communicate with the entity. As the manifestations become more violent, and more tangible, the movie starts to resemble more standard horror fare (I was reminded of both The Blair Witch Project and The Exorist), becoming a little less interesting as a result. As in the case of Blair Watch, the filming style prevents us from seeing most of the gore -- which is quite effective as it leaves our imagination to fill in the gaps -- but we see and hear enough to get the idea.
Overall, I reasonably enjoyed the film, but it was hardly a classic. I would say that given the supposed $15000 budget (the actors were apparently paid $500!) it was a supremely good effort -- really puts to shame the tripe that hollywood routinely dishes up on a much larger budget.
Personally speaking, I don't tend to find this type of film all that frightening (and this is saying something, coming from someone who had trouble sleeping for days after watching Wolf Creek). Indeed, as I reflected after watching the film, given that it would be so simple to record such phenomena (given the multitude of technology cluttering up the average bedroom these days), the fact that no credible recordings have ever been made is surely excellent evidence that such phenomena just don't exist! (Though maybe the fact that I feel the need to rationalize it to myself is evidence that the film got to me more than I'd like to admit ;-)
BOTTOM LINE: fairly watchable in a pinch, but not worth going too far out of your way for. I really hope it doesn't spawn any big-budget sequels.
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