"Paranormal Activity" Was Frightening

After the initial advertising blitz, when the people who had been promised heart attacks finally saw the movie, there was some backlash.  Friends all over the country were reporting to us that "they were not scared at all."  Naturally this "counter culture" attitude became the go ahead stance for cool people everywhere, and from internet message boards to office water coolers Paranormal Activity began to lose its luster.  MATM hates to see quality work get a bad rap, and would like to come on record as saying that yes, this was a scary movie.  How scary?  Heart attacks were certainly rare, but there is another more plausible scenario envisioned below.

Much of the frightening atmosphere in the movie was created by the characters shortcomings.  Their own reactions to the strange nocturnal events seemed to be a mix of sedated curiosity and mild unnease.  Not until the final climactic nights was any sort of urgency instilled in the couple.  Had they been real people, and not bound by a script, they would have probably expressed more concern, or at least intelligence, towards the unfolding events.  MATM has the comparison.