1. Paranormal Activity (2009)

What makes the Paranormal Activity series so frightening is the way everyday suburban life is turned completely upside down. It’s unsettling to see ordinary household objects being controlled by something sinister and unseen, like the sudden slamming of doors or having your sheets yanked off the bed. Katie (Katie Featherston) believes a dark spirit has followed her since childhood, so her husband Micah (Micah Sloat) sets up surveillance cameras to catch any supernatural happenings.

Director Oren Peli is a genius at building suspense, delaying scares to when you least expect them. He’ll focus on a light fixture for a long time, making you think nothing is going to happen until it suddenly moves. The audience is overcome with dread every time the couple retreats to their bedroom and we watch the timestamps roll later into the night and early morning. There’s so much tension in the stillness and the wide angle of the camera, forcing viewers to scan every corner of the frame for something malicious that could befall these poor, unsuspecting individuals in their sleep. It makes you wonder what terrifying things could be occurring while you’re unconscious. The image of Katie standing over Micah for over two hours, motionless, has never left me. While the Paranormal Activity series loses its simple charm as it delves deeper into demonic lore, the first three sequels still deliver some genuinely nerve-wracking sequences.