Fortean Times: Why do you think Paranormal Activity has had such a strong reaction?

Oran Peli: For whatever reason, people really respond to the movie, they find it genuinely scary. From what we’re hearing from people, it's the first movie that really scared them in a long time. On a higher level, a lot of people have different reasons: it's because of the realism, or subject matter a lot of people relate to – what happens at night while you're asleep is sort of a primal fear that a lot of people share.

FT: What were your hopes for it?

OP: I was hoping – after the success of Open Water and Blair Witch – that maybe it would have some future in theatres.