Area 51

The relatively tense final half-hour is clearly the reason that very smart producer Jason Blum thought this would be a solid follow-up to "Paranormal Activity." It's that first hour that is the reason it took six years to (barely) get released.

You know the drill: A bunch of dudes, determined to go somewhere they shouldn't, decide to record their experience and things go bad. Very bad.

Peli doesn't do much other than show new ways of incorporating found footage- techniques which aren't necessarily fresh or innovative but, above all else, just fun to look at.

Frankly maybe they should have kept the tapes a secret for the rest of eternity. The idea of Area 51 seems to be what's truly frightening about it, not what's actually going on inside.

You can literally skip the first 45 minutes of Area 51 and not miss a thing.

...improves considerably once the protagonists make their way into the (poorly fortified) compound...

Area 51 is everything that's wrong with not only found footage films, but also weak-minded sci-fi thrillers that think crazed talking heads and fuzzy shadows are scary enough.

There's no creative leap to enjoy and little filmmaking finesse to study. Instead, it's more of the same, and in the five years "Area 51" has been sitting on the shelf, every studio and aspiring horror moviemaker has beaten Peli at his own game.