There’s no way to discuss Paranormal Activity, the little horror movie that’s sweeping the nation like the next Blair Witch, without giving away all the good parts.

So before you join the following discussion, you should probably go see it. (And if you can help it, DON’T see the trailer first. It gives away the best part.)

So yeah… go ahead and see it. I can wait. I’ll just sing to myself.

“Should’ve known better! Now I’m a prisoner to this pay-aiiiin! And my heart still aches for you!”

Oh, hey! Welcome back. Let’s get down to business…

I feel like I went into this movie with the right expectations. I decided in advance that I wanted to be scared, but that I wasn’t going to expect, like, a new vision of what horror can mean. As a result, I had a good time.

Without a doubt, the last moment, which was apparently suggested by Steven Spielberg, made the entire movie.

By the final scene, we’ve been trained to watch the door to cute couple Sarah and Micah’s bedroom, anticipating that something evil is going to come through it. They’ve been filming their house for weeks, and they’ve seen more and more compelling evidence that a demon is stalking them. The evidence also has gotten more and more physical. We’ve gone from bumps in the night to poor Sarah actually getting pulled out of her bed and dragged down the hallway. So after Micah races downstairs to her in that final, terrible scene, we are primed for the biggest explosion of all. And when we get it—when Micah’s body comes flying at the camera—damn! It’s just so satisfying.

The body-toss shrewdly solves the riddle that supernatural horror films must answer. How much do you show us? If you tease us with off-camera noises and never let us see anything, then you run the risk of being all set-up and no punchline. If you reveal a beastie in the final frame and it looks like your next door neighbor in a cheap bear costume, then you ruin all the suspense you’ve built with a cheesy effect.

By having the demon go into Sarah’s body, and by having Michah’s body become the most physical manifestation of the demon’s evil power, Paranormal Activity shows us something new without introducing a new visual element. It says, “Look, the demon was always present. You just didn’t know you were looking at it.”

So cool, right? That’s a climax that feels revelatory and still requires us to use our imaginations. It also helps that we don’t see exactly what Demon Sarah does to Micah when he runs downstairs. We just see the aftermath. The balance of showing and not showing alters our perspective without subjecting us to a rubber demon mask.

As a side note, I was also really creeped out that the movie has no credits. It’s so independent that it doesn’t even have union talent, so it doesn’t have to comply with the standard rules about listing performers and key grips and such. Therefore, we don’t get the comforting scroll at the end of the film that tells us everything is just fiction. We just get a few seconds of blackness and then it’s over. That makes the premise—that this movie is made from actual footage found on Micah’s camera—even more convincing

And now… I’d like to get crazy for a minute.

I’d like to argue that Paranormal Activity is structured like a  comedy.

As in, it features characters who are incapable of changing their behavior, and it ends with a wedding.

Micah, for instance, cannot stop filming, even when he knows he’s making the demon angry. He knows talking to the demon with a Ouija board will just strengthen its power, but he gets a Ouija board anyway. He is so focused on “being a man” and “taking care of it” that he becomes comically robotic.

Similarly, Sarah can’t stop bending to Micah’s will. She wants to leave. She wants to call the demonologist. But her man doesn’t want her to, so she doesn’t.

And at the end? The demon goes into Sarah’s body, creating a symbolic marriage, and despite Micah’s attempts to keep the couple apart, his actions only make it easier for the demon to join his bride.  Just imagine the demon is a prince, Sarah is a princess, and Micah is a bridge troll who wants the princess for himself. When the toll inadvertently tells the prince how to win the princess, you’ve got a Disney film.

From that angle, Paranormal Activity is more than just a few shocking scenes. It’s a saucy commentary on how boneheaded people can be. Even when we know better, we just keep doing stupid things that cause us trouble. Think about that the next time you’re at a party and somebody wants to play Bloody Mary.