Quotes from Oren Peli

Don't know if I'm a nerd - I'm more of a geek.

'Paranormal Activity' was a unique project in that I made it basically on my own, with a little help, and I had no exposure to the filmmaking world when I made it.

The thing I find really scary about ghosts and demons is that you don't really know what they are or where they are. They're not very well understood. You don't know what they want from you. So it's the kind of thing you don't even know how to defend yourself against. Anything that's unknown and mysterious is very scary.

I don't know if I would say that I'm specifically a history buff. I do find a lot of things fascinating, especially anything that's bizarre or mysterious and unknown and we don't have all the answers for.

For a found-footage-style movie, there's a definite advantage in using unknowns, because it helps sell the illusion that it's real. A known actor would get in the way of the suspension of disbelief.

Not knowing the thing that's chasing you is a lot scarier than seeing it right in front of you.

Almost any movie, no matter how original, is borrowing from some other movies.

I've always had better luck learning things on my own. And I really love the challenge of doing it yourself and kind of being alone against the system.

I've never owned an Apple product. I like the fact that PCs are open architecture and not locked down like Apple products. I feel that Macs are also unjustifiably overpriced.

In many cases your imagination is much more effective than what can be shown. It primes you to know something is about to happen - the anticipation and anxiety is worse than what ends up happening.

I'm pretty content with what I have, but the one thing that I don't have is something like the iPod - but PC-based. I think that would be cool.