After wowing midnight audiences last weekend in 33 cities nationwide -- selected by popular demand on a cagey studio Web site -- Oren Peli's $11,000 movie Paranormal Activity is poised to pounce into theaters Friday for conventional engagements.

AMC's Veterans 24 in Tampa and Regency 20 in Brandon are the only local theaters announced, so far.

But first, a few word of mouth screenings Wednesday, just in case Paramount's peekaboo release and viral marketing plan hasn't stirred up enough interest.

Wednesday's crowd at Veterans 24 in Tampa jumped, gasped and nervously laughed at all the right moments, noticeably unnerved by the bare bones production standards -- essentially one portable camera following a haunted couple through supernatural scares. Random reactions heard outside the theater were mixed after the show.

"That was the scariest, freakiest thing I've ever watched," said Joe
Gagliano, 20, of Tampa. "I don't get scared but that was intense."

Gagliano's
friend Doris Bratic, 19, of Tampa chimed in: "I've never been at a
movie where he jumped. We had our hands over our eyes the whole time,
or I was burying my head into his chest. It makes it worse because it
looks real. We thought it was real until we walked out. Blair Witch Project was nothing compared to this. This was way worse."

Meade Gooding, 25, of Tampa disagreed: "It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be."

Gooding's friend Craig Petty, 22, of Tampa was slightly more impressed

"I liked the viral marketing and I missed it (at the midnight shows) last weekend," Petty said. "I wasn't disappointed but I didn't have any preconception of what it was going to be."

Aaron Dixon, 29, of Tampa took time to spell his impression of Paranormal Activity.

""That movie was wack," he said. "W.A.C.K. The trailers on TV messed it up. They
showed the very end of it. They drew (the set-up) out a long, long time."

Peli's prolonged teases about something occult occurring to a young couple inside their home got on a few viewers' nerves, even an admirer like Gagliano.

"It's kind of a slow start," he said. "They could chop off a good 15 minutes."

Another viewer, Linda Haley, 66 of Odessa, couldn't stand the cinema verite nature of the film, similar to The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield -- until her someone suggested her discomfort might be a good sign.

"I thought it was horrible," Haley said. "You know what I didn't like? before I realized they were videoing like that, it was driving me crazy, just going back and forth, back and forth. I don't think I can go home and sleep tonight, I tell you."

So, maybe the movie was horrible in a good way because it did what it was supposed to do?

"I never thought of it that way," Haley said, laughing. "It was disorienting but it was disturbing."

As moviegoers headed toward the exit, another crowd lined up for a later showing of Paranormal Activity, scanning faces for hints of what they would see in a few minutes.

First in line was Steve Chase, 23, of Clearwater, who knew exactly what he anticipated.

"The scariest movie ever," Chase said. "That's what everyone is saying."