I am, I can’t wait to see it. I hope it gets a wide release.
It played in 13 cities this weekend, including here in Seattle. Sold-out both Friday and Saturday, unsurprisingly. I’ve heard that it will be in wide release in about 2 or 3 weeks from now. I’m down. Hype’s got to me.
yeah, i am pretty excited to see this as well. if i am not mistaken, i think this film had been completed for a few years now. anybody know why its just now getting released? same thing with the film ‘trick r’ treat’. both films seem to be favorable among fans, critics and festivals. is it a rights issue or are studios afraid they won’t make any money? just curious.
double post. sorry.
You can read the whole story at “LA Times” website. Cost to make this movie: $15,000
I have to admit, my interest is whetted. I’m a big fan (guiltily) of ghost hunting investigations, so I am very curious to see this. However, I am a bit weary due to its incredibly Castle-esque marketing gimmicks and very very limited release. I do work with an (unnamed) distribution company and when they put a film in the AMC theaters in Dallas, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, and New York only… you can almost always put money down on it being a plunker.
As for Paranormal Activity… I think it could provide for a super fun audience experience. Maybe not something I want to experience in the comfort of my living room.
Not really. Seems big on hype.
There’s definitely a lot of hype and the whole ‘grass roots’ element is pretty manufactured. But I gotta say the film is the genuine article. I saw it fairly early on with no expectations and left the cinema literally shaking. What all the hype obscures though is that the film’s scares are actually incredibly low key and not at all like your usual Hollywood shock tactics – the most unbearable moments are when nothing is happening. The technique they use is relatively simple but I think quite ingenious. A good way to view it is to think if Haneke’s Hidden was a straight-out horror film…
If nothing else, it makes for an incredible audience experience (listen: http://daveguzman.blogspot.com/2009/09/sounds-from-darkened-theatre.html).
Like the man said, word of mouth is still the most powerful moneymaking device. If the movie is half as scary as I’ve heard, people will be talking. Paul Brookes the producer of Haunting in Connecticut stayed in the hotel where I work as a valet for several months while working
on a horror film called A New Daughter shot in Charleston SC mostly at night. He told me about Haunting in Con. When I looked it up on the net (pre-release) test audiences were terrified. Indeed, necromancy and seance are real and scary forms of rite. But after seeing it, I really wasn’t that impressed. Anyways, I’m not big on the house ghost theme but I can’t wait to give this one a shot.
at movie looks like is going to suck all the balls on earth
I’ll probably see it, but when is this whole “documentary-style” filmmaking thing going to pass? It’s like reality shows – they just won’t seem to go away. I’ll take a new approach anytime. Talk about milking the fucking cow!
Just received this E-mail:
“Thank you for demanding Paranormal Activity in your city. We have a special message for you from Oren Peli, director of Paranormal Activity.
Hi everyone,
I just got some good news from the studio. Because of the high demand it numbers, and the fact that the weekend screenings sold out, Paramount agreed to expand the movie to more cities this weekend.
We will be in 20 new cities!
Atlanta, GA
Chicago, IL
Dallas, TX
DC/Baltimore, MD
Denver, CO
Detroit, MI
Houston, TX
Los Angeles, CA
Las Vegas, NV
Miami, FL
Minneapolis, MN
New York, NY
Philadelphia, PA
Phoenix, AZ
Sacramento, CA
San Antonio, TX
San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA
San Jose, CA
Tampa, FL
Check your E-mail tomorrow for links to tickets and showtimes.
Thank you for demanding the movie in your hometown.
Please continue the support and keep demanding it, because it’s working!
Thanks!
Oren"
Sweeeet.
Been monitoring all the hype on Yahoo. It’s got my curiosity peaked. Sounds like fun.
My city was one of those that got the movie last Friday. Surprisingly, a lot of the hype surrounding it is totally warranted. Here’s my review for the Omaha Reader, if anyone’s interested.
http://www.thereader.com/blogs/film/2009/09/movie-review-paranormal-activity.html
Damn, Its going to take forever for it to get to the Hartford-Springfield area.
I’m a fanatic when it comes to anything paranormal, and will probably watch this film. I just don’t care for POV films anymore. It was cool with “The Blair Witch Project” in ‘99, but recently, it’s been over-kill with films like “Cloverfield” (first half of the film = yawn), “Diary of the Dead” (guess what, more zombies) and “Quarantine” (help, my leg is being chewed off…but I don’t want to let go of the camera).
This movie had a few really good scares and a good build up, but other than that it was a mediocre film. Think of it as this decade’s Blair Witch. A low budget film that is effectively done at it’s budget but completely overhyped.
Just saw this last night – pirated copies(sorry) are already being sold in the streets of Kabul so I bought one for $3. It’s o.k. not a bad concept I guess, if one’s into the strange paranormal stuff. Half of the lads were passed out asleep halfway through it, perhaps the movie’s scare factor if there’s any, was lost around here in Afgh. What’s more disturbing was seeing the crowd in the online promo preview being terrified, especially the males (seriously brothers, have we become a society of sissies?). Or, was that scripted?
Nevertheless, excellent marketing and quite a brilliant job creating the buzz.
I’m probably late to the dance with this, but an Auteurs search for In Memorium (2005) yielded nothing.
After seeing the trailer for Paranormal Activity, I recalled a film festival gem that I viewed in 2006
that, at first blush, looked like a Blair Witch re-do.
It was actually quite well done, with an intriguing premise.
Had a lot of folks in the small venue quite worried, which is all we ask of horror films, really.
Because of its minimalist approach and use of only two key characters, I’m already thinking that
In Memorium is a better picture than this new audience grabber.
Check out the trailer here:
http://www.inmemoriumthemovie.com/
I dont see how a film like this can be overhyped or dissapointing. X-Men Origins: Wolverine was overhyped and dissapointing. How can Paranormal Activity, a movie that was made in a few week with an extremely low budjet, be dissapointing. If anything it exceeded my expectations.
I’ve been intrigued by this no-budget movie for the past several weeks. I’m attracted to the “little engine that could” halo. Found myself in a neighborhood last night where it was playing along with a friend who wanted to go to a movie. He knew nothing about it. Thirty minutes in, he became restless and he started whispering something about leaving. It was clear within a few minutes more that he was completely rejecting the movie. I decided to leave with him.
I don’t think that the flick was seriously freaking him out. Although, he could barely keep himself from talking about how boring, bogus and maddening the movie was for the following hour. He spoke of not wanting to “waste” 85 minutes of his life, yet it occupied his conversation for at least 60 minutes thereafter.
As for myself, I remain intrigued and will catch it in its entirety sometime in the future.
Have any of you walked out on it? Care to share why?
I guarantee that was just an excuse to leave because he was scared and its a good thing he did because the last 40 minutes or contains some scary shit. Or else he just doesnt understand how a movie can be entertaining without Will Smith and lots of CGI, which poses this question: Does your friend enjoy film as art or is he one of those Redbox enthusiasts?
you should have sayed Cineaste
He’s not even close to being an aficionado. He said he enjoyed “Blair Witch Project”, so the found footage angle shouldn’t have been a problem or even the low-budget restraints. He seemed to not enjoy the couple as characters, didn’t think they were funny or sexy. I thought it was a little weird that he couldn’t sit through a simple, little movie that he knew I wanted to see. I’ve never noticed any fear factor in him in regards to the supernatural.
Anyway, I’ll go back to the theatre by myself, if necessary. Personally, I left with reserved judgment—I knew the payoff hadn’t come yet. I’m even more curious reading what you said, sekzee, about the last 40 minutes.
I agree that POV/Reality-based films are becoming a dime a dozen and therefore a bit tiresome. But they are a helluva lot more inspiring and fun than the endless Hollywood remakes and adaptations of anything and everything, especially 70’s and 80’s horror films. I am also very impressed/heartened that Spielberg/Dreamworks made the wise decision to release it as it was instead of remaking it, as they were intent upon doing before it blew the pants off of a test audience they showed it to. I think the ending is the only thing that was manipulated by the studio. If anything, hopefully this film will show the studios that audiences will respond to original and well-crafted films regardless of budget and excessive special effects.
Sorry. Hollywood sux. Shouldn’t pay them any kind of lip service. Ballsuckers.
Saw it last night. Have to say vaciliated between being scared (an absolute rarity these days where most so-called horror films are constructed as little more than light entertainment) and admiring the skill and intelligence of the filmmaker i.e. horror is most effective when it deals with what one can’t see.
In addition, the pace of the film underscores a deep understanding of the genre, with all extraneous plot ejected (backstories, flashbacks, etc) whilst the tension is incrementally ratcheted up. The film is a lean, mean, scaring machine and is (in my opinion and after just one viewing) the purest and best horror film of the past decade.
Highly recomended.
Best comedy of 2009.
I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard at an audience in years.
Proof that the best and scariest horror films are just about great ideas, and can be made for under $10,000. Better and scarier than any multi-million-dollar-studio-generated fodder I have seen in last 10 years. Blair Witch Project did the same thing when it was released.
Only the last two minutes were scary and the lead was such a jerk he deserved everything he got
David Guzman
Anyone else excited about the release of Paranormal Activity? The low budget horror flick seems set for a very limited release Sept 25 almost three years after it finished production. It’s since been building the kind of hype that The Blair Witch Project inspired back in the day. Personally, I saw the movie in Sydney a few months and it not only shits all over Blair Witch, it’s just about the scariest movie I can remember seeing since…well, since whenever.