ParanormalActivity Tagged Articles at Cinematical
'Paranormal Activity' on DVD and Blu-ray December 29
Filed under: Horror », Paramount », Steven Spielberg », Home Entertainment »
If you still haven't seen Paranormal Activity, I don't know what you've been waiting for. Seeing the horror flick in theaters is one of those great moviegoing experiences -- the more people in the theater to scream and laugh with the better. Besides, I can only imagine that watching the thing at home would be so frightening you'll never be able to sleep soundly again. Oh, that probably appeals to many of you scary movie fans, in which case you'll be glad to know you have to wait only a little over a month more to pick up the DVD or Blu-ray of this little movie that could.Paramount will release Paranormal Activity to home video on December 29, just in time to give you something to purchase with the gift card you got over the holidays. Both the DVD and Blu-ray come with the theatrical version of the film as well as an unrated cut that includes an alternate ending (presumably the original one). And the Blu-ray includes a digital copy of the theatrical version, so you can play the movie on your iPod and watch it while hiding underneath your covers.
Is 'Paranormal Entity' a Sequel to 'Paranormal Activity'?
Filed under: Horror », Fandom », Home Entertainment »
From Horror SquadI love Paranormal Activity. It's one of my favorite horror films (for a variety of reasons), yet its absolutely insane success has proven to be a double-edged sword for horror fans. On the one hand, it gives a level of legitimacy not often seen within the horror genre outside of the throngs of fans who live for it. Conversely, it gives The Asylum an opportunity to make another movie.
In the wake of the film Walking Distance changing its name to Experimental Activity, which much like the very existence of The Asylum is nothing more than a shameless attempt to capitalize on the success of others, it would seem the company behind stellar films such as The Day the Earth Stopped and Transmorphers (which may or may not be better than the film it's emulating) has decided to make their own adaptation of Oren Peli's smash hit, known simply as Paranormal Entity.
Those wonderful folks over at Quiet Earth even got a look at the poster and revealed a brief synopsis for the "mockbustermentary" (my word, not theirs):
"Actual found videotape footage of the 2008 "murders" of the Finley family."
Short and sweet. The film will pollute video stores on December 29th of this year.
By: Brad McHargue
Weekend Box Office: '2012' Feeds Appetite for Destruction
Filed under: New Releases », Box Office »
Occasionally you'll hear a movie branded as "criticproof," which I take to be a derisive term implying that the masses will flock even though the movie in question is garbage If there's an entire genre that may now get described as "criticproof" it's the disaster movie. No amount of bad reviews could keep people away from watching Roland Emmerich destroy the world anew in 2012, which made $65 million domestically and $225 million worldwide. The domestic numbers are comparable to The Day After Tomorrow which, among other things, ran 40 minutes shorter. The foreign numbers are even stronger. Those who've seen the movie shouldn't be surprised. Think of it what you will (it's probably my favorite Emmerich film, which is not saying a lot), but it's pretty incomparable as special effects spectacle.2012 had the box office pretty well to itself this weekend. Its only new competition in even semi-wide release was Pirate Radio, which largely flopped despite the enthusiastic pimping of the Love Actually connection -- under $3 million on 880 screens. Faring better was Precious, which expanded to just under 200 screens and earned $6 million. With Precious and Paranormal Activity, this is proving to be a good season for slow roll-out platform releases; Precious seems to be doing a nice job of building awards buzz, too.
As expected, A Christmas Carol turned out to be durable, still running way ahead of The Polar Express, and looking to get a bump from the Thanksgiving holiday in a couple weeks. Look for this one to stick around the top 5 for a little while. On the other hand, the reign of 2012 meant big hits for the holdover genre films, including The Fourth Kind, The Box, and Paranormal Activity.
The box office chart after the jump.
The Little Movie That Could: 'Paranormal Activity' Hits $100 Million
Filed under: Horror », Paramount », Box Office »
Oren Peli is having the greatest Friday the 13th of his life. We all love the shifting Holiday, but none of us can be as happy to greet today as the director of Paranormal Activity, whose film will be hurtling over the $100 million threshold at some point today, which, like his film, is simultaneously believable and unbelievable. I can clearly see why it has dominated at the box office, but I don't think anyone involved with the film (either before or after it was bought) prophesied how monumentally successful it would become.
But I'm not here to tell you once again that you should go see Paranormal Activity, you've already heard that a thousand times over. I would, however, like to use this time to give Oren Peli a standing ovation by putting things a little further into perspective. Within another week, PA will have grossed more money than the cumulative totals of Halloween II, The Uninvited, The Stepfather, and Saw VI. Their combined budgets? Approximately $60 million. If that doesn't show a little innovation goes a long way, I don't know what does.
More at HorrorSquad!
There's 'Paranormal Activity' and Now ... 'Experimental Activity'?
Filed under: Fandom », Newsstand »
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It didn't take long for the shock waves of Oren Peli's incredibly successful, record breaking Paranormal Activity to start influencing other horror movies. However, this time around we're not (yet) talking about The Asylum banging out Abnormal Activity in a weekend. Nope, this is a revival of an old twist on the cash-in-on-something-popular formula.
In the two years since PA finished production, Katie Featherston, the gal at the center of Peli's haunting tale, started laying down roots in the acting world. She took on a role in another indie horror production called Walking Distance about a small town that befalls government medical experiments. That was before PA exploded like a pipe bomb packed with money, giving theater goers all over the country a new use for talcum powder in the process. Now that Peli's title is rolling off the tongues of viable demographics the country over, THR tells us the owners of the finished-but-unreleased Walking Distance have seen fit to capitalize on Katie Featherston's new found popularity by renaming their otherwise off-the-radar film Experimental Activity.
Read the rest over at Horror Squad
Weekend Box Office: Long Live the King of Pop
Filed under: New Releases », Box Office »
Michael Jackson's This is It was the only new wide release this weekend, and essentially had the box office to itself. This may seem weird, but this is as it should be -- and it has more to do with Halloween falling on a Saturday than with any show of respect for the King of Pop. Predictably, This is It won the weekend, grossing $21.3 million for a total of $32.5 million since its Wednesday opening. That's a good number, and monumental for a documentary, though it is also an instance where the studio's hype machine may have led people astray.Those who read the breathless press releases about the trumped-up advance ticket sales frenzy surrounding This Is It may be disappointed (or in any case surprised) by these figures. But over $30 million in five days for a concert documentary is nothing to sneeze at -- and I don't think that expecting much more was reasonable. (As a footnote, too, the movie made nearly $70 million outside of North America -- which also makes sense.)
The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day bowed on 68 screens and grossed just under half a million in 16th place, which isn't bad, really -- confirming the small cult following for Boondock Saints that everyone already knew existed. Among holdovers, Paranormal Activity continued to add screens, and continued to hold up well -- it should break $100 million by this time next week. Saw VI and Where the Wild Things Are both suffered drops over 60%; Wild Things will top out around $70 million (pretty good for an art film), while Saw VI will wind up making around (or just over) half of the next lowest grosser in the franchise. Will the next one go straight to DVD? (Probably not, but it might be time to start asking the question.)
The full top 10 after the jump.
Indie Roundup: Deals, 'Smithereens,' More 'Maid,' AFI Fest
Filed under: Independent », Deals », Box Office », Other Festivals », Cinematical Indie »
Indie Roundup, your weekly dose of what's happening (slightly) outside the mainstream.
Deals. Via our friends at indieWIRE, we learn that Brian Baugh's faith-based To Save a Life will be released by Samuel Goldwyn Films in January 2010. The film follows an "all-American teen" boy dealing with the aftermath of a friend's death. Cross-cultural romantic drama Cairo Time, starring Patricia Clarkson, will hit theaters and on-demand home viewing systems sometime in the new year, courtesy of IFC Films. Bradley Rust Gray's The Exploding Girl will open in early 2010 through Oscilloscope Laboratories. Zoe Kazan stars as a young college woman dealing with conflicting romantic feelings while home in New York for spring break.
Online / On Demand Viewing. Two recommendations this week, both for titles that are newly available through Amazon's VOD service. Susan Seidelman's Smithereens is a quintessentially New York picture and a fiercely independent experience from a time when indies were few and far between. It's a blast of fresh air about Wren (Susan Berman), a rough-talking young woman, and her travails through the seedier side of life as she tries to make something of herself. It's essential viewing, especially if you've been disappointed by one too many slick faux-indies. Musician Richard Hell is great, too.
Much less essential, but no less vital viewing, is Arlene Nelson's Naked States, which trails along as Spencer Tunick engineers massive works of art composed by live, naked human flesh. Tunick is a fascinating photographer / hustler, and so are the people who decide to bare all for the sake of art.
Activity of a different kind, Chilean cleaning, and AFI Fest -- after the jump!
So Here's That 'Paranormal Activity' Ending You Didn't See
Filed under: Horror », Independent », Mystery & Suspense », Paramount »
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I know, you might be bordering on a Paranormal Activity overdose at this point. It's been slowly rolling out for weeks, every person in America is talking about it, and it so totally scared your best friend, but certainly not you. Well, as you likely know, what is currently playing in theaters is not the original ending to Oren Peli's haunted house triumph. In fact, the new theatrical cut features an ending suggested by Steven Spielberg.
The original ending, as detailed here by our own William Goss, hasn't played in theaters for over a year and a half, but now that the film is king of the demonic world, someone has provided the service of actually putting the alternate ending online. This is actually just one of several endings, as explained in our interview with the director, but until the far-off DVD of the film is released, this is the only way you're going to see it. And I kind of have a feeling that may not be the case for long, so catch it while you can over at Horror Squad!
The Obligatory 'Paranormal Activity' Spoofs
Filed under: Comedy », Fandom », Trailers and Clips »
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These days folks don't really wait for things to settle before they start making fun because there's always this unspoken contest to see who can crack the obligatory jokes first. When Paranormal Activity beat Saw VI at the box office this weekend, not only did it send a much welcomed shock through the Hollywood system, but it also automatically became the source of what we can only imagine will be at least a few dozen different upcoming spoofs. From the professional spoofers to the amateur, do-it-yourself-and-throw-it-on-You-Tube spoofers, get ready to be inundated with random shaky-cam videos about ghosts in bedrooms, in living rooms, in attics, in kitchens, in bathrooms, in toilets, and so on and so forth.
Funny or Die was first out of the gate this weekend, producing a spoof that mixes Paranormal Activity and Saw called Paranormal Saw. In the video, a couple set out to record ghosts in their bedroom, but instead are paid a visit by the Jigsaw puppet from Saw who keeps the two awake by talking about puzzles and games all night long. The second video, from Texas-based filmmaker Jordan Crowder, is called Parannoying Activity, and it also follows a couple who decide to record ghosts while they're sleeping -- only this time the ghost decides to screw with them constantly by doing stuff like rearranging their DVDs and solving all of the puzzles in a puzzle book.
How many videos will it take before everyone begins to hate Paranormal Activity? I sense a backlash starting in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...
... watch both videos after the jump
How 'Saw' Got Its Groove Back ... If Not at the Box Office
Filed under: Horror », New Releases », Box Office », Contests », Remakes and Sequels »
This one is for the increasingly few of you who have steadfastly stuck with the Saw franchise through thick-and-thin in the aughts. The opening weekend numbers for Saw VI are the weakest since the first film, mostly thanks to some stiff competition from breakout hit Paranormal Activity. But box-office returns aren't everything. So: what'd you think?
I wrote this little piece before the release of Saw V last year, in the mode of a frustrated fan hoping for a revitalized franchise. It didn't happen; Saw V was boring and incomprehensible, and I was ready to skip the sixth film altogether. Then it got some decent reviews, and I thought what the hell. I'm glad I did. Saw VI, which sees editor Kevin Greutert take over directing duties, is easily the best Saw movie since the third. That may not be the most enthusiastic bit of praise I've ever issued, but miracle of miracles: the fifth sequel to a half-decent horror flick is legitimately pretty good. Here's how I think Saw got some of its bite back:
- Thriller momentum. For the first time in three years, a Saw movie is exciting, in an old-fashioned what-happens-next sort of way. There are creative traps a-plenty -- some of the most ingenious ones in the series, for those who are into that sort of thing -- but the film doesn't depend on them: it has a semblance of a protagonist, and a story that moves forward, and draws you in, and makes the 90 minutes feel like less. Which is related to my next point, namely:
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