oren peli Tagged Articles at Cinematical

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!

We'll have our full box office report tomorrow morning, but we should let you know now that, as expected (and reported back on Saturday morning), Paranormal Activity has claimed its first weekend win, slicing and dicing its way through Saw VI (only $14 million) on its way to a $22 million take. Naturally, Paramount wasted no time in announcing that they may indeed pursue a Paranormal Activity sequel if it seems like the right move to make. Speaking to the LA Times, Paramount Chairman Brad Grey said, "We have the rights on a worldwide basis to do Paranormal 2, and we're looking to see if that makes some sense."

Well, considering that this little film with a budget of $11,000 could give the studio its greatest return ever, something tells me a sequel makes a whole lotta sense to the folks crunching numbers. That said, I'm not the only one who remembers the gigantic piece of moose crap that was Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, and so if Paramount is going to try to turn Paranormal Activity into some sort of franchise, they'll have to do so very carefully.

Personally, I'd rather see them invest in writer-director Oren Peli and his other fun, low-budget ideas than to see them throw a few million and some over-the-top special effects at a sequel that will never live up to the original. Let's face it, like Blair Witch before it, a lot of the fun with Paranormal Activity came in discovering it through word of mouth instead of through the normal Hollywood marketing system. It was (and still is) an underdog, and folks love the underdog. The same won't be said for the sequel.

What do you think they should do here?

Well, congrats are in order to Paramount for slyly marketing its low-budget pick-up, Paranormal Activity, to bona fide box office success with $7.1 million on a mere 159 screens, with a wider release still to come.

But many of the fans savvy enough to seek it out are by now aware that Activity's ending wasn't always as it stands now. In fact, the film runs about ten minutes shorter between its late '07/early '08 festival screenings and its current cut.

So, to answer the questions that I and others fortunate enough to have seen the original version have been fielding, we'll be taking a look at as many differences as we can remember between the two, not to mention the further rumblings of what was different in test screenings for the film.

Naturally, this means spoilers. I know, it says as much right there in the headline, but for the sake of covering our butts, let's make this clear: a spoiler warning for everything that follows.

There, that ought to do it. Now click here for the full report at Horror Squad.

Is there anyone out there who hates Paranormal Activity, Oren Peli's incredibly effective dive into "found footage" filmmaking? Judging by the fact that it sold out every single one of its midnight showings in 33 different cities last weekend, I think it's safe to say that people are loving the idea of being terrified Blair Witch style without having to commit to the false idea that what they're seeing is reportedly real footage. Sure, Peli's film made for roughly $15,000 is a genuinely frightening breath of fresh air, but what I admire most about is its refusal, from a marketing and narrative standpoint, to try and sucker viewers into thinking it is anything but a damn good haunted house simulation.

So how does one follow up faux found footage from a haunted house? With faux found footage from Area 51, of course. Variety is reporting that two groups of investors have locked down $5,000,000 for Oren Peli to make a film that tells, "the story of three teens whose curiosity leads them to the notorious "Area 51" part of Nellis Air Force Base in the Nevada desert."

Read the rest of over at SciFiSquad.

Although million-dollar marketing campaigns and media blitzes have essentially eclipsed (if not eliminated) the idea of word-of-mouth success, there are still a lot of smaller movies that not only would benefit from fans telling their friends and neighbors to see them, but would actually be movies that fans, friends and neighbors would want to see. Case in point: Paranormal Activity opened on 12 screens September 25th, and in two weekends it's become the sleeper horror film of the season, thanks to a terrifically simple and streamlined story about a couple terrorized by unseen supernatural forces. (Check out Eugene's terrific write-up of the movie here, and my equally effusive praise for it here.)

Paranormal's distributor, Paramount Pictures, has supported the film's release, but they're understandably apprehensive about throwing the marketing muscle of something like G.I. Joe behind something that might appeal only to a select audience, especially since it's a low-budget horror movie that could become either a bona fide phenomenon like The Blair Witch Project, or a dud-on-arrival like Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows. But given the attention that the film has enjoyed at recent festivals and in its limited release (it's currently earning more than $16,000 on each one of its 33 screens), Paramount has offered its fans (and potential fans) a unique opportunity to be part of the film's eventual distribution strategy: specifically, you can determine whether the film earns a wide release, comes to your hometown, and eventually, becomes one of your all-time favorite horror films.

When I first read about the premise of [REC] a couple of years back, I thought it sounded like something with potential, but once I saw an early teaser for it, compiled of audience reactions at Sitges and no footage whatsoever, I knew I was game.

Cut to present day, and I've grown considerably warier of not only the hokier tactics used to sell horror movies, but the minimal theatrical runs that some are forced to face. Then along comes Paramount, in the wake of burning off whatever Vantage titles they had acquired, who proceeds to not only dust off their long-ago-purchased home-video horror, Paranormal Activity, but opt to forgo their announced remake plans in lieu of releasing the original -- well, with a reportedly re-shot ending anyway.

Watch the trailer over at Horror Squad!

Once the novelty of the first-person, subjective-camera horror flicks (Blair Witch, Cloverfield, Quarantine, Diary of the Dead, etc,) wore off for me, I started having logistical issues with the genre. After a while, you can't help but start paying attention to the inherent implausibility of the characters as persistent, skilled camerapeople who keep rolling when any reasonable person would have ditched the damn camcorder long ago. That may seem insanely picky, but it's what happens when the same flawed device is foisted on me time and again.

I had some of the same objections to Paranormal Activity, which screened at Telluride in advance of a planned release by Paramount, and nearly two years after it first premiered at Screamfest in Los Angeles. But the movie is so skillful in every other way -- and so much fun -- that I essentially told myself to shut the hell up. Oren Peli's feature debut, the story of a woman haunted by a relentless and malevolent demon, is a terrific companion piece to this year's Drag Me to Hell, with Sam Raimi's old-fashioned horror chops replaced by the masterful execution of a conceptual gimmick.

I have a big "Park City genre report" on the way, but here's some good news that has forced me to jump the gun just a little bit. One of the coolest surprises I saw last week was a Slamdance entry called Paranormal Activity. Now, being that I'm a ravenous horror nerd, I'd already heard (and read) a little bit about the flick -- and I was aware that there was strongly positive buzz from the hardcore horror hounds -- but I wasn't really prepared for how quietly, confidently creepy the flick would be.

I won't spoil anything, but I will say that Paranormal Activity is a great little horror flick, and it sure looks like the people at DreamWorks agree with the horror press. According to Variety, DW has acquired all domestic and remake rights to Paranormal Activity, which basically means we'll see a solid DVD release for the original, and a glossier remake that's not bad, but not as good as the original. The horror fans get two movies, everyone involved gets paid, and it's a nice story all around. Score one for the little guy who made a good movie. (Feel free to check out Kim's review here, and my full review right here.)

Congrats, Oren!