Paranormal Activity

Jcomp said:

Spoiler

The scene where she gets dragged out of bed was the definite highlight for me. Very well executed.

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I caught the movie last weekend. I enjoyed it. The last few scenes scared the crap out of me. Especially the scene above.

What ruined it is that we had someone who tagged along with our group that we don't normally hang out with and she broke down in HYSTERICAL laughter during that scene (much to the anger of the people in the theatre). I didn't see what was so funny about it. Kinda ruined the mood. All we could figure is that she disables fear with laughter.

Also, other than that "outside interference", my only other minor gripe was the ending. I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen it but some things are better enjoyed if left as a mystery.

I accidently dropped my phone over an hour into the film. Scared the pee out of me and the people sitting in front of me.

I saw it and didn't find it to be very scary. However, I DID enjoy the fact that a low budget film got so much recognition (which in turn will hopefully inspire others with a great story to tell to get out there and tell it). I also liked the fact that the girl in it wasn't your typical hollywood girl, but was still very attractive.

If nothing else, PA has my eternal gratitude for finally dethroning the Saw franchise's five-year death grip on the Halloween box office. Early estimates for the weekend show Saw only making about $15 mill for the weekend--half of what the predecessors opened to--while PA is looking like it might make over $20 million. Did I mention PA is in about a 1,000 fewer theaters than Saw played in?

Great news for the genre. If we have to exist in Hollywood's copycat world I'd rather see a slew of ambitious haunted house flicks with relatively subdued effects than more lazy cinematic splatterpunk.

Jcomp said:

If nothing else, PA has my eternal gratitude for finally dethroning the Saw franchise's five-year death grip on the Halloween box office. Early estimates for the weekend show Saw only making about $15 mill for the weekend--half of what the predecessors opened to--while PA is looking like it might make over $20 million. Did I mention PA is in about a 1,000 fewer theaters than Saw played in?

Great news for the genre. If we have to exist in Hollywood's copycat world I'd rather see a slew of ambitious haunted house flicks with relatively subdued effects than more lazy cinematic splatterpunk.

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Amen to that. I watched the first Saw and was mildly disturbed, more grossed out than scared, which is not what I consider to be a good horror movie experience. None of the theaters around here have PA yet, but I'm hoping it'll make it here soon. Can't wait to see it!

Lots of kids at the theater this weekend either seeing SAW or Paranormal. I wish the SAW franchise would finally die, but I doubt it, not when the teenage boys in skull T-shirts are still flocking to it.

Paranormal Activity has exceeded $60M in just its 5th week of release, and has finally hit #1 at the box office this weekend!


Whoo-Hoo!

http://boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/


This latest development now makes it a true sleeper huit, something else Hollywood always takes note of. Sleepers are very rare now adays, and getting rarer. Sleepers always have an underdog appeal to them, especially when they are indies. The last sleeper hit to really charm the socks off of the people who run Hollywood was My Big Fat Greek Wedding.



TW LW Title .......................... Studio ... Weekend Gross .. Theater Count .... Per Theater Average .... Total Gross .... Budget* .. Week #
1 .... 3 .. Paranormal Activity ........ Par. ....... $22,000,000 ...... 1,945 ....................... $11,311 .............. $62,477,000 ..... $0.015 ... 5
2 ... N .. Saw VI ........................ LGF ........ $14,800,000 ....... 3,036 ..................... $4,875 .................. $14,800,000 .... $11 ....... 1
3 ... 1 .. Where the Wild Things Are..WB ....... $14,420,000 ...... 3,735 ....................... $3,861 ................ $53,960,000 ..... $100 ..... 2
4 .. 2 ... Law Abiding Citizen ........Over ....... $12,713,000 ......... 2,890 ........................$4,399 ..............$40,318,000 ....... $50 .... 2
5 ... 4 .. Couples Retreat .............. Uni. ...... $11,097,000 ......... 3,074 ..................... $3,610 .............. $78,213,000 ....... $70 ...... 3

At this rate, I suspect the movie will hit $95 million before it's domestic run is complete!

And, from the Los Angeles Times ....


http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/ent.../10/paramount-paranormal-activity-sequel.html

Paramount may produce 'Paranormal Activity' sequel

October 25, 2009 | 10:45 am

Can lightning strike twice?

Paramount Pictures is hoping so, as the studio is actively considering producing a sequel to "Paranormal Activity," the out-of-the-blue horror flick that cost $15,000 to produce and has sold $62.5 million worth of tickets so far domestically.

"We have the rights on a worldwide basis to do 'Paranormal 2' and we're looking to see if that makes some sense," Paramount Chairman Brad Grey said in an interview today.

In an industry obsessed with building franchises, a second "Paranormal Activity" seems like a no-brainer. The studio acquired the movie for just $300,000 and has spent less than $10 million on marketing, relying primarily on word-of-mouth and Internet buzz. It is on track to gross more than $100 million domestically. That would make it, Grey said, the most profitable film for Paramount since he took over in 2005 and, quite possibly, in the studio's history.

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Interesting numbers are being quoted in this news article:

1) Cost of production to the indie producer who cooked up this movie was only $15,000 (I read $11,000 elsewhere, but it's still mere pennies compared to most productions)

2) Paramount bought the film from that indie producer for only $300,000. Again, mere pennies!

3) Paramount spent "just" $10 million on advertising. (And that IS a pretty modest budget for advertising. Some films spend $70 million to $90 million on ads.)


All around, this movie is STILL completely in the black already. The sad truth is that nowadays, most films do NOT crawl out of the hole financially via just their initial domestic box office run. And only sometimes is the added revenue from the foriegn box office enough to cover all expenses and bring the film out of the red and into the black. But the more tytpical case today is that it isn't ususally until the cable TV and DVD market (the sales from the "after market") do their thing that a film FINALLY turns a profit. This baby, on the other hand, is barely out of the starting gate and is in undeniably the black to the tune of well over $40 million. Go, man, go!





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This isn't really spoiling anything, but for anyone that has seen the movie, did you notice anything odd about the white teddy bear in one of the spare bedrooms in the couples' house? My girlfriend is convinced that the bear changes positions and moves from room to room occasionally, leading her to the belief that the 'paranormal activity' stems from the bear or something hiding in the bear.

Opinions from those of you more observant than myself?

Didn't pay attention to the bear, myself, so I can't vouch for it moving around, but I think the girl just had a demon stalking her since childhood. Maybe the bear--if it does move--is something from her childhood and that's why the demon toys with it? Not sure, but I think the movie aimed to show that the paranormal activity went into hyperdrive as soon as her boyfriend started showing the demon too much attention by bringing the camera into the house.

Sequel? If they let the studio execs make decisions, it'd be another Blair Witch 2. Too bad Hollywood never learns.

Jcomp said:

Didn't pay attention to the bear, myself, so I can't vouch for it moving around, but I think the girl just had a demon stalking her since childhood. Maybe the bear--if it does move--is something from her childhood and that's why the demon toys with it? Not sure, but I think the movie aimed to show that the paranormal activity went into hyperdrive as soon as her boyfriend started showing the demon too much attention by bringing the camera into the house.

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I don't think it was even really the camera, but his taunting of it. Making fun of it's antics, threatening it, and mocking it. Not to mention trying to talk to and communicate with it. Then all of the fights with his girl causing more tension? Yeah, it was a bomb waiting to go off.

Our general theory about the bear was that it seemed to be the only 'kiddie' thing in their entire house. Everything else was more 'mature'. I mean, then had a prim, proper kitchen, the technology scattered about, and the nice mantle and fireplace. Their spare bedrooms were fairly sparse but nicely furnished with comforters and whatnot. The ONLY thing that stood out from that motif was the bear - which was like a red flag to me. If it really does move around like my girlfriend claims, then I fully believe there were some directorial hi jinks going on and he was having a private chuckle at how no one will know it was the bear doing all of it, haha.

tarcanus said:

I don't think it was even really the camera, but his taunting of it. Making fun of it's antics, threatening it, and mocking it. Not to mention trying to talk to and communicate with it. Then all of the fights with his girl causing more tension? Yeah, it was a bomb waiting to go off.

Our general theory about the bear was that it seemed to be the only 'kiddie' thing in their entire house. Everything else was more 'mature'. I mean, then had a prim, proper kitchen, the technology scattered about, and the nice mantle and fireplace. Their spare bedrooms were fairly sparse but nicely furnished with comforters and whatnot. The ONLY thing that stood out from that motif was the bear - which was like a red flag to me. If it really does move around like my girlfriend claims, then I fully believe there were some directorial hi jinks going on and he was having a private chuckle at how no one will know it was the bear doing all of it, haha.

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Interesting. If nothing else this gives me another reason to watch the movie again and be on look out. I love searching for these little "easter eggs" in movies...

Well, I applaud any $11,000 (or $15,000 whatever) low budget movie that scores so big. Number One weekend BIG. May it inspire all the struggling DYI filmmakers to write and create better stories, and may it inspire investors to help support quality indie filmmakers (how many really great low-budget films could be made ... on the $50 million spent on one Hollywood piece of $#!*% ???)

That said ... not a heck of a lot of story there, just building and building of tension until .. okay ... there are a few BIG MOMENTS. Worth the $8 tix?

But "story" ??? No. Very good manipulation, and better marketing.

Power to them. I've been to too many dull and pointless "big budget" movies to complain about a $11,000 movie that successfully levitates an entire theater's asses out of their seats a few times! If that's their goal, they succeeded, definitely.

I watched this movie 2 days ago, and I really did not enjoyed it as I thought. It was veeery predictable and I found it quite boring at a time, especially at the very beginning. It was like watching a bad version of
in the middle of nowhere.

My husband freaked out when and few other times as well, but the fact that

oh c'mon can you not come up with better ideas?
Maybe it just me, I have seen so many horror movies in my life that it's very hard to freak me out with something like that, but fair play for the success achieved at a low cost budget.

Jcomp said:

It's like Blair Witch done right. More of an actual script, less improvisation. More and much better humor. LOTS more visible scares, plus a great atmosphere and suspense. It does a phenomenal job of scares scenes up and making you guess when, if and how the payoff is coming.

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I agree. The Blair Witch Project failed with me because I couldn't really get involved with any of the characters. Not like it has to get really emotional, but I'd like to at least know who they are. The characters in Blair Witch could have been anybody. With this movie, even in the scenes where nothing was happening, they were usually establishing the characters, and what their relationship was like. It's much more interesting, and therefore scarier, to have something like this happen to the characters when you know what their lives were like before.

I'm glad it beat Saw. I'm so sick of that franchise, just like I was sick of the Fridays back in the 80's. Unfortunately, when something like this happens, it's usually a fluke. I wish more indie horror would get a wide release like this one, but it probably won't happen.

I saw Para. Activity. Yes, I could feel my pulse quicken at times. Yes, I got a little unnerved (for some reason, the attic scene bothered me the most). But it still didn't get to me the way The Shining did (the original) and I saw it on a 27 inch TV screen. I liked the actress but just didn't like the actor. Dunno why. Also, there were about two places where they were upset/ concerned/ slightly scared and the camera had to be handed over to each other, yet there was no shakiness in the hands.

I saw it Friday and thought it was terrific. Haven't been that scared since The Ring and you'd better believe I woke up to every creek and rattle in my house that night.

When we went, the theater was filled, mostly with young teens. Usually that would mean I'd be annoyed by the incessant loud "talking back" to the screen or between themselves such audiences do ... but PARANORMAL basically grabbed most of them I guess enough that they were quiet during the suspenseful times and loud during the jumpy and shout out times.

So good audience manipulation there!

(Plus, here, there's always a theater employee warning everyone that "Cell phones and horseplay will not be tolerated" ... And this time MPD Officer Garcia was standing there in uniform beside her, scanning the audience. Like he was expecting a spectral riot or kid's heads to spin around. Maybe that was spooky to them)

It was funny though because every time there was something "supernatural" immediately afterwards there was this tweener girl's voice who'd say something like

"That was SO fake! That didn't happen, they faked it somehow!"

And that in itself was almost surreal; she must've bought into the hype and believed she was supposed to think it was real footage, and she was arguing against her friends' credulity or something!

small axe said:

When we went, the theater was filled, mostly with young teens. Usually that would mean I'd be annoyed by the incessant loud "talking back" to the screen or between themselves such audiences do ... but PARANORMAL basically grabbed most of them I guess enough that they were quiet during the suspenseful times and loud during the jumpy and shout out times.

So good audience manipulation there!

(Plus, here, there's always a theater employee warning everyone that "Cell phones and horseplay will not be tolerated" ... And this time MPD Officer Garcia was standing there in uniform beside her, scanning the audience. Like he was expecting a spectral riot or kid's heads to spin around. Maybe that was spooky to them)

It was funny though because every time there was something "supernatural" immediately afterwards there was this tweener girl's voice who'd say something like

"That was SO fake! That didn't happen, they faked it somehow!"

And that in itself was almost surreal; she must've bought into the hype and believed she was supposed to think it was real footage, and she was arguing against her friends' credulity or something!

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Yeah, the crowd I was with was great too. It made the whole experience so much better. Also, someone in our small group also wasn't sure about the reality of what had happened and had apparently bought into it as well. When some of the really scary things happened she kept saying, "This can't be real. We would've read about it somewhere right? It would have been on the news." It was like she was trying to convince herself, which just made it all the more entertaining for me. I really get a kick out of people being delightfully frightened.

That's funny, I also noted that there was a lot of chatter in the theater during the film and, for some reason, it didn't bother me at all. It seemed perfectly natural that everyone should purge their commentary as it occurred to them.

Normally, this would have invoked my grump, but it was just part of the show.