Paranormal Activity haunts Spielberg

MANILA, Philippines - Prior to its release, there were a couple of circumstances that made the small-budgeted Paranormal Activity into a big attraction. First, with DreamWorks expressing interest to be part of its distribution, Oscar-winning director Steven Spielberg took a DVD copy of it and watched it at home. Inexplicably after the viewing, the door to his bedroom got locked with no one inside the room.

Second, during the screening for screenwriters and selected movie fans last March 2008, people started walking out because they found the movie dealing with paranormal presence at home too scary to handle! DreamWorks realized the film’s potential and decided it won’t remake the material done by director Oren Peli.

Now being screened in the US, Paranormal Activity is this weekend’s biggest top grosser and is fast-becoming as the surprise hit of the season, much bigger than the impact created by Blairwitch Project ten years ago.

With Paranormal Activity, moviegoers are realizing what can be hard to take: the presence of something scary at home. The premise presents a middle-class couple residing in a suburban tract house and being disturbed by a creepy thing that goes active in the middle of the night. The horror factor comes while they’re asleep or worse, even while they’re just trying to get one.

Written, edited and directed by first-timer Oren Peli, the film, which debuted at Screamfest to good reception, is now the toast among horror movie fans and curious people wanting to know why it has gotten such a good reputation. The project took its roots back at Peli’s home during a seven-day shoot sprint in 2006 with a couple of crew. Three years later, the native of Israel migrated to the US and managed to land a starter’s home.

“It was the first time I’d ever lived in a house. In quiet suburbia, I quickly learned that you become conscious of every little noise, especially at night,” says the young filmmaker who arrived in the US at age 19.

Paranormal Activity, with its meager budget and out-of-the-box marketing style reminiscent of Blairwitch Project, immediately freaked out moviegoers in 760 theaters and averaged a sensational $26,530 per location to rank number two in just its third weekend when it expanded from 31 to 1,101 theaters, grossing a staggering $29.2M. The $20.2M for a film in 700-800 theaters and per-screen average are both record breakers.

The indie over-achiever stars Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Mark Fredrichs, Amber Armstrong and Ashley Palmer.

Clocking in 86 minutes of suspense and scare, Paranormal Activity has all the potential to finish with at least $100M. This much-talked about horror film is locally distributed by Viva International Pictures and opens nationwide on Nov. 25.