![]() As with BWP, the bulk of the film is shot, found footage-style, on handheld cameras, including several recorders set to track any suspicious activity during the night.Īlthough the concept of found-footage was not new when Peli and Blum utilized it, Paranormal Activity took the format in new and creative directions, encouraging audiences to stay alert for unusual onscreen details and let their mind fill in the blanks. The film centers on a young couple (played by unknown actors Micah Sloat and Katie Featherston – whose characters share their names, to emphasize the film’s attention to realism), and the unnatural goings-on at their suburban San Diego home. Much like the original Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity cut costs to the bone by weaving the low-budget production into the story, and acknowledging that fear is in the eye – and the mind – of the beholder. Written and directed by first-timer Oren Peli and produced by then-unknown Jason Blum (who used the financial leverage to establish horror hub Blumhouse), the film stands as an incredible success story for its makers, as well as an impressive movie all on its own. The film was shot on a shoestring budget of $15,000, yet earned over $100 million domestically, making it one of the most profitable films in Hollywood history. Just the utterance of those two words is enough to make a studio executive impulsively salivate. To explain how and why once-frightening concepts have grown homogenized and ineffectual, let’s look at one of the most successful horror film franchises in recent years – Paranormal Activity. That usually means greater levels of violence, and less focus on mood and atmosphere. This is especially true nowadays, when audiences have proverbially “seen it all,” and Hollywood is pressured towards making bombastic SFX-apaloozas in hopes that it will shock and frighten moviegoers. I’ve previously written about how the best horror films benefit from leaving the scariest material unseen no amount of blood or gore can compete with a viewer’s untapped imagination. Slasher films had audiences screaming in the ’80s, before Jason went to space and Freddy Krueger began terrorizing Rick and Morty. ![]() Zombies were frightening when George Romero was behind the camera, but today they serve as cannon fodder on AMC. Dracula was once considered terrifying, until his second cousin started smooching Kristen Stewart. One of the more crushing lessons in our franchise-fatigued world can be derived from horror movies: No idea is scary forever.
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