Paranormal Activity will be showing at Harkins Tempe Marketplace 16, starting 10/1!

OVERVIEW

After a young, middle class couple moves into what seems like a typical suburban “starter” tract house, they become increasingly disturbed by a presence that may or may not be demonic but is certainly most active in the middle of the night. Especially when they sleep. Or try to.

Paramount Pictures Presents A Blumhouse Production A Film by Oren Peli “Paranormal Activity” starring Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Mark Fredrichs, Amber Armstrong and Ashley Palmer. The film was directed, written and edited by Oren Peli. The film was produced by Jason Blum and Oren Peli. The executive producer is Steven Schneider. The co-producers are Toni Taylor and Amir Zbeda. This film has been rated R for language. Duration 1 hour 36 minutes.

MORE INFO

Shades of "The Blair Witch Project": A low-budget horror movie has slipped into view, gathering word-of-mouth raves and causing audiences, by all accounts, to freak the hell out. It's "Paranormal Activity," the tale of a young couple whose house may be haunted by demons, currently screening at midnight at the Neptune -- and, I just heard from a publicist, opening in the Seattle area for a regular run next Friday (the 9th). The movie, directed by Oren Peli and made for a reported $15,000, made its debut at Sundance in 2008. DreamWorks toyed with the idea of picking it up, and Steven Spielberg decided to take a look at it. Since then, it's had a number of test screenings, and was picked up by DreamWorks for a planned remake. And . . . well, see what the Los Angeles Times says:

Steven Spielberg was certain his copy of "Paranormal Activity" was haunted.

It was early 2008, and the director's DreamWorks studio was trying to decide whether it wanted to be a part of the micro-budgeted supernatural thriller. As the story goes, Spielberg had taken a "Paranormal Activity" DVD to his Pacific Palisades estate, and not long after he watched it, the door to his empty bedroom inexplicably locked from the inside, forcing him to summon a locksmith.

While Spielberg didn't want the "Paranormal Activity" disc anywhere near his home -- he brought the movie back to DreamWorks in a garbage bag, colleagues say -- he very much shared his studio's enthusiasm for director Oren Peli's haunting story about the demonic invasion of a couple's suburban tract house.

OK, that's a little freaky. Though DreamWorks at first planned to remake the film, they are releasing Peli's original version (with a new ending) and have developed an elaborate marketing campaign -- first releasing the film for midnight screenings in college towns (wait -- Seattle is a college town?) to build buzz for a regular release later. That release had been planned for Halloween, but it's being moved up presumably in response to demand. The midnight screenings at the Neptune last weekend sold out; the ones this weekend are expected to as well.

MORE INFO

By Peter Travers

September 30, 2009

Rolling Stone

With a $15,000 budget too puny to empty a petty-cash drawer, the no-frills Paranormal Activity comes packed with thrills. Oren Peli’s movie from nowhere owes much to The Blair Witch Project, and, OK, suffers by comparison. But make no mistake, this potent frightfest will fry your nerves and creep you out big time without spending a dime on obvious special effects.

The plot needs three sentences. Katie (Katie Featherston) and boyfriend Micah (Micah Sloat) are freaked out by noises in their San Diego home. To catch what¹s out there, he sets up a night vision video camera while they sleep. We watch the found footage. That’s it. Over a period of about three weeks in the film, the tension builds and builds and builds until the dread ties your stomach in knots. No need to say more. If ghost stories have your number, this one will get you good.

Last weekend, Paramount opened the film with midnight screenings in 13 college towns, and asked audiences outside the selected zones to go on the movie’s website and vote if they wanted the movie at their local multiplex.

More than 200,000 did just that, so Paranormal Activity will open in 20 more cities this weekend. And many more cities after that if the pace continues. It’s a new kind of marketing campaign and perfect for a movie that proves you don’t need stars and computer mashups to make audiences shriek at things that go bump in the night.

MORE INFO

By Rob Thomas The Capital Times

Friday, September 25, 2009 5:35 am

With no money, no stars and virtually no special effects, first-time writer-director Olen Peli has crafted an efficient and very effective horror film by letting the audience's imaginations do most of the work. That may sound tame to hardcore horror movie fans used to ultra-violent "Saw" and "Hostel" brand of horror, but the sneak review audience I saw "Paranormal Activity" with were gasping and shrieking throughout. A couple of teenage girls had to leave the theater midway through and sat huddled on a bench in the lobby, waiting for their friends to come out. It's that freaky.

The film opens without any credits, just an ominous title card thanking "the families" of the two characters in the movie, Micah (Micah Sloat) and Katie (Katie Featherston). They're an upwardly mobile San Diego couple who have recently moved into a nice house in the suburbs.

Only it's not so nice. They've been hearing strange noises in the night, and the next morning found objects like car keys moved from where they swore they left them. Katie is understandly spooked, and confesses that she's been plagued by disturbing phenomena like this her whole life. Micah, an arrogant day trader, thinks that being haunted is kind of cool, and he buys an expensive video camera to try and capture some of the weird goings-on on film.

"Paranormal Activity" is shot entirely through that handheld camera, sometimes held by Micah as he wanders through the house, other times set up on a tripod in the couple's bedroom as they sleep. It sounds very "Blair Witch," but it's an enormously effective technique; there's something very intimate about digital home video, and when we start seeing strange things happen in the frame as the couple slumber, even something as minor as a door moving a half-inch back and forth, it's deeply creepy.

Peli gradually increases the scares, as whatever is haunting the couple starts growing bolder, as Micah starts deliberately antagonizing It over Katie's frightened protests. It's pretty funny at first to see Micah boasting "Is that all you got?" at some unseen spectral presence, but Micah's total cluelessness was the one thing that kept me from being totally engrossed in the movie. I recognize that the Guy Too Smart For His Own Good is a horror movie staple going back to Dr. Victor "Hey, What If I Built My Own Dead Guy?" Frankenstein, but Micah takes forever to realize that his bravado is a really, really bad idea.

Otherwise, the performances are pretty solid - we buy that Micah and Katie are a real ordinary couple. And it's a smart move to set such a scary movie in a totally ordinary modern house, with hardwood floors and a big-screen TV, rather than in the usual creepy manor or abandoned farmhouse. Peli has made such an auspicious debut because he knows how to make the terror on-screen literally hit home for the viewer.

(Note: Paramount Pictures is distributing "Paranormal Activity" in a very unusual way for a major studio. Instead of opening it nationwide or premiering it first in big cities, "Activity" is being released today in 13 smaller U.S. cities, mostly college towns like Madison. The film is only showing at midnight on weekends and at 9:30 p.m. during the week.)

http://www.paranormalmovie.com/


“A POTENT FRIGHTFEST

That will fry your nerves and

CREEP YOU OUT”

- Peter Travers ROLLING STONE

“SO SCARY!

Just when you thought it was safe to close your eyes…

GOOD LUCK GOING TO SLEEP!”

- Harry Knowles AINT IT COOL NEWS

“Smart, Perfectly Constructed and

GENUINELY FRIGHTENING”

- Dennis Dermody PAPER MAGAZINE

“...SERIOUSLY CREEPY...”

- FEARNET

“Hands down, one of the

BEST HORROR FILMS OF THE YEAR”

- SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER

“'Paranormal Activity' is

FREAKY & TERRIFYING”

- Owen Gleiberman ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

“THE SENSE OF DREAD

Is Sustained the Entire Time”

- Peter Paras E! ONLINE

“GENUINELY HAIR-RAISING”

- ORLANDO SENTINEL

“Go See It. Tell Your Friends

GOOD LUCK SLEEPING”

- FILM SCHOOL REJECTS

“THE SCARIEST

MOVIE OF THE DECADE ”

- CHICAGONOW.COM

“THIS IS A FILM YOU MUST SEE IN THEATERS”

- Brad Brevet ROPE OF SCION


Please make some comments on my blog...Have you ever had any paranormal experience before?