Micro-budgeted indie horror darling PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, a haunted house tale produced for a paltry $11,000, has just been picked up by Paramount following its successful screening at the Telluride Film Festival.
Largely Oren Peli’s sole creation (he wrote, directed, edited, produced), the sleeper festival hit has not only gone over extremely well everywhere it has shown, producers are keen to acquire the film and flip it for many times more than its worth, BLAIR WITCH style. After some minor cutting, producer Jason Blum has posited a September 25th release for the film (domestically).
The story is simple enough: an otherwise happy couple must endure a string of frightening phenomenon that occurs in their house. Is it a spirit? A hoax? It’s up to you all to cop a dose of the R-rated spookster and find out for yourself. I know I will, despite the poster resembling a grainy d-list celebrity sex-tape. Who am I kidding, that’s probably the reason I’ll see it.
The flick, inspired by a semi-true even involving the director and his wife’s spook-filled stay at a San Diego home, was shot over one condensed week, using a Sony SX-1 camera. Peli used his own home for the setting, lending a veracity most films of this ilk try too hard to feign. This is true indie-filmmaking, and the hard toil since seeing THE EXORCIST at age 10 just may be paying off for Peli.