| Paranormal Activity | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Oren Peli |
| Written by | Oren Peli |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Oren Peli |
| Edited by | Oren Peli |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | |
Release dates |
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Running time | 86 minutes[5] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | Production: $15,000 Post-production: $200,000[6] |
| Box office | $194.2 million[7] |
Paranormal Activity is a 2007 Americanfound-footage[8]supernatural horror film produced, written, directed, photographed, and edited byOren Peli. It centers on a young couple (Katie Featherston andMicah Sloat) who are haunted by a supernatural presence inside their home. They then set up a camera to document what is haunting them. The film usesfound-footage conventions that were mirrored in the later films of the series.
Originally developed by Peli as anindependent feature and given film festival screenings in 2007, the film was shot for $15,000. It was then acquired byDreamWorks Pictures, then aParamount Pictures subsidiary, who modified the film, particularly with a new ending that cost an additional $200,000. It was given a limited U.S. release on September 25, 2009, and then a nationwide release on October 16, 2009. The film earned nearly $108 million at the U.S. box office and a further $85 million internationally for a worldwide total of $194 million.[7] Paramount would then solely acquire the U.S. rights for $350,000. It is often cited as the most profitable film ever made, based on proportionatereturn on investment, although such figures are difficult to verify independently[9] as this is likely to exclude marketing costs.[10]
The film is the first installment in theParanormal Activity film series. A prequel,Paranormal Activity 2, was released in 2010.
Katie drives up to Micah's house inSan Diego, as she is moving in. She claims that an evil presence has been haunting her since she was a child, so Micah sets up a camera in their bedroom to record any paranormal activity that occurs while they sleep.Psychic Dr. Fredrichs visits the couple and suggests that Katie is being haunted by ademon that feeds off of negative energy and is intent on tormenting her. He advises not to communicate with the demon without ademonologist, but Micah continues to film and seek it out.
The camera captures many strange occurrences during the night: they start as minor noises, flickering lights, and door movements, but escalate into loud thuds, violent door slamming, and demonic grunts and screeches. One night, Katie appears to be in a trance; she gets up, stands beside the bed staring at Micah for two hours, and goes outside, none of which she recalls the next day.
Micah brings home aOuija board. When the couple leaves the house, the camera records the demon moving the board's pointer on its surface, which then spontaneously catches fire. Katie is increasingly aggravated by Micah's flippant behavior and pleads to contact the demonologist, but he refuses. The couple finds non-human footsteps onbaby powder Micah sprinkled in the hallway; they lead to a burnt photograph of a young Katie in the attic, thought to have been destroyed in a house fire. Outside intervention is unavailable, as the demonologist is out of the country and Dr. Fredrichs is afraid of making the demon angrier. The next night (20), Katie is pulled out of the bedroom by an unseen force. Micah discovers a bite mark on her back the morning after, motivating him to get out of the house, but Katie abruptly insists on staying, showing signs of a possession.
On night twenty-one, Katie gets out of bed again and stares at Micah for two hours before going downstairs. She screams for Micah, and he rushes to help her. Afterward, Micah screams in pain with loud thuds. After a moment of silence, Micah's body is hurled at the camera which is knocked off the tripod, revealing Katie standing in the doorway with blood on her shirt. She crawls to Micah's body, then looks up at the camera with a grin. As she lunges toward the camera, her face takes on a demonic snarl, and the scene cuts to black. The epilogue text states that Micah's body is discovered by the police, and Katie is missing.
Once DreamWorks/Paramount acquired the film, the original ending was shown at only one public viewing before being scrapped; two new endings were developed, one theatrically released above and the other available as an alternate ending on home releases.[11][12]
Katie returns to the bedroom alone, covered in blood and holding a large kitchen knife. She sits on the floor against the bed and rocks herself. The next day, her friend Amber leaves a concerned message at 2 pm, visits the house at 9 pm, discovers Micah's body downstairs, and runs away in panic. Thirty minutes later, two police officers enter the house and reach the bedroom where they find the possessed Katie with the knife. She returns to her normal state and asks about Micah. After the attic door slams by itself, one of the officers panics and shoots and kills Katie. The camera fades to black as the police officers continue searching for the source of the sound. An epilogue text appears dedicating the film to the memory of Micah and Katie.[citation needed]
This ending was exclusively shown publicly at the 2007Screamfest Film Festival and is never released officially by Paramount or Blumhouse in any capacity, save for the documentaryUnknown Dimension: The Story of Paranormal Activity (2021) in which a snippet of the ending was presented. Second Sight Films released a special editionBlu-ray of the film for the UK under license from its regional distributorIcon Productions, and included the full original ending as a special feature.[13] The original cut of the film (dubbed the "Festival Cut") would later leak on various forums.[14]
After killing Micah off-screen, Katie comes back upstairs alone like in the original ending. She closes and locks the bedroom door, approaches the camera, and slits her throat before collapsing dead. The scene then fades to black.[citation needed]
Credits adapted fromTV Guide.[15]
Attempting to focus on believability rather than action and gore, Peli chose to shoot the picture with a home video camera. In deciding on a more raw and stationary format (the camera was almost always sitting on a tripod or something else) and eliminating the need for a camera crew, a "higher degree of plausibility" was created for the audience as they were "more invested in the story and the characters".[16] Peli says that the dialogue was "natural" because there was no real script. Instead, the actors were given outlines of the story and situations to improvise, a technique known as "retroscripting" also used in the making ofThe Blair Witch Project.[16] In casting the movie, Peli auditioned "a few hundred people" before finally meeting Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat. He originally auditioned them individually and later called them back to audition together. Peli was impressed with the chemistry between the actors, saying, "If you saw the [audition] footage, you would've thought they had known each other for years."[16] During a guest appearance onThe Jay Leno Show on November 3, 2009, Sloat and Featherston explained they each saw the casting call on LACasting. Featherston noted they were originally paid $500 for their work.[citation needed]
Principal photography took place at a private residence inRancho Peñasquitos, San Diego.[17] The film was shot out of sequence due to Peli's self-imposed seven-day shooting schedule,[18] though he would have preferred the story to have unfolded for the actors as he had envisioned it. Sloat, who controlled the camera for a good deal of the film, was a former cameraman at his university's TV station. "It was a very intense week", Peli said, stating that the film would be shot day and night, edited at the same time, and would have the visual effects applied to it as the acting footage was being finalized.[16] Multiple endings were conceived, but not all of them were shot.[19]
The film was screened at 2007'sScreamfest Horror Film Festival, where it impressed an assistant at theCreative Artists Agency, Kirill Baru, so much that CAA signed on to represent Peli. Attempting to find a distributor for the film and/or directing work for Peli, the agency sent out DVDs of the movie to as many people in the industry as they could, and it was eventually seen byMiramax Films Senior ExecutiveJason Blum, who thought it had potential. He worked with Peli to re-edit the film and submitted it to theSundance Film Festival, but it was rejected. The DVD also impressedDreamWorks executives Adam Goodman, Stacey Snider, and finallySteven Spielberg, who cut a deal with Blum and Peli.[18]
DreamWorks' plan was to remake the film with a bigger budget and with Peli directing, and only to include the original version as an extra when the DVD was eventually released. "They didn't know what to do with [the original]", said Blum; they just wanted to be "in business" with Peli.[18] Blum and Peli agreed, but stipulated a test screening of the original film before going ahead with the remake, believing it would be well received by a theatrical audience.[18]
During the screening, people began walking out; Goodman thought the film wasbombing, until he learned that the viewers were actually leaving because they were so frightened. He then realized a remake was unwise.[18]Paramount Pictures, which acquired DreamWorks in 2005, bought the domestic rights to the film, and worldwide rights to any sequels, forUS$350,000.[20][21] When the film was taken in by Paramount, several changes were made. Some scenes were cut, others added, and the original ending was scrapped, with two new endings being shot.[22] The ending shown in theaters during the film's worldwide release is the only one of the three to featurevisual effects, and it differs from the endings previously seen at the Screamfest and Burbank screenings.[23] The theatrical release was delayed indefinitely because Paramount had put all DreamWorks productions on hold. Meanwhile, a screening for international buyers resulted in the sale of international rights in 52 countries.[18] Only after Goodman became production chief at Paramount in June 2009 did the film finally get slated for a fall release.[18]
Paranormal Activitypremiered atScreamfest Horror Film Festival in North America on October 14, 2007, was shown at theSlamdance Film Festival on January 18, 2008, and screened at the 36th AnnualTelluride Film Festival on September 6, 2009.[24]
The version with the new ending made after Paramount acquired the film was screened on September 25, 2009, in twelvecollege towns across the United States; the venues includedBoulder, Colorado;Columbus, Ohio;Madison, Wisconsin; andSeattle, Washington.[25] Eleven of the twelve venues sold out withState College, Pennsylvania being the only exception due to a Penn State football game that was held the same night.[26] On September 28, Paramount issued a press release on Peli's website, announcing openings in 20 other markets on October 2, including larger market cities such as New York and Chicago.[27]
On October 3, it was reported that a total of 33 screenings in all 20 markets had sold out and that the film had earned $500,000 domestically. A day later, Paramount announced that the film would have a fulllimited release in 40 markets, playing at all hours (including after-midnight showings). On October 6, Paramount announced that the movie would be released nationwide if the film received one million "demands" on Eventful. The full limited release of the film started on October 9.[28][29][30] On October 10, the Eventful.com counter hit over one million requests.[31][32] Paramount announced soon after that the film would get awide domestic release on October 16 and expand to more theaters on October 23.[33] By November, it was showing in theaters worldwide.[citation needed]
Initial trailers featured clips of audiences reacting to scenes in the film. In these trailers, a night-vision camera mounted in a movie theater showed a montage of movie-goers screaming and jumping after being scared.[34] On his website, director Oren Peli invited internet users to "demand" where the film went next by voting onEventful.[35] This was the first time a major motion picture studio used the service tovirally market a film.[36] In addition to the "Demand It!" campaign, allowing fans to bring the film to their local movie theater, there was also a "TweetYourScream" campaign on Twitter, resulting in many videos of audience reactions becoming popular.[37]
Paranormal Activity was not released onDVD orBlu-ray until December 29, 2009, more than two years after the film was made. The home release includes one alternate ending to the theatrical version.[38] It was released in the United Kingdom on March 22, 2010, on DVD and Blu-ray with some specials.[39] In theNetherlands, the movie received a release onVHS in 2010.[40] The film grossed $22.1 million in home sales.[41]
Additionally, at the end of the film, 15 minutes worth of names were added to the DVD release, as part of a special promotion. A notice was sent to fans that had clicked the "Demand It" button for their theater asking permission to include their name in the credits. Within 24 hours, Paramount received more 170,000 submissions of fans who wished for their names to be included.[34] The message that popped up before this said: "The fans who "demanded" the film were asked by email if they wanted to have their name appear as a thank you for the film's success".[citation needed]
The film opened on September 25, 2009, to twelve theaters and took $36,146 on its opening day and $77,873 on its first weekend for an average of $6,489 per venue. It had more success when it opened to 33 theaters on October 1, 2009, doubling the box-office reception, grossing $532,242 for an average of $16,129 per venue, bringing the 10-day total to $776,763.[7]
As it expanded to 160 theaters on the October 9–11 weekend, the film grossed $2.7 million on that Friday, having a per-theater average of $16,621. It went on to gross $7.9 million. Over the weekend, the film reached the week's highest per-theater average of $49,379, coming in at fourth for the weekend, behindCouples Retreat,Zombieland, andCloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Over the weekend of October 16, 2009,Paranormal Activity expanded to 600 more theaters, grossing $19.6 million with $25,813 per theater average gross, and bringing the total gross to $33.2 million. On the weekend of October 23, 2009,Paranormal Activity rose to first, beating outSaw VI, earning $21,104,070, expanding to 1,945 theaters for an average of $10,850 per theater, compared with the $14.1 million gross from 3,036 theaters, and $4,650 average forSaw VI. The film has grossed $107.9 million domestically and $85.4 million in foreign markets, with a total gross of $194.2 million.[7][42]The Hollywood Reporter estimated the film made a net profit of $78 million.[6]
Onreview aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the film has an overall approval rating of 83% based on 211 reviews, with anaverage rating of 7.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Using its low-budget effects andmockumentary method to great result,Paranormal Activity turns a simple haunted house story into 90 minutes of relentless suspense."[43] OnMetacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 68 out of 100 based on 24 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[44]
Film criticsJames Berardinelli andRoger Ebert each awarded it 3.5 stars out of a maximum of 4 stars.[45][46] Ebert stated in his review, "It illustrates one of my favorite points, that silence and waiting can be more entertaining than frantic fast-cutting and berserk f/x. For extended periods here, nothing at all is happening, and believe me, you won't be bored."[46]Entertainment Weekly criticOwen Gleiberman gaveParanormal Activity an A− rating and called it "frightening...freaky and terrifying" and said that "Paranormal Activity scrapes away 30 years of encrusted nightmare clichés."[47]Bloody Disgusting ranked the film 16th in their list of the "Top 20 Horror Films of the Decade", with the article saying, "Peli deserves props for milking the maximum amount of tension out of the spare, modern setting—an ordinary, cookie-cutter tract home in San Diego. It doesn't sound very scary, but Peli manages to make it terrifying. If you aren't white-knuckling your armrest at least once or twice while watching it, you probably don't have a pulse."[48]
However, some critics disliked the film. Michael Carter ofThe Breeze summed up the film as "all right", though denouncing its reliance on "cheap jump scares and an even cheaper 'found footage' style".[49]David Stratton of the Australian television seriesAt the Movies said that "it was extremely unthrilling, very obvious, very clichéd. We've seen it all before."[50] Marc Savlov ofThe Austin Chronicle called it "an excruciatingly tediousYouTube gag cleverly marketed to go viral".[51] Bill Gibron ofPopMatters listed the film as the second worst horror film of all time, writing that it lacked "anything remotely redeeming for the seasoned fright fan", and was "a waste of time in both concept and execution".[52]
The film was nominated for Best First Feature in theIndependent Spirit Awards 2009.[53]
The monetary success ofParanormal Activity compared to its budget made it the most profitable film of all time, surpassingThe Blair Witch Project (1999).[54][55][56] The film's low budget and easy to replicate style directly led to found footage becoming a horror movie trend for years, withThe Last Exorcism,Apollo 18,The Devil Inside, and theV/H/S series arriving in its wake.[57]
The film's marketing strategy inspired subsequent horror films to use similar methods. Audience reaction movie trailers were used to advertise filmsThe Woman in Black andWorld War Z.[34]
Mockbuster groupThe Asylum created their take on the film, titledParanormal Entity, which would later spawn a series of its own. In Japan, a sequel entitledParanormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night was released in 2010. On March 7, 2010,Alec Baldwin andSteve Martin performed a spoof of the film as part of the82nd Academy Awards.[58][59]A Haunted House, a parody film, was released in 2013.[60]
In December 2009, a short digital comic entitledParanormal Activity: The Search for Katie was released for theiPhone.[61] It was written byScott Lobdell[62] and features art fromMark Badger.[63]
Avideo game calledParanormal Activity: The Lost Soul was released by VRWerx for theOculus Rift,HTC Vive andPlayStation 4.[64][when?] The PlayStation 4 version can be played in bothPlayStation VR and regular mode.[65]
A parallel sequel and prequel,Paranormal Activity 2, was released in 2010. The success of the first two films would spawn additional films in the series: the prequelParanormal Activity 3 in 2011, andParanormal Activity 4 (the sequel to the second installment) in 2012. The fifth installment and spin-off,The Marked Ones, was released in 2014, and the sixth installment,The Ghost Dimension, was released in 2015. A seventh mainline installment, titledNext of Kin, was released in October 2021 to theParamount+streaming service.[66] In Japan, a sequel/spin-off "not-official" to the first film was released in 2010, titledParanormal Activity: Tokyo Night.[citation needed]
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