Paranormal Activity is a 2007 American supernatural horror film written and
directed by Oren
Peli.[1][2][5]
The film centers on a young couple, Katie and Micah, who are haunted by a
supernatural presence in their home. It is presented in the style of "found footage", from cameras set up by
the couple in an attempt to photograph what is haunting them.
Originally developed as an independent
feature and given film festival screenings in 2007, the film was acquired
by Paramount Pictures and modified, particularly
with a new ending. 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 $194 million worldwide.[6]
Paramount/DreamWorks acquired the U.S. rights for $350,000.[7]
It is the most profitable film ever made, based on return on investment,[8][9]
although such figures are difficult to verify independently[10]
as this is likely to exclude marketing costs.[11]
A sequel, Paranormal Activity 2, was released on
October 22, 2010, and was followed by a prequel titled Paranormal Activity 3 on October 21,
2011. On October 19, 2012, Paranormal Activity 4 was released and Paranormal
Activity 5 might be released next October. In Japan, a sequel was released,
Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night.[12]
Plot
In September
2006, young couple Katie and Micah have recently moved to the suburbs. Katie
claims that an "evil" presence has haunted her periodically since
childhood and believes that it is still following her. Each night, Micah mounts
a video camera on a tripod in their bedroom to record any activity that occurs
while they sleep. The first night, the camera records running footstep noises.
Katie hires psychic Dr. Fredrichs, who assesses that she is being haunted not
by a ghost but by a demon.
He says the demon feeds off negative energy and its intent is to torment Katie
no matter where she goes. He advises them not to taunt or communicate with the
demon and to contact demonologist Dr. Johann Abrams for help. Though Katie
seems interested in the situation, Micah does not take it seriously.
During the
third night, the camera captures a low rumble and the bedroom door moving by
itself. On the fifth night, demonic noises are heard before Katie awakes from a
nightmare before a loud thump is heard from the living room. Micah begins to
taunt the demon and the phenomena worsen. On the thirteenth night, Katie is
awoken by a noise in the hallway before a screech and a loud thud. The
chandelier is found to be swaying when they investigate downstairs. Micah later
captures a demonic grunt with a voice recorder. During the fifteenth night,
Katie gets up and stares at Micah sleeping for two hours before going outside
to sit on the backyard swing. Micah tries to convince Katie to come inside but
she refuses. When Micah goes inside to get her a blanket, he hears a bang in
the bedroom and finds the bedroom TV turned on. Micah is then startled by
Katie, who followed him inside but says that he woke her up. Katie remembers
nothing the next day.
Katie,
irritated by Micah's flippant response to the situation, becomes irate when
Micah brings home a Ouija board despite Dr. Fredrichs' warnings. The two go
out of the house that evening, leaving the Ouija board in the living room. The
curtains and plants start to blow around and the Ouija board's planchette
moves on its own and small fire erupts on the board and extinguishes itself.
During the seventeenth night, Micah sprinkles talcum
powder in the hallway and when the couple is awoken by noises, they find
non-human footprints leading to the bedroom from the attic. In the attic, Micah
finds a burnt photograph of a young Katie, which was previously thought to have
been destroyed in an unexplained house fire when Katie was eight years old. On
the eighteenth night, loud footsteps wake the couple up and are heard running
out of the bedroom slamming the door. The demon continues to close and bang on
the door when they leave to investigate.
Dr. Abrams
is unavailable when Micah finally agrees to invite him, so Dr. Fredrichs comes
instead. Upon his arrival, Dr. Fredrichs immediately has a sense of dread and
apologetically leaves despite their pleas for his help, stating that his
presence is only making the demon angry. During the nineteenth night, the bed
covers move, the closet light turns on and off and a shadow is seen on the door
before Katie is woken up by breathing in her face. Micah discovers a woman from
the 1960s with the same haunting who became possessed during an exorcism and
killed herself.
Katie is
pulled out of the bedroom toward the closet by an unknown force during the
twentieth night and discovers bite marks on her back. Later Micah finds Katie
gripping a cross
so tightly that it bloodies her palm. Just as he is set to leave for a motel,
Katie insists that they will be okay now, her voice flat with another voice in
tandem with her own.
The
following night Katie gets out of bed and stands beside it staring at Micah for
approximately two hours and then walks downstairs. After a moment of silence,
Katie screams Micah's name, waking Micah who rushes to her. The camera records
Katie screaming incessantly. Then Katie's screaming stops and a brief silence
is followed by the sound of heavy footsteps coming up the stairs. After another
brief silence, Micah's body is violently hurled at the camera, knocking it over
sideways and revealing Katie standing in the doorway. She then slowly walks
into the room, her clothing soaked with blood. Crouching over his body, she
sniffs Micah's body and then slowly looks up at the camera with a sly smile. As
she lunges toward the camera, her face takes on a demonic appearance just as
the scene cuts to black. An epilogue text states that Micah's body was
discovered by the police on October 11, 2006, and that Katie's whereabouts
remain unknown.
Alternate endings
In its
original version, the film featured a different ending. In this version, after
going downstairs on the final night and waking Micah with a scream, only Katie
is shown returning to the bedroom, holding a large bloody kitchen knife, her
shirt bloodied. She sits beside the bed, holding the knife and rocking herself,
until about 2 p.m. the next day, when her friend Amber calls and leaves a
message expressing her concern. At about 9:20 p.m. that night, Katie is still
sitting and rocking by the bed, and Amber can be heard entering the house.
During this short period, Katie stops rocking, but when Amber screams
(evidently after finding Micah's body) and runs out of the house, she resumes
her motion. Half an hour later, just after 9:50 p.m., police enter the home and
discover Micah's body as well. As they are checking Micah for vital signs, a
light turns on in the bedroom down the hallway, but before the police see it,
the light turns off again. They discover Katie, still sitting beside the bed
with the knife. As they call to her, she wakes from her catatonic state and
seems confused. As she approaches them, knife in hand, calling for Micah, they
ask her to drop the weapon. Suddenly the bedroom door behind the police
officers slams shut, startling them and causing them to shoot Katie, who
collapses on the floor. The police then call dispatch and check the bedroom at
the end of the hall, but find nothing. They discover the video camera, still
running. A dedication to and a picture of Katie and Micah are then shown. The
original ending for the film was available for a time for viewing on the
Internet before Paramount exerted a claim of copyright on the material.[13]
Once
Paramount acquired the film, two new endings were developed for the film, one
of them being the one seen in theaters. The scrapped ending was shown at only
one public viewing and was later offered as an alternate ending on the DVD and
Blu-ray releases of the film.[13][14]
In this ending, Katie gets out of bed and stands staring at Micah, as she did
in the theatrical ending, except she does not move to Micah's side of the bed.
About three hours pass, then she finally goes downstairs. She lets out a
blood-curdling scream, which wakes Micah up and he runs downstairs. The
screaming continues, and the sounds of a struggle are heard before the noises
abruptly stop. There is silence for a short while before loud footsteps are heard
on the stairs. Katie then walks into the bedroom, Micah's blood covering her
shirt, with a knife in her hand. She closes and locks the bedroom door, before
walking up to the camera, standing idle briefly. She then lifts the knife and
slits her own throat, then falls to the floor, dead.
Production
First-time director Oren Peli had been afraid of ghosts his entire life, even
fearing the comedy film Ghostbusters, but intended to channel that fear into
something positive and productive.[15]
Peli took a year to prepare his own house for shooting, going so far as to
repaint the walls, add furniture, put in a carpet, and build a stairwell, in Rancho Peñasquitos.[16]
In this time, he also did extensive research into paranormal phenomena and
demonology, stating, "We wanted to be as truthful as we could be."
The reason for making the supernatural entity in the story a demon was a result
of the research pointing to the most malevolent and violent entities being
"demons".[17]
The phenomena in the film take place largely at night—the vulnerability of
being asleep, Peli reasoned, taps into a human being's most primal fear,
stating, "If something is lurking in your home there's not much you can do
about it."[17]
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".[17]
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"
used in the making of The Blair Witch Project.[17]
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."[17]
During a guest appearance on The
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.
The film was shot out of sequence due to Peli's self-imposed seven day
shooting schedule,[15]
though Peli would have preferred the story unfold 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 recalled, 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.[17]
The film was screened at 2007's Screamfest Horror Film Festival,
where it impressed an assistant at the Creative 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 by Miramax
Films Senior Executive Jason Blum, who thought it had potential. He worked
with Peli to re-edit the film and submitted it to the Sundance Film Festival, but it was rejected.
The DVD also impressed DreamWorks executives Adam Goodman, Stacey Snider, and
finally Steven Spielberg, who cut a deal with Blum and
Peli.[15]
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.[15]
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.[15]
During the screening, people began walking out; Goodman thought the film was
bombing,
until he learned that the viewers were actually leaving because they were so
frightened. He then realized a remake was unwise.[15]
Paramount Pictures, which acquired DreamWorks in
2005, bought the domestic rights to the film, and international rights to any
sequels, for $350,000 USD.[18]
When the film was taken in by Paramount Pictures, several changes were made.
Some scenes were cut, others added, and the original ending was scrapped, with
two new endings being shot.[19]
The ending shown in theaters during the film's worldwide release is the only
one of the three to feature visual
effects, and it differs from the endings previously seen at the Screamfest
and Burbank screenings.[20][21]
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.[15]
Only after Goodman became production chief at Paramount in June 2009 did the
film finally get slated for a fall release.[15]
Release
Paranormal Activity premiered at Screamfest Film Festival in North America
on October 14, 2007, was shown at the Slamdance Film Festival on January 18,
2008, and screened at the 36th Annual Telluride Film Festival on September 6,
2009.[22]
The version with the new ending, made after Paramount acquired the film, had
screenings on September 25, 2009 in 13 college
towns across the United States. On his website, director Oren Peli invited
internet users to "demand" where the film went next by voting on eventful.com.[23]
This was the first time a major motion picture studio used the service to virally
market a film.[24]
Twelve of the 13 venues sold out.[25]
On September 28, Paramount issued a press release on Peli's website, announcing
openings in 20 other markets on Friday, October 2, including larger market cities
such as New York and Chicago.[26]
On October 3, it was reported that a total of 33 screenings in all 20
markets sold out and that the movie had made $500,000 domestically. A day
later, Paramount announced that the film would have a full limited
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 got 1,000,000 "demands" on eventful.com. The
full limited release of the film started on Friday, October 9.[27][28][29]
On October 10 the Eventful.com counter hit over 1,000,000 requests.[30][31]
Paramount announced soon after that the film would get a wide
domestic release on Friday, October 16 and then expand to more theaters on
the 23rd.[32]
By November, it was showing in locales worldwide.
This film also had no opening or closing credits, other than the copyright
info shown after the film ends.
Home release
Paranormal Activity was released on DVD and Blu-ray
on December 29, 2009.[33]
The home release media includes an alternate ending to the theatrical version,
in which Katie slits her own throat in front of the camera, then collapses to
the floor.[34]
It was released in the UK on March 22, 2010 on DVD and Blu-ray with some specials.[35]
In the Netherlands the movie received a release on VHS in 2010.[36]
Additionally, at the end of the film, 15 minutes worth of names were added
to the DVD release as part of a special promo where the fans who
"demanded" the movie were asked by email if they wanted to have their
name appear as a thank you for the movie's success.
Reception
Reviews
The film received positive critical reception upon release. Based on 184
reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an overall approval
'Fresh' rating from critics of 82%.[37]
Movie critics James Berardinelli and Roger Ebert
each awarded it 3.5 stars out of a maximum of 4 stars.[38][39]
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."[40]
Entertainment Weekly critic Owen
Gleiberman gave Paranormal Activity an A− rating and called it
"frightening...freaky and terrifying" and noted that "Paranormal
Activity scrapes away 30 years of encrusted nightmare clichés."[41]
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.."[42]
However, David Stratton of the Australian version of At the Movies remarked that
"it was extremely unthrilling, very obvious, very cliched. We've seen it
all before."[43]
Box office
The film opened on September 25, 2009, to 12 theaters taking $36,146 on its
opening day and $77,873 on its first weekend for an average of $6,489 per
venue. It took 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.[44]
As it expanded to 160 theaters on the October 9–11 weekend, the film grossed
$2,659,296 on that Friday having a per-theater average of $16,621. It went on
to gross $7,900,695, which was $800,000 more than originally estimated. Over
the weekend, the film reached the week's highest per-theater average of
$49,379, coming in at #4 for the weekend, behind Couples
Retreat, Zombieland, and Cloudy with a Chance of
Meatballs. Over the weekend of October 16, 2009, Paranormal Activity
expanded to 600 more theaters, grossing $19,617,650 with $25,813 per theater
average gross, and bringing the total gross to $33,171,743. On the weekend of
October 23, 2009, Paranormal Activity rose to #1, beating out the
expected number one box office victor Saw VI,
earning $21,104,070, expanding to 1,945 theaters for an average of $10,850 per
theater, compared with the $14,118,444 gross from 3,036 theaters, and $4,650
average for Saw VI. The film has grossed $107,918,810 domestically and
$85,436,990 in foreign markets, with a total gross of $193,355,800.[44][45]
Using unique social media strategy for both the first and subsequent films,
Paranormal Activity was one of the first film franchises of its kind to use
social media to make the connection with filmgoers.[46]
