Paranormal Activity Information

Paranormal Activity is a 2007 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Oren Peli. 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 document 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. Paramount/DreamWorks acquired the U.S. rights for $350,000. It is the most profitable film ever made, based on return on investment, although such figures are difficult to verify independently as this is likely to exclude marketing costs.

A parallel prequel, Paranormal Activity 2, was released on October 22, 2010. The success of the first two films would spawn additional films in the series: Paranormal Activity 3, released on October 21, 2011, Paranormal Activity 4 released on October 19, 2012, and a spin-off titled Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones set for release on January 3, 2014. A fifth film is set for release in 2014.

Plot

In September 2006, young couple Katie and Micah have recently moved to a new house in San Diego. Katie claims that an "evil" presence has haunted her periodically since childhood and believes 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 footsteps and the sound of keys dropping onto the floor. In the morning, the couple find their keys on the floor. Katie hires psychic Dr. Fredrichs, who assesses that Katie is being haunted not by a ghost but by a demon. He says the demon feeds off negative energy, and his 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 Averies for help. Though Katie seems interested, Micah does not take this seriously.

During the third night, the camera captures a low rumble and the bedroom door moving by itself. When Micah watches the footage the next day, he becomes excited that a demon is in their home and urges Katie to get a Ouija board. Katie refuses and makes Micah promise not to buy one. On the 5th night, demonic noises are recorded; Katie awakes from a nightmare just before a loud thump is heard from the living room. The couple investigate but find nothing. After a week of no paranormal activity, Micah begins to taunt the demon and threaten it, worsening the situation. On the thirteenth night, Katie is awakened by movement in the hallway; the demon loudly screeches and there is a loud bang. The chandelier is swaying when they investigate downstairs. Micah later captures a demonic grunt with a voice recorder after asking the demon too many questions. During the 15th night, the hallway light flickers on and off and demonic noises are heard by Katie's side of the bed. Katie gets up in an apparent trance 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. Micah returns inside and finds the TV on and is randomly flicking thorugh channels. Katie remembers nothing the next day when Micah asks what was going on.

Katie becomes irate when Micah brings home a Ouija board despite Dr. Fredrichs' warnings. Katie is mad that he broke his promise and says that she no longer wants to record the happenings. Micah comments that he didn't break his promise because he promised not to buy a Ouija board; he borrowed a Ouija board. The two leave the house that evening, leaving the board in the living room. Curtains open and shut by an invisible force and plants are blown around. A howling wind is then heard and the Ouija board's planchette moves on its own and a small fire erupts on it and extinguishes itself. In the morning the couple see the message and Katie pleads with Micah to contact the demonologist, but he refuses. During the 17th night, Micah sprinkles talcum powder in the hallway and bedroom. The couple are awakened by creaks, and they find non human footprints leading to the bedroom from the attic, where Micah finds a burnt photograph of a young Katie, previously thought to have been destroyed in an unexplained house fire when Katie was eight years old. Katie finally calls the demonologist, Dr. Averies, but he is unavailable.

During the 18th night, a light flickers on and off. Micah is awakened by this and decides to investigate, but the demon suddenly slams the bedroom door. After attempting to open the door, the demon angrily growls from the other side. Loud banging and thumping is heard at the other side and the door handle moves as if the demon is trying to get in the room. Micah eventually gets out and demands the demon to show itself. Loud shakes and bangs occur terrifying the couple. After Micah searches everywhere in the house and the shakes stop, the couple return to bed. The next day, In the afternoon while the couple are eating a pizza, the sound of shattering glass is heard upstairs. Katie finds their picture broken and Micah's face on the photo scratched. This is unusual, as activity never occurs during the day. Katie feels the demon breathing on her and flees downstairs. Dr. Fredrichs returns later that afternoon and immediately has a sense of dread, due to the massive amount of demonic energy in the house. He apologetically leaves despite their pleas for his help, stating that his presence is only making the demon angry. During the 19th night, the bed covers move, a light turns on and off, a non human shadow is seen on the door before Katie awakes from a blow in her face. A low demonic snarl is then heard downstairs. The next day, Micah reads online about a woman from the 1960s who became possessed during an exorcism and killed herself.

Katie is pulled out of the bedroom by an unseen force during the 20th night. When Micah rushes to help, the demon slams the door on him. After a struggle with yells from Micah, screams from Katie and loud hisses from the demonic entity, Micah eventually rescues her but feeling that the demon's presence is still lurking upstairs, they head downstairs with blankets to sleep on the couch. Micah discovers bite marks on her back the next morning. Later, Micah finds Katie gripping a cross so tightly that it bloodies her palm. He angrily burns the cross and photograph in the fireplace, and packs to head for a motel. Just as they are set to leave, Katie insists they will be okay now, her voice flat until the last line when it becomes synced with another inhuman voice. When Micah looks away, Katie gives a disturbing smile to the camera.

The following night, Katie gets out of bed and stares at Micah for two hours before going downstairs. After a moment of silence, Katie screams Micah's name along with another inhuman voice; he abruptly rushes to her. Katie's screaming stops and heavy footsteps come up the stairs. Micah's body is violently hurled at the camera, which is knocked sideways, revealing Katie in the doorway. She slowly walks into the room, stained with blood. Crouching and crawling, she goes to Micah's body and then looks up at the camera with a 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 Katie's whereabouts remain unknown.

Original ending

In its original version, the film featured a different ending. 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 for hours. The next day, her friend Amber calls and leaves a message, expressing concern. 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, police enter the home and discover Micah's body as well. They find Katie and call to her. She wakes from her catatonic state and seems confused. As she approaches them with the knife in hand, they ask her to drop the weapon. The bedroom door behind them slams shut, startling them and causing them to shoot Katie, who collapses on the floor. The police then discover the camera, still running. A dedication to Katie and Micah is shown, while a police conversation can be heard. 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.

Paramount alternate ending

Once Paramount acquired the film, the original ending was scrapped, and 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. In the alternate ending on the dvd, 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. After three hours, she goes downstairs and screams, waking Micah, who runs downstairs. The screaming continues, and a struggle is heard before the noises abruptly stop. Katie then walks into the bedroom, bloodied, with a knife in hand. She closes and locks the bedroom door, before walking up to the camera, standing idle. She then lifts the knife and slits her own throat, then falls to the floor, dead.

Cast

• Katie Featherston as Katie (herself)
• Micah Sloat as Micah (himself)
• Mark Fredrichs as Dr. Fredrichs (psychic)
• Amber Armstrong as Amber (herself)
• Ashley Palmer as Diane (girl on the Internet)

Production

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". 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 of The Blair Witch Project. 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." 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, 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.

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.

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. 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.

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. Paramount Pictures, which acquired DreamWorks in 2005, bought the domestic rights to the film, and international rights to any sequels, for $350,000 USD. 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. 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. 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. Only after Goodman became production chief at Paramount in June 2009 did the film finally get slated for a fall release.

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.

The version with the new ending, made after Paramount acquired the film, had screenings on September 25, 2009 in thirteen 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. This was the first time a major motion picture studio used the service to virally market a film. Twelve of the thirteen venues sold out. 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.

On October 3, it was reported that a total of 33 screenings in all 20 markets had 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. On October 10, the Eventful.com counter hit over 1,000,000 requests. 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. 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.

Despite the film's lack of gore, Paranormal Activity was given an R rating by the MPAA and an M (meaning PG-13 in America) rating in Australia.

Home release

Paranormal Activity was released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 29, 2009. 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, dead. It was released in the United Kingdom on March 22, 2010 on DVD and Blu-ray with some specials. In the Netherlands the movie received a release on VHS in 2010.

Additionally, at the end of the film, 15 minutes' worth of names were added to the DVD release, as part of a special promotion: 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 generally positive reviews upon release. Based on 184 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an overall approval 'Fresh' rating from critics of 83%. Movie critics James Berardinelli and Roger Ebert each awarded it 3.5 stars out of a maximum of 4 stars. 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." 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." 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.." 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."

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 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.

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.

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 connect with filmgoers.

Accolades

The film was nominated for "best first feature" in the Independent Spirit Awards 2009.

In media

Remakes

In Japan, a remake called Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night was released in 2010.

Mockbuster group The Asylum created a copycat/remake which spawned a series of its own, titled Paranormal Entity in 2010.

Digital comics

In December 2009, a short digital comic entitled Paranormal Activity: The Search for Katie was released for the iPhone. It was written by Scott Lobdell and features art from Mark Badger.

Parodies

The 30 Rock episode "Verna" spoofed Katie's sleepwalking with a fast-forward video of Liz Lemon "sleep-eating."

On March 7, 2010, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin performed a spoof of the film as part of the 82nd Academy Awards.

On The Suite Life On Deck (episode "The Ghost and Mr. Martin", aired on 8 October, 2010), Zack and Cody try to find a ghost on the ship, so they record themselves sleeping.

In the South Park episode "City Sushi", Butters Stotch sets up a camera in his room to try to find an explanation for his bedwetting (and purported multiple personality disorder). The next morning, the camera footage reveals Butter's psychiatrist Dr. Janus entering his room in the middle of the night, standing for hours next to Butters's bed - seen in fast-forward, similarly to Katie's scenes in Paranormal Activity - and then urinating on Butters before punching him several times and sneaking back out.

The 23rd Halloween episode of The Simpsons features a segment titled "Un-Normal Activity" that spoofs the film.

The popular online skit "30 Second Bunnies" did a recent parody of the film, portraying Micah and Katie as bunnies.

Well known YouTubers "Smosh" created a video parody called "Paranormal Easy Bake Oven", in which Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla are haunted by a demonic pastry machine. Fast-forward filming is used, similar to Paranormal Activity. Night after night, Ian sleepwalks out of the room that they share for the filming, and bakes different snacks, apparently using the Easy Bake Oven. On the last night Ian walking down the hall, screaming for Anthony. As Anthony runs down the hall, sounds of a struggle occur and Ian walks back into the room, holding a bloodied Easy Bake Oven. The police enter the bedroom and mistakenly shoot Ian when he pulls a croissant out from the Easy Bake, mimicking the original ending.