Oren Peli

As an unashamed supporter of indie golden-child Paranormal Activity (review), I snagged a copy of the DVD as soon as I could. Lacking even a basic menu screen (the only options you're given are theatrical or original ending) and devoid of anything resembling a special feature, I turned it off halfway through when the picture, which was being viewed on a massive hi-def TV, was so dark I could barely make heads or tails of what was going on. I have yet to watch it again.

This is okay, however, as those fine folks over at Dread Central have brought to my attention a forthcoming UK DVD and Blu-Ray release of the film featuring all those delightful special features we've been aching to see. Not only do we get an exclusive UK-only audio commentary from director Oren Peli, but we also get an exclusive audio commentary for the alternate ending that appeared on my coaster of a DVD.

Although this commentary is sure to be incredibly eye-opening, the final feature seems to me to be the most interesting. When the film was playing in the UK, Icon Home Entertainment sponsored a "Film Your Own Paranormal Activity" Short Film competition, challenging fans to make their own haunting films using the same techniques Peli did to create his massive hit. Although all of the short films can be found on YouTube, the UK edition of the DVD will feature the ten finalists' videos, as well as a video introduction by Oren Peli explaining why the winning video was chosen.

I don't even own a Blu-Ray player, or even a TV, and I'm excited as all Hell about this. Hey, the movie is great, and I will support it until the sun goes out.

This is a funny turn of events, methinks. When Saw hit the scene six years ago, the low cost of production combined with the unexpectedly high box office take meant a tidy sum for Twisted Pictures and Lionsgate; this further meant director James Wan was set to become horrors next big thing. That never really happened, however. I'm sure the franchise has made/still makes him boatloads of money, but following lackluster reactions to Dead Silence and Death Sentence, Wan slid away from the spotlight. Even news that he was taking over Castlevania from Paul WS Anderson was met with a tepid "Meh, at least it's not Anderson" kind of reaction.

Which is why I find it highly amusing that Oren Peli is now producing James Wan's next film, The Further. Obviously I don't want to imply that Wan is getting a handout from the Paranormal Activity director and couldn't get his film made otherwise, but it is an interesting development considering Peli had never even made a film before PA let alone produced someone else's. But hey, considering PA is now the most profitable film ever made (and likely will be for a long, long, long time), Peli has certainly earned the freedom to spread his career wings.

There aren't a ton of details at this point, but Bloody-Disgusting did manage to score a logline for the film: "A young family makes the terrifying discovery that the body of their comatose boy has become a magnet for malevolent entities, while his consciousness lies trapped in the dark and insidious realm known as The Further."

Paramount has hired Saw VI director Kevin Greutert and prime time veteran writer Michael R. Perry to create the sequel to last year's indie sensation, Paranormal Activity. Director Oren Peli made the film on a $15,000 budget but it went on to cash in over $150 million worldwide, boasting a clever web marketing campaign. Peli and Jason Blum will continue on with the series as producers and Steven Schneider (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance redux) will serve as executive producer. Ironically, Paranormal Activity 2 will be up against Lionsgate's Saw VII for this year's pre-Halloween weekend. After Saw VI grossed a mere $31 million in 2009, many are left wondering if the franchise is dying and if a Paranormal Activity series may be ready to take its place.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Peli is behind the new team stating, "These guys get it, and the fans won't be disappointed." The storyline about a a young couple who battle a malevolent entity after capturing evidence on tape will be kept intact. No word yet if the cast of four will return for the sequel and no clues as to whether or not Greutert will use the same approach as Peli--using unknown actors and setting the story in a singular location. That was part of the beauty of the first film and I'm leery that this aspect will remain.

If all this news sounds familiar, then you're probably thinking of the Blair Witch phenomenon, which fell flat after Artisan Entertainment pushed for a sequel on the coattails of a successful first go-round. Paramount is hoping to do the same after Paranormal Activity by spending $1 million a year to make a dozen or more low budget films, each costing less than $100,000. Peli's hotly anticipated Area 51, now in post-production, won't be part of this schematic as he'll be working with a $5 million budget this time.

I'm not sure if Paranormal Activity's mythology lends itself to another film. Personally, it didn't hold up for me upon repeated viewings and I've been exhausted by the constant coverage of the film, months after its release. I can't help but think this sequel is going to crush the subtlety of the first film and bleed it dry entirely. I have a deep respect for what Peli has done and want to cheer him on but I'm really torn. Where do you stand on things?

If you've been following Horror Squad for awhile, you'll have noticed that I'm typically the first person to jump on anything Paranormal Activity (review) related, or at the very least be the only to salivate over the movie. While many are content with saying it's merely a good and indeed a scary film, I am one of the few fanboys out there who consider it to be one of the best horror films of the decade and a shining example of how horror does not need to be a flashy affair to be scary. I am incredibly eager to get my hands on a Paranormal Activity DVD once it gets released, so naturally I'm beyond excited for this.

Those fine purveyors of horror news Shock Till You Drop have brought to my attention a limited collector's edition of the film that will be made available "only online" on December. This coincides with the film's regular DVD and Blu-ray release date, and sports some pretty impressive bonus features for those hardcore dweebs who salivated over the film and saw it three times in theaters (*coughmecough*). The DVD includes:

-A theatrical version, unrated version and the often-talked about "never before seen ending."

-A collectible trading card featuring an authentic film cell

-A limited edition and numbered t-shirt to let everyone know you were one of the million people to "demand it."

And as an added bonus, Shock even got the DVD art, which is, well, unimpressive, but I don't think that's the selling point. You can take a gander at it up there in the corner in fancy thumbnail size, or by taking a peel after the jump.

Oren Peli is having the greatest Friday the 13th of his life. We all love the shifting Holiday, but none of us can be as happy to greet today as the director of Paranormal Activity, whose film will be hurtling over the $100 million threshold at some point today, which, like his film, is simultaneously believable and unbelievable. I can clearly see why it has dominated at the box office, but I don't think anyone involved with the film (either before or after it was bought) prophesied how monumentally successful it would become.

But I'm not here to tell you once again that you should go see Paranormal Activity, you've already heard that a thousand times over. I would, however, like to use this time to give Oren Peli a standing ovation by putting things a little further into perspective. Within another week, PA will have grossed more money than the cumulative totals of Halloween II, The Uninvited, The Stepfather, and Saw VI. Their combined budgets? Approximately $60 million. If that doesn't show a little innovation goes a long way, I don't know what does.

Even more amazing? Once Paranormal Activity opens internationally, it could potentially earn more money than it cost to produce every single other theatrical horror movie released in the US combined, which by my estimate is around the $170-180 million mark. If that happens, and I am positive it will, I hope that Paramount gives everyone involved with making this film a bonus worth more than any amount of money I'll ever see. Sure, being the most profitable movie all time is a nice feather in your cap, but costing only $15,000 and making more money than the combined budgets of every single other American horror movie of the year? I don't even know what to say to that. It just makes me want to throw my hands up in the air in defeat.

My hat is off to you, Mr. Peli.

Unless you've been living in a shoebox, you have probably already heard rumblings about Oren Peli's (Paranormal Activity) latest project, Area 51. It was already announced that Room 101, Solana Films and Blumhouse Productions will be producing the film starring Reid Warner, Darrin Bragg and Ben Rovne. The film is currently in production and expected to hit theaters sometime in 2010. The story has been a secret aside from some minor details, but we do know that it centers around three teenagers whose curiosity leads them to the legendary Area 51 Air Force base in the Nevada desert. Like Paranormal Activity, the film will employ 'found footage' to tell the story and Peli will continue to work with undiscovered actors. Well, this wasn't enough info for the team at Latino Review, who recently uncovered some major plot details about Area 51 after getting their hot little hands on a "script/outline hybrid."

Here's what Levle had to say:

"The 'script' for Area 51 reads much like I imagine the 'script' for Paranormal Activity did. It's basically a scene-by-scene breakdown with a list of various props, actors and the general interactions between the actors and their surroundings. There is no written dialogue, but within the action descriptions are general ideas that the actors will be using to improvise their lines with on set. Unlike Paranormal Activity's single location, Area 51 is far more expansive in its setting."

He goes on to reveal some serious spoilers and offers his thoughts about the final product: "I'm hoping that the finished product is a bit more believable. . .but at this point the creative direction is best left to Oren. I'm optimistic that he can make lightning strike twice."

Head over to Latino Review for the full details and let us know what you think. Does Oren's 'documentary' style work for this one or have you had enough of the shaky cam experience?

Echoing the sentiments of fellow Horror Squadder Peter Hall, the amount of attention Paranormal Activity has been, for lack of a better phrase, off the chain. Even I'm getting a little burnt out on the constant coverage of the film, despite having seen it three times and considering it one of the most important horror films in the past decade (for a variety of reasons).

On the heels of the film's release in foreign markets - it opens on Halloween night in the United Kingdom and will premiere steadily in other major markets over the course of the next month or two (the full roll-out schedule is below) - Variety is reporting that several countries, including Spain, Russia and a slew of Asian territories - have begun to snag licensing rights to remake the film in their native tongue.

Paramount currently holds the rights to a stateside remake, though much of the interest seems to be not in the foreign language remakes, but whether or not the film can break the $100 million mark by going international. Stuart Ford, who heads IM Global, the company responsible for licensing the worldwide distribution rights to Paranormal Activity, had this to say concerning the film's international appeal:

I know, you might be bordering on a Paranormal Activity overdose at this point. It's been slowly rolling out for weeks, every person in America is talking about it, and it so totally scared your best friend, but certainly not you. Well, as you likely know, what is currently playing in theaters is not the original ending to Oren Peli's haunted house triumph. In fact, the new theatrical cut features an ending suggested by Steven Spielberg.

The original ending, as detailed here by our own William Goss, hasn't played in theaters for over a year and a half, but now that the film is king of the demonic world, someone has provided the service of actually putting the alternate ending online. This is actually just one of several endings, as explained in our interview with the director, but until the far-off DVD of the film is released, this is the only way you're going to see it. And I kind of have a feeling that may not be the case for long, so jump on it below.

Sorry, Paramount has pulled the video from the Internet. Hope you caught it in time.

Well, congrats are in order to Paramount for slyly marketing its low-budget pick-up, Paranormal Activity, to bona fide box office success with $7.1 million on a mere 159 screens, with a wider release still to come.

But many of the fans savvy enough to seek it out are by now aware that Activity's ending wasn't always as it stands now. In fact, the film runs about ten minutes shorter between its late '07/early '08 festival screenings and its current cut.

So, to answer the questions that I and others fortunate enough to have seen the original version have been fielding, we'll be taking a look at as many differences as we can remember between the two, not to mention the further rumblings of what was different in test screenings for the film.

Naturally, this means spoilers. I know, it says as much right there in the headline, but for the sake of covering our butts, let's make this clear: a spoiler warning for everything post-jump.

There, that ought to do it.