I’ve been wanting to see the microbudget indie horror film Paranormal Activity ever since it played at LA’s ScreamFest to major acclaim from a lot of people I trust. I tried (half-assedly) to get myself a screener DVD, and I was unable to make any of the screenings here in LA, and Slamdance was like a foreign country to me while I was in Park City. Now the film has been picked up by Dreamworks, which means I’m going to have to wait for two things: the direct to DVD release who knows when and the eventual big budget remake.
It’s the remake that apparently really interested the studio, and they’re likely to begin work on a new version as soon as possible. Everything I’ve heard is that the original is legitimately scary (and that’s saying something when you hear it from horror guys – they’re so jaded nothing scares them, short of the news of Rob Zombie remaking a movie), so why bother redoing it with stars and no scares when you have a perfectly reasonable version ready to go? Stop trying to gild the lily, boys! The original is a mockumentary about the haunting of a house, and apparently the film uses the fake doc angle more convincingly than most others in the genre.
In the meantime, if you have a copy of Paranormal Activity (especially if you’re one of the filmmakers/producers), hook a brotha up. I’m dying to see this movie, have the shit scared out of me and write it up on the site.
While I wait for that hook up, here’s the trailer: