This is the trailer to the first Paranormal Activity film. It is a film that is very minimalist in terms of special effects with the blowing of the bed sheet to give the impression that someone is there, relying on the fear of the unknown at a time when you are most vulnerable, when you are sleeping (Schwartz 2009a). The film was marketed in a very unique way as it allowed people to request it to be shown in their hometown by voting on the paranormal activity website, which is shown at the end of the trailer (ibid.). The film was in fact made in October 2006 in seven days and had been shown at festivals for a couple of years including at Screamfest in LA in 2007 (Schwartz 2009b). Oren Peli, the director struggled to get distribution but did get help from Steven Spielberg, who infamous ly had to turn off the film at night and resume it the next day (ibid.). Their decision to conduct a grassroots effort to build popularity for the film and gain a national release showed how important it was to gain the affections of horror fans, particularly college students. This explains why the initial release was in limited to 13 college towns (ibid.)
This is a poster for Paranormal Activity. It shows how it engages with its audience by giving them the power to determine where the film is shown to build popularity and word of mouth. It also uses a still of the recording of Micah and Katie, the San Diego couple trying to sleep, showing how the fear of th unknown and suggestive actions are used to scare people. It also tackles the issue of surveillance in post 9/11 culture expressed earlier in the Saw post about how it can be used see to things you should not be able to see and giving the film a dose of realism rather than fantastical violence to scare.
This really shows how significant social media is recent popular culture, that through Twitter, Facebook and websites like the paranormal activity demand it site horror movie consumers are given a medium where they can express their desires and opinions. For the Horror film this helps engage the audience further, which has always been important for their success. By including horror fans in the process of the film becoming popular it shows the importance the cultural consumer has of determining what is popular, especially when the filmmakers give them that power (Hampp 2010).
In addition the film shows that you do not have to rely on violence and gore to scare and shows why we picked this film to represent the other end of the spectrum of horror movies. There is a sense that this is because audiences are now smarter, leading to a series of horror films that are now smarter and possibly spelling the end for torture porn (Hicks 2009). Tony Hicks of the Oakland Tribune argues that this is because people have become increasingly desensitized to gore and Winston Dixon, the author of "A History of Horror" arguably credits Paranormal activity with bringing an end to the popularity of torture movies (ibid.).
Do you agree that the new trend in horror movies is to make smart horror with suspense? Do you think torture porn is over? What do you think of the grassroots element of the film's popularity? Is this a new trend in horror movies?
References
Hampp, Andrew. 2010. "Paranormal Activity" Wins by listening to "Fans Demands." Advertising Age 81 (8). Retrieved from Film and Television Literature Index.
Hicks, Tony. 2009. Horror films reflect the times. Oakland Tribune, October 21, 2009. Retrieved from Proquest Newspapers.
Peli, Oren. 2007. Paranormal Activity. San Diego: Paramount Pictures.
Schwartz, Missy. 2009a. 5 Things you should know about Paranormal Activity. Entertainment Weekly, 2 October. Retrieved from Film and Television Literature Index.
Scwartz, Missy. 2009b. A Shocking Hit. Entertainment Weekly, 6 November. Retrieved from Film and Television Literature Index.
