The Paranormal Kool Aid

With a budget of 10 - 11 thousand dollars, Oren Peli's feature "Paranormal Activity was a much better film than "The Blair Witch Project" and of course filmed for a lot less. Plus it will more than likely bust open the 100 million mark as it pretty much demolished the "Saw" franchise this Halloween and chances are pretty good that it might top "T.B.W.P.". which broke 120m. The good side to this story is that it gives hope to talented Indie filmmakers (like myself) whom are creatively putting together films on a shoestring budget with hopes of tapping into their niche audience. And I guess we will see more next week if the market will truly pick-up at this year's American Film Market (AFM) also it once again proves that you can cast unknow actors and still have not only a hit but a break out hit. I believe that this pattern could continue if the studios were not so lazy and took more risk because in reality this is no different than how they get us to watch new television shows which mostly start with unfamiliar faces who'll usually break out in some form, (either when the show is a success or when an actor is released, i.e. Marissa Tomei)

BUT filmmakers (like myself) should realize that they had Paramount Pictures behind it and they utilized this "little engine that could" marketing strategy where they had a trailer and got the viewers involved by having them go to a website and click on to support the film and when they have one million people click on to support then Paramount would put the film in a wider market. The marketing scheme here was that the studio a;ready knew what they had based off their various screenings so the plan was to open small and then wider based off their viral marketing plan which obviously worked...

Although, I found it better than "Blair", for me as a viewer there comes a point where I either connect or disconnect from a film. And once I disconnect, I either become annoyed and I'm done with the film or I'll continue to watch for fodder PLEASE NOTE THIS MIGHT BE A SPOILER OF SOME SORTS...

I disconnected with this film once the The Psychic explained not to use Ouija Board because it would invite the spirit in and what does the annoying boyfriend, Micah do??? And it seemed as this was done just to move the story along and I feel the characters could followed the rules but its the "Spirit" that could have become angered as the story progressed and act out accordingly without tainting their characters at all. I felt Micah was the antagonist being disrespectful not only to his girlfriend but also to the "Spirit" by toying with it and quite frankly, I anticipated his demise.

If you'd like to see an even better film check out Juan Boyana's "The Orphanage" similar theme but a better film. Do not get me wrong, "Paranormal" is not a bad film and I can see why all the heat. And anyone that can get such a buzz for a film that was completed four years ago, hats off to him. PULS he's already in a bidding war for his second feature which he's almost completed "Area 51". Once again, we'll see at this years AFM. ANd in closing Peli does hopefully open the door for other indies to catch a flame... "The Skeleptica Effect"... March .... 2010