Paranormal Activity Trailer Delights In Reducing Grown Men to Petrified, Tearful Little Girls

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Microbudget ghost story Paranormal Activity -- which at a cost of $11,000 makes The Blair Witch Project seem like a bloated, runaway production -- has been eliciting squeaks, whimpers and eardrum-shattering screams wherever it's screened, most recently at an outdoor theater at Telluride. Now Paramount, who's picked up U.S. distribution, has released the first official trailer.

Like the teaser for Capitalism: A Love Story, unwitting members of an actual audience are turned into marketing pawns. In this case, though, they aren't required to make contributions to bogus charities, but rather just watch the movie and let the infrared cameras capture their reaction. It's an interesting strategy, as if to say, "What do you mean this doesn't look scary -- check out that fully grown man clutching his date and screaming like a little bitch! This is pants-crappingly terrifying entertainment, people." As for what little we see of the actual movie, a couple track phantom apparitions in a new home. We catch glimpses of spilled flour, bite marks, billowing sheets, and the sudden realization that whatever is terrorizing them is "not a ghost." Maybe it's Rachael Ray? We give up.



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