A decent weekend overall, Paranormal Activity 4 lead the pack, though its debut came in rather slow, compared to previous installments. Argo held strong in its second weekend, showing word-of-mouth is cementing its box office prowess, while Hotel Transylvania, Taken 2 and Alex Cross rounded out the top five at the weekend box office.
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Because the Paranormal Activity movies are defined by their structure rather than by a visible monster or recurring lead characters or surroundings, it's the filmmaking that ends up having to evolve and change to set each new installment apart rather than, say, the mythology. You're got the limited location, the slow burn, the surveillance gear, the demonic hijinks — it's what's done with these elements that distinguishes one film from the next, a fact that makes the franchise interesting technically even if its versions of things that go bump in the night don't do much for you.
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Paranormal Activity 4 directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman say that the ideal horror movie is like a party at the theater, and the one movie where you want the audience to talk back.
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Jason Blum had produced a dozen projects before he hit upon 2007's sleeper phenomenon Paranormal Activity, a micro-indie horror pic with no stars that in turn became the model for Blumhouse Productions, his own genre-leaning multimedia label. Fast forward just five years and Paranormal Activity 4 is set to continue the series' low-budget thrills (with webcam technology!) next week, while the Blum-produced Sinister, about a writer (Ethan Hawke) contending with a house haunted by insidious forces, opens today. (For a third new venture, The Blumhouse of Horrors, Blum & Co. take over a historic theater in downtown Los Angeles. More info here.)
Movieline caught up with the man behind many of the most profitable — and cost-effective — horror hits in recent memory for a peek behind the curtain: What's the Blum secret to success?
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Yet another Paranormal Activity sequel is heading to theaters this fall, but the increasingly repetitive found footage franchise is introducing some new elements to its scare tactics. For instance, a blonde chick, after three movies of brunettes! Even more original: Paranormal Activity 4 will deliver its spooks via Skype — so tech-forward, so of the moment — the likes of which we totally haven't seen before. Or have we?
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