Paranormal Activity (film series): Difference between revisions

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Paranormal Activity" film series – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The Paranormal Activity films are a series of horror films based around a family and the haunting of the house by a demon who has been troubling the family for years. Each film is set in the style of hand-held found footage.

First-time director Oren Peli had been afraid of ghosts his entire life, even fearing the comedy film Ghostbusters, but intended to channel that fear into something positive and productive. Peli took a year to prepare his own house for shooting, going so far as to repaint the walls, add furniture, put in a carpet, and build a stairwell. In this time, he also did extensive research into paranormal phenomena and demonology, stating, "We wanted to be as truthful as we could be." The reason for making the supernatural entity in the story a demon was a result of the research pointing to the most malevolent and violent entities being "demons". The phenomena in the film take place largely at night—the vulnerability of being asleep, Peli reasoned, taps into a human being's most primal fear, stating, "If something is lurking in your home there's not much you can do about it." Attempting to focus on believability rather than action and gore, Peli chose to shoot the picture with a home video camera. In deciding on a more raw and stationary format (the camera was almost always sitting on a tripod or something else) and eliminating the need for a camera crew, a "higher degree of plausibility" was created for the audience as they were "more invested in the story and the characters". Peli says that the dialogue was "natural" because there was no real script. Instead, the actors were given outlines of the story and situations to improvise, a technique known as "retroscripting" used in the making of The Blair Witch Project. In casting the movie, Peli auditioned "a few hundred people" before finally meeting Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat. He originally auditioned them individually and later called them back to audition together. Peli was impressed with the chemistry between the actors, saying, "If you saw the footage, you would've thought they had known each other for years." During a guest appearance on The Jay Leno Show on November 3, 2009, Sloat and Featherston explained they each saw the casting call on LACasting. Featherston noted they were originally paid $500 for their work. The film was shot out of sequence due to Peli's self-imposed seven day shooting schedule, though Peli would have preferred the story unfold for the actors as he had envisioned it. Sloat, who controlled the camera for a good deal of the film, was a former cameraman at his university's TV station. "It was a very intense week", Peli recalled, stating that the film would be shot day and night, edited at the same time, and would have the visual effects applied to it as the acting footage was being finalized.

Paramount and DreamWorks hired screenwriter Michael R. Perry to create Paranormal Activity 2. Oren Peli, the director of the first film, served as a producer for this prequel. Kevin Greutert, director of Saw VI, was initially hired to direct the prequel; however, Lions Gate Entertainment exercised a clause in Greutert's contract to have him direct the final film in the Saw franchise. Both of the actors from the first film, Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat, reprise their roles in the prequel. Tod Williams directed Paranormal Activity 2, which started production in May 2010 and was released in October the same year.

Young couple Katie and Micah are terrorised by a demon that Katie believes has been following all her life. The film is designed to look like a found footage-styled film with Micah filming the paranormal activity in their household.

This film is a prequel to the first film and focuses on Katie's sister Kristi and her family as they are terrorised by a demon. Kristi's husband installs security cameras into each room of the house and it records the terrifying activity in the house. The film is also shot with a hand-held camera.

This film is set in 1988 focusing on a young Katie and Kristi as the demon enters their lives for the first time and terrorises them. It is filmed with a hand-held camera once again, but this time it's filmed by Katie and Kristi's mother's boyfriend who uses his video camera to capture the activity.

Paramount Pictures announced on January 2, 2012 that Paranormal Activity 4 was in the works. No information on the plot or characters have been released. Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman will return to direct the film.^[1][2][3] The film is scheduled to be released on October 19, 2012.^[4] On June 23, 2012, it was confirmed that the fourth film had begun filming. Dianna Agron will reportedly appear in the film.^[5]

In 2010, Haruka Yamano is in a car accident and breaks her legs. She stays at home with her brother and while their father is away strange activity happens in the house.

The film is presented as a series of allegedly factual surveillance videos documenting the downward spiral and eventual supernatural rape and murder of a woman named Samantha Finley. It is written and directed by Shane Van Dyke and produced by The Asylum who are notable for creating low-budget movies that capitalize on productions by major studios.

In April, 2012, series creator Oren Peli confirmed that a Latino version of Paranormal Activity was being produced, which would include Catholic mythology and a Latino cast and theme. The upcoming film has been referred to as a "cousin" to the series, and not an official spin-off or sequel. Peli also confirmed that although mainly being created for the Latino market, the film will not be in Spanish.^[6]