‘Paranormal Activity’: Oren Peli Shares the Very First Frame Filmed 20 Years Ago
By Dread Central
4 min readBefore the sequels, before the box office phenomenon, before millions of people became terrified of their own bedrooms, there were […]
Before the sequels, before the box office phenomenon, before millions of people became terrified of their own bedrooms, there were […]
The movie’s importance goes well beyond its box office. The Blair Witch Project had already brought found footage into the mainstream, but Paranormal Activity helped kick off another enormous wave. It gave filmmakers a new perspective to play with, showing just how much terror you could create by leaving a camera running and making an audience wait for something to happen.
It became so big that I eventually got irritated with how many movies were following the same formula. V/H/S was, in part, a reaction to that wave. We wanted to play with the format and find different things to do with it. That’s part of Paranormal Activity’s legacy, too: inspiring filmmakers both to follow its example and to push against it.
But it also taught us a lot about fan power and strategic studio marketing. Paramount’s “Demand It!” campaign let audiences request screenings in their cities, turning the desire to see the movie into part of the event. The campaign paired those requests with midnight screenings and an audience that had already been building online.
Paranormal Activity walked so movies like Smile could run. I don’t mean they had identical campaigns. I mean the confidence to take audience excitement seriously and build a theatrical event around a horror movie people wanted to experience together.
Helping behind the scenes with the marketing of Paranormal Activity, and learning from breakthroughs like Saw and Hostel, taught me a tremendous amount about distribution. Those lessons stayed with me through Terrifier 2 and Terrifier 3. A lot of what I know about getting horror movies in front of people came from being around those moments and seeing what actually connected.
And look at the people whose careers this movie helped transform. Jason Blum and Steven Schneider were instrumental in bringing it to a wider audience after its festival beginnings. Schneider would later build Spooky Pictures with Roy Lee, while Blum became one of the defining producers in modern horror. Then Steven Spielberg got involved, and this little movie’s journey became even more unbelievable.
Dread was there early, too. Debi Moore gave an early version 4.5 out of five in her 2007 review, calling it “the most frightening ghost story of the year.”
I still have a screener personalized to me by Peli, with my name printed on it. Now that’s a fucking rare collectible I’m very proud to own.
Twenty years after that first night of filming, we’ve also just reported that the next Paranormal Activity returns to the original house. Ian Tuason (undertone) directs the new installment, scheduled for May 21, 2027.
Talk about full circle. It’s going to be a really fun year for Paranormal Activity fans.
