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 "Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension," which opened last
weekend just in time to entice the Halloween revelers, concludes
the tale that began in 2009 with Katie and Micah, a couple who
are stalked at home by a supernatural entity.
"Paranormal Activity," a found-footage, or pseudo documentary
style, horror made for around $15,000 and acquired by Paramount
Pictures, revolutionized the horror movie genre after grossing
$193 million worldwide.
Katie's possession by a demon named 'Toby' led to four more
films and a spin-off, and brought a slew of ghost-centric
micro-budget movies, replacing the gory fare that dominated
horror in the 2000s, such as "Saw" and Eli Roth's "Hostel."
"Horror has been more supernatural than bloody, and I think that
had a lot to do with the 'Paranormal Activity,'" franchise
producer Jason Blum told Reuters in an interview.
But as "Paranormal Activity" wraps up with "Ghost Dimension,"
Blum believes horror may be taking a more psychological and
human turn.
The producer suggested that his 2013 movie "The Purge," about a
society in which all crime is legal for 12 hours, may usher in
an era of psychological horror that humans can inflict on each
other.
"The Purge" will see a third installment next year, while this
summer's "The Gift" and "The Visit," all produced by Blum,
served up real life fright.
Horror has not quite given up the ghost yet, and neither has
Blum whose production company Blumhouse Productions leads the
way in making horror movies on tiny budgets that turn big
profits and use new distribution models. Since 2009's
"Paranormal Activity," Blum has produced more than 30 films in
the horror genre.
Blum's found-footage horror "The Gallows" made for $100,000 has
grossed $23 million in North America since July. The producer
has numerous projects leading into next year that find scares in
the supernatural, such as "Ouija 2" and "Amityville: The
Awakening."
"There's an appetite for more scary movies every year," Blum
said. "There's a real market for hardcore fans - not millions
but hundreds of thousands - and there's new distribution avenues
to get to them."
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Paramount will release "Ghost Dimension" on-demand just 17 days
after its release in movie theaters rather than the usual 3-6
months.
Studios are flocking to work with Blum, as are veteran directors
experimenting with the micro-budget format.
"He's succeeded so many times, (the studios) feel like he's seeing
things the audience will enjoy that they're not seeing," said M.
Night Shyamalan, whose summer release "The Visit" was made for $5
million and topped $63 million at the box office.
Roth's cannibal horror "The Green Inferno" capitalizes on the
appetite for human-inflicted horror, but the director said he had to
partner with Blum to get the film on U.S. screens.
"I have a nose for doing something that's different, and that's
exactly what scares distributors," Roth said. The film has grossed
$7 million since its September release.
And then there is "Creep," a stranger-danger horror by Mark Duplass
and Patrick Brice made for under $1 million and released with Blum's
help exclusively to Apple Inc's iTunes in July and Netflix three
weeks later.
"It opens up a whole new audience for me of people who might not
have known who I was," said actor-filmmaker Duplass. "For guys like
me and Jason Blum, it's the game of trying to figure out ways of how
to get our audiences."
(This version of the story corrects name of production company in
ninth paragraph)
(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; editing by Jill Serjeant and Diane
Craft)
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