The Story Behind the Original ‘Paranormal Activity’
%photo13% More people have seen Oren Peli's bedroom than perhaps any other since Lincoln's. In 2006, Peli, a video game designer who had never even thought of making a movie before, moved into a house with his girlfriend. New to the quiet of suburban living, Peli found himself unusually frightened by ambient sounds and random creaks, and came up with an idea: What if his house really were haunted? He couldn't shake the idea, so he decided to scrounge up $15,000 and make a movie for a week. That movie was "Paranormal Activity."
As "Paranormal Activity 2" opens this weekend to positive reviews, we thought we'd take a moment to look at the bizarre and random way the first one made its way to theaters and, ultimately, almost $200 million gross worldwide. It started with "tech geek" Peli imagining that the best way to figure out the source of his house's noises would be to set up cameras everywhere. "I didn't actually go ahead and do that, but that's what started making me think how freaky it would be if you had cameras running at home while you sleep and actually did catch something," he told Moviefone in 2009. Obsessed with the notion, he decided to repaint his entire house and put in a stairwell in preparation for filming, which was more work than he put into the casting: He found stars Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat by simply putting up ads on acting websites and Craigslist. They received $500 for their work. They would later make a lot more.
Photos: The horror movie hall of fame>>
Once he had his cast, Peli began filming, working only with his cast, his girlfriend and a lifelong friend. (He did eventually hire one below-the-liner: A makeup artist.) The cameraperson on the movie was actually Sloat, like his character. Peli insisted on a seven-day schedule, days and nights, which he called "grueling." He cut the film together over the next few months and first showed it at the Screamfest Horror Film Festival in 2007. It impressed a few people, particularly a Miramax executive who helped Peli recut the film and submit it to the Sundance Film Festival. It was rejected.
That might have been it, except someone thought to send the film to Steven Spielberg, who screened the film, loved it, and then, in a story Peli insists isn't apocryphal, was terrified when he couldn't get in his bedroom because its door had "inexplicably locked by itself." Originally, Spielberg and DreamWorks wanted Peli to remake the film and include the original as an extra on the DVD, but test screenings scared audiences so much that they decided to stick with the original. They did reshoot the ending, on a recommendation by Spielberg. (It's not every $15,000 movie that comes with an ending from Steven Spielberg.) If you're wondering, here's one of the two alternate endings.
After that came the marketing challenge, in which Paramount (which bought Dreamworks) used the same grassroots spirit the film was made with. (We were new to Twitter when the movie came out, and for a while, we thought Twitter was mostly about "Paranormal Activity.") Much of the film's ultimate success came from the studio deciding to make moviegoers "demand" the film, using the Web to request theaters show it, though with a Spielberg endorsement, this wasn't exactly a tiny movie with no backing anymore. But it worked: The film grew and grew, and is now considered one of the most profitable films of all time.
Gallery: Most iconic villains of scary movies>>
"Paranormal Activity 2" is trying to same "demand your theaters show it" tactic, but it's less necessary this time: Now everyone wants to see it. Paramount has it in 2,900 theaters this week. You didn't even have to ask.
Watch the trailer for the first "Paranormal Activity":
%video1%
Other popular Yahoo! Entertainment stories:
• Troubled actor cut from 'Hangover' sequel
• Beautiful tennis star is officially off the market
• Christina Aguilera breaks silence about recent divorce
