The routine for smaller foreign horror films is usually to show at a number of festivals before being purchased by a big studio. Said studio will then either sit on the original or grant it a perfunctory DVD release before remaking a big budget Hollywood version. For fans who can’t see the originals, it causes frustration, since 99.99% of the time, the original is better, and upon seeing it, the realization is that the newer version feels a few degrees removed from an authentic experience. And for fans who do get a chance to see the smaller original film, there is the realization that million of moviegoers will refer to the inferior remake as the only worthy edition. For every fan of “[Rec]” there are eight thousand more who have seen and enjoyed “Quarantine” without realizing its origins.
That strategy has applied to genre pictures in another language, but it looked like it was happening with the tiny-budgeted, American “Paranormal Activity.” Dreamworks purchased the film after it hit Slamdance in 2008, but at the time the desire was to remake the film at a bigger budget. Obviously it was the thinking of a restless executive somewhere, one who saw the film as ugly, grimy, handheld homemade garbage, but couldn’t deny the audience reaction. Under Dreamworks’ former leadership, the original was set to go straight-to-DVD, but with Dreamworks’ departure from Paramount, this project was left behind.
We have to credit the ingenious minds at Paramount who promptly canceled plans for the remake and intend to release the film in three weeks. A website was launched yesterday with a new poster and trailer, and it seems like a viral marketing blitz will get the film to audiences demanding it. The new trailer highlights the extremely strong word-of-mouth the film has received, from both enthusiastic festival and test audiences as well as genre critics who have raved about the film as its been kept under lock and key by Dreamworks for the last year and a half. The plot as is involves a couple trying to document the ghostly activity happening in their home, only for their footage to reveal the nasty secrets they leave behind. Yes, it’s another found-footage horror film, and yes, we’re getting a little tired of that, but we’re sure the horror genre’s move in that direction will be worth a term paper or two for some of you film students out there. Mention the war.
The film will be released to only thirteen cities on September 25th, and its interesting that they’re not your typical limited release screens, with only one California location, Santa Cruz, and literally nothing in the northeast. The trailer gives you the option to click here and request the film, but we hope audience reaction is enough to expand the film further. Platforming an indie release in smaller cities remains an untested manner of getting a film to its audience- “Baghead” tried and failed this awhile ago- but he hope the releasing method allows the film to reach the audience it deserves.
