"Paranormal Activity" this generation's "Exorcist'?

A small but growing buzz about what is said to be the next great horror film has been floating around hard-core horror fan sites on the Internet. Due to an overwhelmingly terrified audience that was lucky enough to get a sneak peek at this brand new horror film at festivals across the US, news has spread that “Paranormal Activity” will be this generation’s “Exorcist”.

Dreamworks quickly picked up first time director Oren Peli’s film Paranormal Activity in 2007 for distribution on DVD. Dreamworks also acquired the remake rights to the film with plans to re-shoot the movie and deliver it to a theater near you.

The film is a paranormal suspense horror shot to look like real footage. This is not quite like your “Blair Witch Project” with three kids running around with supposed real documentary footage, this is more like something you would see on Youtube, or on one of those paranormal TV shows like “Ghost Adventures”.

The film has only two stars that are documenting their haunted house through the use of surveillance cameras in hopes of catching something on tape. Now I should mention that also unlike the “Blair Witch Project” this film has not been marketed to make people believe that the film is real (at least not yet). But just remember that you heard it here first, “this is not real ghost footage”.

Originally released at the Screamfest Film Festival on October 14, 2007, with a second showing at Slamdance Film Festival on January 18, 2008. In November of 2008 Variety reported that Paramount would distribute the film in 2009 but now it is looking more and more like a 2010 release as the year draws to an end. In a strange twist Japan's Presidio Corp. won a bidding war for the film and the rights to make Japanese laguage sequels.

All of these changes have left fans a little confused, and very anxious for word on the final release date so much so that they have even started a petition for the film to be released. Hopefully the film will live up to the hype and give fans what they've waited years for, a real scary movie.

[Examiner.com]