Could this be another The Blair Witch Project (1999)? The ‘this’ being Paranormal Activity:
Steven Spielberg was certain his copy of “Paranormal Activity” was haunted.It was early 2008, and the director’s DreamWorks studio was trying to decide whether it wanted to be a part of the micro-budgeted supernatural thriller. As the story goes, Spielberg had taken a “Paranormal Activity” DVD to his Pacific Palisades estate, and not long after he watched it, the door to his empty bedroom inexplicably locked from the inside, forcing him to summon a locksmith.
While Spielberg didn’t want the “Paranormal Activity” disc anywhere near his home — he brought the movie back to DreamWorks in a garbage bag, colleagues say — he very much shared his studio’s enthusiasm for director Oren Peli’s haunting story about the demonic invasion of a couple’s suburban tract house.
“Paranormal Activity” was hardly a typical studio production. Peli, an Israeli-born video game designer who had no formal film training, shot the $15,000 movie in a week in 2006 with a no-name cast, a crew of several San Diego friends and a hand-held video camera.
But as Spielberg and the DreamWorks team believed, the movie held a special appeal — it was original and scary.
For more info, I visited the movie’s site on RottenTomatoes.com. Here’s a plot synopsis:
A haunted house makes no secret of the fact it is not pleased with its new tenants in this independent tale of supernatural horror. Katie (Katie Featherson) and Micah (Micah Sloat) are a twentysomething couple who’ve just moved into a new home in San Diego, California. Katie has an interest in the paranormal and believes that malevolent spirits have been following her since childhood, though Micah is not so easily convinced. However, after several nights of loud noises and strange happenings, Micah starts to agree with Katie that some sort of ghost may have followed them to the new home. After a paranormal researcher tells the couple he can’t help them, Micah decides to take control of the situation and sets up a battery of video cameras so that if a spirit manifests itself, he can capture its behavior on tape. Once the surveillance cameras are in place, Katie and Micah bring in a Ouija board in an effort to talk to the spirits, a move that deeply offends the ghosts.
Here’s the official movie trailer:
For what it’s worth, the current RottenTomatoes.com rating of the movie is 100% (based on 7 reviewers).
Maybe it did scare Spielberg. Or maybe that’s just part of the hype. But who can forget the amazing buzz and hysteria” surrounding The Blair Witch Project?
Do you remember when you saw Blair Witch? What do you think Paranormal Activity will do?
That trailer left me uncharacteristically speechless…
What a damn GENIUS marketing idea. Not just show the movie but show a preview audience spazzing out over the movie. Just brilliant.
Not only that, but to give audiences a chance to go online and campaign to bring the movie to their town? Everything about this smacks both of where we've been and where we're headed, certainly when it comes to horror films.
Lunatic marketing campaigns are nothing new for the genre. From the crazy radio ads for the original LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT ("…just keep saying to yourself, it's only a movie, it's only a movie…") to the glory days of William Castle putting electric buzzers in theater seats and literally shocking your ass during THE TINGLER. (lampooned so brilliantly in Joe Dante's underrated classic MATINEE)
There's a certain amount of desperation in these maneuvers that demands creativity. Anything to get butts in the seats. I love it!
Blair Witch was no different. I remember talking to grown adults who actually bought it hook, line, and sinker, that The Blair Witch Project was an ACTUAL documentary.
I kept my yap shut. I figured, why ruin it for them, eh?
Scott, re: your recent Twitter posts regarding film marketing…
Go to the Paranormal Activity movie website and take note how predominant TWITTER is and how they are using it to their absolute advantage…
Instead of letting Twitter control them, they're getting an instant handle of the electronic word-of-mouth machine…
Remarkable times we're living in…
One thing is certain, Blair Witch had just about the best Ad campaign ever, and as a genre enthusiast I have high hopes for Paranormal Activity. But the movie damned well have a better ending than Blair Witch.
In the theater I saw Blair Witch in, one audience member upon the ending of the movie, screamed out BULLSHIT!! before launching his cup of soda at the movie screen. I'm thinking he was a little miffed. Perhaps, rightfully so.
If I remember correctly, didn't this project start as a social network? I recall something about Spielberg launching a website back in '07 where they invited users to create profiles and share their own personal ghost stories.
With regards to Jeff, I think there's a real danger in trying to manipulate the so-called "smart mob". Attempts to create personal armies have backfired on a lot companies over the past couple years. Internet users tend to get upset when they feel that the organic landscape of the internet is being 'astro-turfed' (I know, I went there)
There's a couple great blogs that recount instances where this method turned nasty:
http://danzarrella.com/when-viral-marketing-attacks.html
http://www.cio.com/article/443412/The_10_Worst_Viral_Marketing_Campaigns
Still, this attempt to use the internet as opposed to fighting it is definitely a step in the right direction. The movie looks interesting, and I personally wish there were more of these QUARANTINE/CLOVERFIELD/BLAIR WITCH kind of shaky-cam movies being made. They're a great way to revitalize some old premises in a way that feels completely new and exciting.