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‘Paranormal Activity 3’ And What I Learned At My “Tea With Toby”

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Paranormal Activity 3

Last week Paramount held a “Tea With Toby” at The Roosevelt Hotel in celebrate today’s DVD/Blu-ray release of Paranormal Activity 3.

What was “Tea With Toby”? It was a press event where I (among other journalists) was summoned to the hotel for a late afternoon Tea. Complete with sandwiches, smoked salmon, little pastries – what I had always imagined Tea being like in England.

We were there to discuss the film (and the franchise) with Oren Peli, Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Christopher Smith, Chloe Csengery and Jessica Tyler Brown. While it was a breezy and enjoyable 90 minutes, the gracious and polite Peli lived up to his notoriously tight-lipped reputation in regard to any new info on the series. And the cast followed suit.

But still, fun was had and, if anything, I walked away more energized to revisit the franchise. Hit the jump for the full report!

Upon my arrival at the hotel I was escorted through the main lobby, past the famous Roosevelt pool, and into a room darkened with pitch black curtains. Awaiting me was a vast array of teas, bottled water and snacks. Beer and wine was also offered but I passed.

Pretty soon cast and creatives from the Paranormal Activity franchise (along with my fellow journalists) began to wander in and take their assigned seats. In the corner, Teddy Ruxpin was set up with his own tea set which, if you’ve seen Paranormal Activity 3, requires no explanation.

Oren Peli, Micah Sloat, Katie Featherston took seats across from me and to my left, Christopher Smith sat directly in front of me, and across to my right were Chloe Csengery and Jessica Tyler Brown.

One of the most interesting dynamics of the day to witness was the interaction between Smith, Csengery and Brown. Their time onset during the shooting (and planned re-shooting) of the film clearly brought about a familial bond. Smith seemed to take a paternal role towards them, helping them gently with their answers (without putting words in their mouth) throughout the event.

One topic that did come up was the increasing budget size for the series. Don’t get the wrong idea, these films are still made very cheaply and of course provide a huge return on investment, but the first Paranormal Activity cost only a fraction of what they spent on PA 3.

According to Peli, while of course the crew is bigger on the films now and people get paid a little more, in the case of Part 3 much of it was spent on sound design, finding and renting a house and making it 80’s authentic, and making sure the film was ready by its October release date.

We did do some work on it. We didn’t want to throw the 80’s thing in your face too much though. We needed to dress it up. We just wanted it to look authentic. That this is what it would look like if video cameras were rolling in the 80’s.

Smith added, “It felt like I grew up in that house“.

Now, can we get any insight on part 4? “Of course not“, Peli laughs.

Do you know where you’re going with it? “We have some ideas“.

I turn to Csenegry and Brown, hoping they won;t be quote as circumspect. How about them? Will they be in Paranormal Activity 4? “I sure hope so!“, says Brown. Clearly she’s learned from the best at not giving away too much!

Back to Peli, what is the benefit of the quick turnaround and tight shooting schedule on these films? “You always wish you had more time. The fact that you have a release date that is immovable, you have to get the movie made no matter what. It’s both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because you know the studio will put their full resources into finishing it. It does force you to move quickly, which can sometimes be good. In feature development you hear stories about movies that take years and sometimes a decade to develop, but we know we’ll be out in October. But you always with you had more time. There’s always a panic that builds up when you have ten weeks until release, so you have to lock the picture four weeks before release, and you’re still shooting. It’s scary, but at the end of the day, if someone has an idea, normally you talk about it two weeks later. We talk about it that day and then shoot it two days later.

Someone asks Csengery and Brown if they believe in ghosts. “Chris does“, they say laughing.

Yes, that’s right“, he replies.

Someone asks Peli if its true that everyone onset is allowed to pitch ideas for sequences and scares in the film. “We definitely have an atmosphere where everyone is allowed to suggest anything no matter what their role is. And we have a ver small crew. We basically did ‘Part 2’ and ‘Part 3’ as one, so we’re kind of a ‘Paranormal Activity’ family and there’s a collaborative atmosphere. Everyone can feel free to talk to the writers, producers and directors and if it’s a cool idea we shoot it. We don’t care where it came from, only if it’s cool.

About the home video release, do you think it’s actually more effective watching this at home? In a dark house? Peli replies, “I think it’s a different experience. To some degree there’s nothing like watching it in a theater with the energy of the crowd. It’s a much more communal experience. But watching it at home we’ve heard people say it’s scarier because it’s much more intimate. And also the subject matter is about what happens to you at hem alone at night. And people usually watch movies in the evening. So when you turn off the TV and have to go to sleep, you’re conscious of every little sound in the house!

Watching the Blu-ray later that weekend, I have to say he’s right.

Paranormal Activity 3 is out on DVD and Blu-ray today. It boasts a host of special features including an extended cut that I prefer to the theatrical edition.

Paranormal Activity 3 Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack: The Paranormal Activity 3 Blu-ray is presented in 1080p high definition with English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Audio Description with English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. The DVD in the combo pack is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 televisions with English 5.1 Surround and English, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. The digital copy is presented in English.

Blu-ray Special Features:
Original theatrical version of the film
Unrated version of the film
Lost tapes

DVD Special Features:
Unrated Version of the Film
Digital copy of unrated version—compatible with iTunes® and Windows Media

A trilogy DVD set will also be available on January 24th exclusively at Walmart, which includes the theatrical and unrated versions of all three films plus all previously released bonus material.

Paranormal Activity 3

Editorials

“Godzilla: The Series” Remains the Best Thing to Come Out of the 1998 Remake

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While plans to further TriStar’s Godzilla franchise on the big screen fell through, the animated sequel turned out to be a great alternative. Godzilla: The Series debuted mere months after the 1998 film was released, and it went on to become a popular part of Fox Kids’ Saturday morning programming. And although this continuation had a limited lifespan of just two seasons, it still managed to do the impossible and redeem Roland Emmerich’s widely disliked adaptation.

Similar to Ultra Q, Godzilla: The Series saw Dr. Niko “Nick” Tatopoulos (out with Matthew Broderick, in with Ian Ziering) leading a specialized team — Humanitarian Environmental Analysis Team, or H.E.A.T. for short — in the struggle against the giant and disruptive creatures (often referred to as “mutants”) who have begun to appear all across the globe. Aiding them was the lone, surviving offspring of Godzilla teased at the end of the film. And to ensure the juvenile Godzilla stood with humanity rather than against it, the spawn imprinted on Nick and saw him as his parent.

Along with “worm guy” Tatopoulos, the animated Godzilla: The Series brought back supporting characters from the film and gave them lead parts. Namely H.E.A.T. members Dr. Elsie Chapman and Dr. Mendel Craven. Charity James filled in for Vicki Lewis while Malcolm Danare was one of several actors from the film to reprise their roles in the cartoon. Paleobiologist Chapman was the snarky animal-behavior expert, and engineer Craven served as the show’s comic relief (which was always done at his own expense). On top of Craven’s many ridiculous allergies and other vulnerable quirks, his talking robot-buddy N.I.G.E.L. (short for Next Millennium Intelligence Gathering Electronic Liaison) drew cheap laughs; the machine routinely met a fate in the vein of South Park’s “oh my god, they killed Kenny” running gag.

godzilla the series 90s

Pictured: Godzilla defeats the Shrewster in “The Twister.”

Rounding out H.E.A.T. were two new characters: DGSE secret agent Monique Dupré (Brigitte Bako) and young computer whiz Randy Hernandez (Rino Romano). The former started out like Jean Reno’s character from the film; Dupré was sent by the French government to “clean up” its mess after incidentally creating the Godzilla species, and after Philippe Roaché’s failure to eliminate all of the hatchlings. The steely servicewoman gradually warmed up as she became more involved in H.E.A.T. and realized this new Godzilla was vastly different from his father. As for Randy, he is the team’s genius slacker-hacker who still has a lot to learn from his older colleagues.

The previously mentioned Agent Roaché popped up in the cartoon, although now he was voiced by Keith Szarabajka. Reporter Audrey Timmonds (Paget Brewster) continued to be overly ambitious, much to the detriment of her already strained relationship with Nick, and her cameraman, Victor “Animal” Palotti, was downright testy now that Joe Pantoliano took over for Hank Azaria. On top of Malcolm Danare, other returning actors included Kevin Dunn as H.E.A.T.’s military associate and one of Godzilla’s reluctant supporters, Major Anthony Hicks, and Michael Lerner as Mayor Ebert. The latter character’s naming was, by the way, Emmerich’s petty response to critic Roger Ebert’s negative reviews of his previous films.

Missteps regarding the ‘98 film’s namesake were decisively corrected in the animated sequel. For starters, Godzilla’s trademark atomic fire breath was reintroduced without questioning; the progeny now emitted a green flame, whereas later on in the story, its revived father suddenly possessed the traditional blue variant. Moreover, Godzilla Junior was not only bigger and stronger than his parent, he was far more resilient to military attacks and whatnot. The power upgrade was necessary if the new Big G was tangling with other colossal critters. Most importantly, though, was the addition of a personality. The film treated its enormous star as nothing more than a wrecking ball with legs and claws. Any attempt at creating character was saved for the human cast, however dull they turned out. Meanwhile, the series managed to imbue the King of Monsters with a sense of individuality without also veering into anthropomorphism. The prolific Frank Welker, who provided various creature sounds both here and in the ’98 film, helped vocalize Godzilla’s subtle but growing selfhood.

Pictured: Nick, Elsie and Monique look on as Cyber-Godzilla and two extraterrestrial spaceships appear in “Monster Wars.”

As beloved as Godzilla is, it failed to bring back any other Toho creations. Big hitters like Ghidorah and Mothra are nowhere to be found in the cartoon on account of the fact that licensing them would have been too pricey. To get around this obstacle, though, the staff periodically conceived parallels to Toho’s classic kaijū. There are those monsters whose references are subtle or obscure — Megapede, a prodigious breed of spider and a gigantic turtle respectively bear physical traits of Battra, Kumonga and Kamoebas — while others, such as Quetzalcoatl (Rodan), Robo-Yeti (Mechani-Kong) and Cyber-Godzilla (Mechagodzilla and Mecha-King Ghidorah), were blatant analogs. The remainder of the monster gallery had a tendency to be oversized, run-of-the-mill fauna brought on by chemical pollution, climate change and ecocide. Jumbo bugs were especially overused in the show. Nevertheless, Fil Barlow’s superb creature designs compensated for the more generic adversaries.

Godzilla: The Series was, of course, not the first animated adaptation; Hanna-Barbera’s Godzilla aired between 1978 and ‘79. In several ways, the newer cartoon is an update of the aforesaid series. Both casts traveled by boat to foreign locales and tangled with regional monstrosities, and each show had specific technology that could summon Godzilla to their rescue at a moment’s notice. The ‘70s version had a fair share of outlandish stories, yet nothing quite compared to the far-out plots of its successor. On occasion, H.E.A.T. battled aliens (in a saga akin to Destroy All Monsters) and tackled time-travel (à la Marvel’s Days of Future Past). The cartoon route made all of these more fantastical adventures easier to swallow, not to mention feasible.

Jeff Kline and Richard Raynis (Extreme Ghostbusters, Men in Black: The Series) faced an uphill battle when they developed this series. And despite the cartoon raking in consistently good ratings and positive reviews, it still had no chance of surviving without tie-in toys to turn a profit. The staggering amount of unsold film merchandise led to retailers refusing to sell the toys for the TV show, thus leading to its cancellation. Even so, this small-screen sequel was captivating while it lasted. The characters were likable, the writing was punchy, the animation was solid, and the monster-on-monster action was plentiful and exciting. It was simply hard not to enjoy Godzilla: The Series. Even the film’s biggest detractors were — and still are — charmed by the overall quality of this animated follow-up.

godzilla the series animated

Pictured: Godzilla and H.E.A.T. celebrate the defeat of Quetzalcoatl in “Bird of Paradise.”

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