Friday, September 25, 2009
By: MrDisgusting
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Every decade (if we're lucky) a very special movie comes along, one that could change everything. Oren Peli's Paranormal Activity is teetering on the edge of exploding and becoming a cultural phenomenon. You're all witnesses, and 4,500 of you loyal Bloody Disgusting readers showed up to attend the special Hollywood screening of Paramount Pictures' haunt film that is now in limited theaters. Read more about the chaos beyond the break.
Flash back to September 1st. Paramount Pictures asks me to come to the studio lot and watch a little film by the name of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY. Now, I had seen an early cut of the film (on DVD) two years back before its World Premiere at the Screamfest Horror Film Festival in Hollywood, CA. I dug it, but wasn’t “wowed”. BD’s own BC caught the theatrical screening at the Mann Chinese Theaters and told me, “you have to see it in a theater.” I held on to his words for two long years.
So when Paramount asked me to come check it out with their top-notch stereo system, how could I refuse? The movie deserved as much.
It was night and day. In a theater, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY is an experience, and quite simply frightening. On my home all I could think about is how this beautiful little indie film got dealt a sh*tty hand. I mean, come on, it was sitting on the shelf for two years while they tried to remake the little guy. I guess maybe it’s time to believe in miracles because Paramount decided that what they had on their hand was better (and more authentic) than anything they could possible make. With a handful of journalists validating their suspicion, the studio got behind the movie like it was their summer blockbuster STAR TREK.
Two weeks pass… Paramount asks us to host a special midnight screening of the film at the Arclight Theater in Hollywood, CA. Without a shadow of a doubt Los Angeles screenings are the hardest to fill. A drop of sweat hit my brow and trickled down my cheek. If we host a screening, and nobody shows up, that’s pretty f*cking embarrassing. You feel me?
Literally 12 hours after making a post on BD, we had over 1,200 RSVPs. Was it our reviews, the one sheet, or maybe the kickass trailer? Whatever it was, there was something in the air. You could smell it, feel it, taste it…
Still, jumping the gun isn’t always a good idea. Typically people RSVP and then don’t show up. Sh*t, one screening (I forget which film) we had 500 RSVPs and 50 people showed.
Anyways, cut to tonight….
We were told to get to the theater around 10pm to start getting ready for the onslaught. Andrea and I park around 8:15pm to go walk to a local bar, grab a drink and some food. There’s already a line all the way around the front of the theater. By the time we returned around 10, the line was down the street!
It immediately washed over me that this was really happening.
Then there was midnight, don’t even get me started about midnight. Apparently, there were over 4,500 of you horror fiends in line. People who were in line three hours early were turned away. Some of you were in the lobby screaming, others freaking out. I got a kick out of the groups of people who showed up at 11:59 asking to “check in” like they were just going to waltz on in to the theater.
Paramount was pretty rad as instead of screening the film for one lucky group of individuals, they spooled up three prints and ran it in three separate theaters – all packed to the brim with screaming horror fans.
It was epic, and I have never seen anything like this... EVER.
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY is on the brink of becoming the next BLAIR WITCH; a film that will be talked about, dissected, emulated and worshipped for years to come. I can only pray that all of you dear BD readers enjoyed it as much as I did – and if you did, DEMAND IT and help spread the fear. You are all part of something very special. Embrace it and remember this day… it’s something us horror fans are lucky to experience as a film like PARANORMAL ACTIVYT only comes around once in a blue moon.
Visit the official website to see if it's playing in a theater near you. If not, it's time to DEMAND IT!
Read 47 User Comments
Awesome! Great the fans got behind the movie and came out to support! If I was back home in L.A. I would have been in line with them! |
Let it be known, I went to sunshine cinema in NYC last night, they were literally around the block 1k plus people, I got there 1.5 hours early ZERO hope of getting in. This damn movie needs to be released in more theaters ASAP, so frustrating. |
Ughhh I'm only 16!!! And I am highly pissed I can't see it in theatres! |
*cough* *cough* I think you're being a little melodramatic; Blair Witch didn't change much at all. If anything, it opened the door for a lot of crappy-made movies with a shaky-cam. |
The_bark. I couldn't agree more. And ahh, where is this so called choas? Obviously it's not the people sitting on the asses, maybe it is the chick that appears to be texting...she looks pretty chaotic. And furthermore who is the nerdy guy standing by the display that is begging to be noticed? |
All I wanna know, before I fall into yet another round of Hyped-Up Movie GO! is: Is this movie really all that scary or just like... Blair Witch scary? Because Blair Witch was laughable in that "sorry I brought a date, I thought it was gonna be scary as hell" kinda way. I'd really hate for this to turn out to be another overhyped turd that I hate like Martyrs. |
WAS IN NYC last night and HOLY CRAP - someone said it right as I walked around the block long line - this is a legitimate BLOCKBUSTER - thats what that means - when the line is around the friggin block. This was a midnight showing and Ive never seen so many people turn out to try and see a film. IN-SANE. Luckily I was on the press list and got in, but 75% of the people didnt. IT WAS SCARY AS SHIT. Absolutely awesome horror film gift for the people. Dont down this baby. Support it. Demand it. This is the film youve been waiting for, that Hollywood finally did the right thing with. They took an 11,000 movie and put it oput to the public. The president of PARAMOUNT pictures was there and explained how they screened it to a crowd of screenwriters to figure out how they could put movie stars and CGI in it and amp it up - but decided to keep it exactly how it was - and man, somebody in HOllywood FINALLY did something right. SUPPORT THIS. This one's going down in horror history. |
I've demanded the shit out of it in Hartford/tried to get as many people as possible to do so, but it's dropped to 40 on the list.
May never get to experience this one =( |
Don't get me wrong-I hope it does well. At the very least, it could get studio execs to realize they don't need big budgets and special effects to sell a movie. It is, in that sense, an underdog and something to root for. |
I know one of the screenwriters that went into Paramount to discuss a remake of this film. He basically said after he screened the movie..."Why? It's perfect the way it is." See Hollywood? Just because it's low budget or from across the pond (Let The Right One In) Give us some credit, we're smarter than that. It doesn't have to be some slick Hollywood production to get our attention. With that said, this film will stand on its own. The only door that needs to open is one that inspires originality. I don't need to see carbon copies of this. |
I was there in hollywood last night. Saw you introduce our screening (nice to put a face to the name). The movie was SCARY, like actually SCARY. I never really say that about modern horror movies, because they tend to just be gross and not scary, but this one did it to me. I've never gotten the chills so bad as I did watching this movie. Although, I was there 3 hours early and got in just fine, so I don't know what you're talking about? |
ALSO: I told the reps for Paramount who were taking feedback to CHANGE THE LAST FIVE SECONDS. It completely took me and the people I was with out of the film we had just seen. |
yeah great I waited 4 and a half hours at the screening in NY with 1500 people and only 20 of us were let into the screening!!!!!!!!!!!! |
Too bad pretty much everyone in LA was invited via Twitter and Facebook to the screening as well. It wasn't just BD readers unfortunately. |
Honestly, this "demand it" bullsh*t stinks of calculated marketing hype of the highest order. I live in Los Angeles and I have to "demand" a screening of a major studio film in my own city? Every step of the way in regards to the marketing and distribution of this film has been plotted and planned out already, and Paramount's hackneyed attempts at making this feel like some spontaneous "indie"/"underground" phenomenon-waiting-to-happen are eye-rollingly obvious. |
yeah the NYC screening was bullshit. They had a line around the block and let about 20 people in....bad move paramount. the general consensus from people after hundreds of them got turned away was "fuck this movie, we'll wait for the torrent" these paramount execs forget that more than half the people at these free screenings are not devoted horror fans but people wanting to see what the hype is or just enjoy free screenings. very disappointed |
ZOMBIESTAKEONE - no f***ing way - the ending kicked perfect ass. Creepy to the max. I left the theater with chills galore - all the way until I was a couple blocks away from the theater... |
PS
people were supposed to RSVP to get into the screening and most who had rsvp'ed were left out with their printed rsvp's in hand. sure the screening probabky got filled up by movie execs and the media, etc but if you want the people to support a film you can't be jerking them around like that for 4 hours....not in this day in age of torrents and online movie watching becuase people were PISSED |
ugh i want this movie to be released by me |
I was at the NY screening last night too...waited 3 hours in line, did a head count in front of me an hour before the screening to make sure i was gonna be OK for a seat and not get screwed (i was around the 120th person in line) and when they started letting people in to the theater AT LEAST A HUNDRED PEOPLE CUT IN LINE IN FRONT OF ME AND ALMOST SCREWED ME. I don't even know where they came from...they were like little horror junkie ninjas that you only see in nightmares or conventions. I actually had to negotiate with a Paramount rep for a while before she relented and let me and my friend in(not checking our names on the RSVP list by the way). The last time I had to sit in the front row of a movie was when Independence Day came out... My neck still aches from last night. The whole line situation was handled piss poorly and almost ruined the entire experience for me. Good movie though. That is all. |
JOHN: Just the "morphing" thing. What was that about? So maybe I meant just the last TWO seconds or so. Wasn't into it. |
i was there! wooh! lmao. last night was the hardest sleep of my life. i couldnt fall asleep. movie freekd me out! i cant wait to see it again! |
This screening was a fucking joke. Why not put a cap on the number of RSVP's that they gave out. 4,500? That's stupid. The movie definitely didn't even look that promising. I only went because it was free. I will surely not pay to see this. Torrent the shit out of this movie. I'm only mad because whoever set up this screening wasted my time and many other people's time because they cared more about publicity rather than do the right thing and let people know in advance that they wouldn't see the movie. |
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