Like the long-running Saw franchise before it, the Paranormal Activity films have become something of a Halloween fixture over the last few years, and that looks set to continue in 2012 with the news that Paramount are moving forward with a fourth installment in the series.

Considering the box office numbers for Paranormal Activity 3 – a worldwide gross of well over $200 million dollars for a film that cost just $5 million to make – it should come as little surprise that the studio is so eager to get another sequel into production, and it appears they are keen for the directing team of Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman to return to helm it.

Joost and Schulman, who are probably best known for their acclaimed documentary Catfish, succeeded the directors of the previous two films, Oren Peli and Tod Williams, for Paranormal Activity 3, in the process creating the most successful entry in the series.

The Paranormal Activity films have for the most part been rather effective low-budget horror movies, and it will certainly be interesting to see what direction Paranormal Activity 4 will take, not least because the third film served as a prequel that took cinemagoers back to the eighties to discover how Katie and Kristi first encountered the malevolent spirit that has long plagued their lives.

Paranormal Activity 4 is slated to arrive in cinemas on October 19th this year.

Source: Bloody Disgusting.

Nostalgia is all the rage and so we turn our faces back to the past for the latest instalment of Paranormal Activity to discover what went on all those years ago to cause the events of the first two films.

We’ve seen a lot of footage so far and it looks a fairly similar affair from the Catfish directors but, I imagine, that’s exactly what fans of the series want.

Coming Soon have their hands on a new spot for the film, which has some new footage including some David Blaining going on at the top of the stairs. Words has already started coming out from sneak preview screenings that it’s more of the same from the Paractivity team which is a shame as there’s certainly more potential in this cinematic bag of bones then a simple rehash gives it credit for. We’ll keep our minds open and spare trousers on standby.

Turn of all lights, and clip yourself good and proper.

More bump filled nights for fans of Paranormal Activity as the first teasers for the latest installment of the series are revealed, along with a new trailer.

Following the huge success of the low budget original last year’s sequel was bigger and not quite as effective, though there was a nice attempt to tie the stories of the two films together. Now we’re going back in time to the 80s to where it all began with the two sisters sodding around with evil forces and somesuch nonsense.

There was a decent first trailer to the film and then the first poster appeared. So far, so Ghostwatch. Now there’s another trailer from the Apple people which really makes it look like a big screen version of Ghostwatch and gives away a number of plot points that you may want to avoid.

Having said that it’s looking very similar to the whole set-up cameras, watch night-time shenanigans, get psychic in, record crazy stuff, end with people being thrown around etc of the previous two films. When you watch pay attention to the moment when the psychic looks into the cupboard space – there’s something on the wall which raises eyebrows and neckhairs…

But the story doesn’t end there. Three horror sites in the US were each sent a VHS tape and asked to film what was on the tapes and post the results. It’s your typical PR stunt for a film of this type but it’s a pretty fun one. As with all these clips it’s blink and you’ll miss it stuff. Can you see any faces in the fire?

Shocktillyadrop, DreadCentral, and Bloody Disgusting posted these so Big Thanks.

Despite its humble low-budget beginnings, the Paranormal Activity franchise has done a startlingly good job not only of making Paramount Pictures a lot of money, but also of consistently scaring the bejesus out of us around the last two Halloweens. This year looks to be no different as the aptly titled Paranormal Activity 3 hits cinemas, and in anticipation of the October 21st release Paramount has revealed a new poster for the Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost directed film.

Design-wise the poster sticks firmly to the simple look established by its two predecessors – basically a pretty uninspiring design with the main focus being a still from a video camera, which features a time-code on the right-hand side that helpfully informs us this film is a prequel set in 1988, 18 years before Katie went nuts and hurled her boyfriend into his expensive new camcorder. So there we have the younger versions of Katie and her sister Kristi tucked up in bed, and it’s about then that you take a sharp inhale of breath and notice the terrifying shadow on the wall between their beds.

Eek.

Paranormal Activity 3 is out in October, and I’ll be sleeping with the lights on until further notice.

(via Coming Soon)

Paranormal Activity 2 made good on the promise of Oren Peli’s 2007 low budget horror phenomenon, expanding the story and giving cinema goers a shock to the system.

The DVD and Triple Play Blu-ray of the film are released on the 28th of February and we want you to give you the chance to win a copy of the film, and go ghosthunting yourselves with a pair of Yukon Night Vision goggles.

The winner of this competition will win the goggles and a copy of the film on DVD, two runners up will win a copy of the DVD.

Click here to see to go to the Play.com Paranormal Activity 2 page and click on the trailer, then answer the following question in the form below,

How many times does the dog appear in the trailer?

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 21st February 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

Competition now closed

Paramount Pictures have revealed that Paranormal Activity 3 will be released on October 21, 2011.

Oren Peli, who launched the trilogy in 2007, is set to return as producer.

Paranormal Activity 2, directed by Tod Williams, has grossed $156M at the worldwide box office, so a third installment was inevitable.

We’ll be sure to keep you updated as this story develops.

Are you looking forward to seeing Paranormal Activity 3? Do you have any thoughts on the plot?

Bloody-Disgusting broke this story.

3D ruled the roost once again at the US box office this last weekend.

At number one, Saw 3D’s gross came to $24.2 million – a big improvement on the $14.1 million debut of the last movie, Saw VI. Saw II through to Saw V averaged around $32m, but taking into account that the latest (and last) instalment is now the seventh in the series, and the additional of 3D must surely have been a big factor in the box office performance.

Last week’s number one, Paranormal Activity 2, slipped to second place with $65,658,000 and Red held onto third position, coming in a little under $59m ($58,905,000) after 17 days on release.

Jackass 3-D is now at number four, having racked up a very impressive total to date of $101,578,000.

Figures from Box Office Mojo.

I have a confession. I’m a bit of a wimp bloody coward. I’m afraid of the dark, heights, small spaces, flying, dogs, flying dogs, dinosaurs… The list is pretty much endless. I’m also not the biggest fan of horror films. So when I was asked by HeyUGuys to watch Paranormal Activity 2, then go ghost hunting afterwards, even I was surprised that I said ‘yes’.

After watching the film, we* were all already in something of a heightened emotional state, so when we arrived at the London Tombs, the venue for our spooky escapades, even the most cynical members of our group were willing to keep an open mind.

Entry to the tombs is by a heavy metal door, leading into a series of vaulted chambers, then (via the gift shop) into a holding room. Waiting for someone to brief us, it became very apparent which members of the group were students and competition winners, all of whom were sat quietly, while the contingent of journalists and bloggers plundered the box of cakes on the craft services table in the corner.

As we fuelled up on coffee and apple turnovers, we received a briefing. Over the next few hours we would get a tour of the tombs and an introduction to the ‘scientific’ equipment used in the ghost hunt. Then the lights in the tombs would be turned off, and we’d be taken into various rooms, each with a medium, who would try to contact the dead on our behalf.

The curious thing about the London Tombs is that they’re part historical landmark, and part live-action haunted house. This made for a somewhat peculiar tour, as our guide, Mark, the manager of the tombs spoke about the site’s use, dating back to Roman times, as well as notable ‘ghost sightings’ in the last few years; his descriptions enhanced by the numerous blood-soaked mannequins, Viking long boats and stuffed animals situated throughout the building.

Astute readers will have noticed some of the techniques being used to prime us for the forthcoming scare-fest: show us a scary movie, take us to a foreboding place, tell us spooky stories, then let the ghost hunt commence, and do so late at night, when our resistance to all this will be at its lowest. They even had the good sense to outnumber the inherently cynical press contingent with willing, believing volunteers in the students and competition winners.

Consequently, by the time we got round to our instruction in the ‘tools’ used by the ghost hunters, most of the group seemed quite willing to believe that they worked. This first became apparent when everyone used the divining rods, when an entire room of people chanted in unison ‘show me yes’, and the rods moved. As the chant changed to ‘show me no’, the rods moved once more. How much of this movement came from spirits in the room, and how much from unconscious movements of the users own muscles is unclear, but the movement was certainly different. Something similar happened when we used crystals pendants to answer questions, with the stone rotating one way for yes, and the opposite for no.

After this a few members of the group gathered around a table, and placed their hands lightly on a glass. As one of the ghost hunters asked ‘the spirits’ to move the glass around the table. Initially this wasn’t as successful as had been hoped, with the glass remaining stationary. Eventually a new set of volunteers convened at the table, and after a few more minutes the glass moved, tracing a circle around the tabletop.

Finally, we moved on to a brief run through of the more high-tech equipment. Essentially, this equipment consisted of an off-the-shelf EMF detector, commonly used by electricians, and a  radio receiver designed to pick up ‘white noise’**. The instruction in using these devices was swift and vague, and as such it would have been next to impossible to tell whether they ‘worked’ or not.

After another short break, and a brief pause to grab a night vision camera (and a few more apple turnovers), we began the ghost hunt proper. Before we did so, however, one of our group, Tom, experienced several of the lights temporarily going off in the toilet. Unfortunately, he was the only witness to this, but it was a good start to the shenanigans.

Heading back down into the tombs, the first thing that was abundantly clear was that the lights had been turned off. Yes, I may be an illiterate coward, stuffed full of apple turnovers, but even I can recognise darkness when I see it. We were first taken to ‘The Viking Room’, so called because it housed a partial replica of a longboat.

Within a few moments of sitting in the room, Tom, the chap who had the scare in the toilet, began to hear noises: screams, and growling from the corner. No matter how sceptical you are, and how easy it is to rationalise – we were under the London Bridge, and the ‘screams’ were police sirens, and the growling simply traffic driving over the bridge – it’s still somewhat chilling.

Next we were shepherded into the adjacent room, where we carried out a séance. To make this a little more creepy, this was held in a room with heads on spikes, and a terrifying, life-sized model ox. As we stood round, holding hands, out medium tried his best to call forth the spirits of the tombs. Meanwhile, Tom, our excitable ghostly lightning rod, had returned to the Viking room with another medium, to try using a Ouija board. As Tom ‘spoke’ with a barely-literate ghost child (aged eight, apparently),  one of the people involved in our séance was hit by a falling stone. This may seem like something fairly minor when relayed as an incidental sentence in a long account of the evening, but it sent a chill through those involved.

So far so Most haunted. Excitable people, running around in the dark, finding ghosts and ghouls where there is nothing but an excitable group, an easily explained sound, and a slowly crumbling building. Nothing we had seen so far was beyond explanation, and much of it was almost certainly a product of group hysteria.

Then it was on to the next  room, a long corridor, decked out to look like a medieval street.  At first we held another séance. This time, the medium asked ‘the spirits’ to rock people back and forth, and to raise their hands. Much like with the Ouija board, this sort of ‘request’ acts as an instruction to tired, susceptible people, who act upon it in an almost unconscious fashion.

After this we were asked to sit along the corridor, spaced out on either side, a few feet from one another. Sat opposite Ryan Lambie from Den of Geek, and Kelly  Alyse from Blogomatic3000, I was filming on a night vision camera. Initially, this was somewhat mundane, but then the medium mentioned seeing a fog down the corridor. At the same time, my camera, a small mini-DV camera, with an auto focus, that was trained on Kelly began to blur. As I panned round to my left, I had a pristine shot of Ryan, and to the right, a clear shot down the corridor, but for a few seconds Kelly was out of focus. I have no idea why.

Keep an eye on the site over the next few days for a chance to see footage from the event.

*A motley collection of journos, bloggers, students and contest winners

**Radio static.

The sequel to last year’s surprise horror hit Paranormal Activity (imaginatively entitled Paranormal Activity 2) has scored the highest-grossing opening weekend ever for a horror movie, pulling in an estimated $41.5 million.

The original ended up making an incredible $107m (against a production budget of $15,000!), and the sequel is another success story in low-budget, astutely marketed Hollywood filmmaking.

Interestingly, the number 2 entry Hereafter (another supernatural tale directed by the legendary Clint Eastwood and starring box office friendly Matt Damon), has failed to make much of a dent with just $12m in returns this weekend, having expanded nationwide this week. Could this be a sign of things to come in regards to big studio product vs. no-name indie features?

Rounding out the top three is Jackass 3-D, which has climbed to $87.1 million in ten days, easily beating Number Two’s $72.8 million to become the highest grosser of the franchise. Another success for 3D!

Info from Box Office Mojo.

The recession has hit the British film industry hard. As I type this, the UK Film Council is on a slow walk to the gallows, and the British Film Institute has had its budget slashed by 15%. The situation has become so bad that even our most successful filmmakers are forced to extraordinary lengths to get their films made. Just a few hours ago, while walking through Soho, I witnessed Stephen Frears suffocating Richard Curtis with a Waitrose carrier bag in a fight to the death for government funding.*

In the face of this cultural devastation, it’s easy to forget that Hollywood is also in the depths of a recession.

Over the last few years Hollywood has mitigated the effects of the financial downturn by making cheaper films, with fewer stars, derivative plots and, where possible, movies that are part of an existing, successful franchise.

This trend is particularly true when it comes to mid-budget horror. Previously by far the most innovative genre, and the breeding ground of some of the most interesting and creative directors who have worked in the business, it is now the home of inept remakes and artless filmmaking.

On the face of it, Paranormal Activity 2 typifies this depressing trend. The quickly-churned-out sequel to the remarkably successful Paranormal Activity was clearly shot on a shoestring**, features a cast so anonymous their own families barely recognise them, and has a plot that is the unholy lovechild of a non-consensual sexual encounter between Ghostbusters 2 and Poltergeist. In spite of this, it is, in fact, a solid, entertaining, and exceptionally well made film.

Although billed as a sequel, Paranormal Activity 2 is set before the events of the original film. This allows it to avoid getting bogged down in its own mythology, while appeasing fans of the franchise by focusing on the sister of the original film’s Katie.

As with its predecessor, the story is told using ‘found footage’ from a video camera. In this film, that footage is augmented by images from the home’s ‘security camera system’.  This allows the filmmakers to cut instantaneously between locations whilst still maintaining the original conceit. A relatively minor thing for conventional storytelling, but a massive leap forward for the Handicam Horror genre, it not only removes the need to move through the house with one character, but also makes it far more tense when we do.

Sadly that level of creativity does not extend to the film’s plot, which is essentially a tour of horror film clichés. Child in peril? Check. Teenage Ouija board use? Check. Something in the basemate? Bingo! While the film doesn’t suffer too much for this, it’s a shame that writer, Michael Peli, couldn’t have been more creative.

The film’s biggest flaw however, is in its lack of subtlety, particularly when it comes to the sound design. For some entirely inexplicable reason, director Tod Williams has chosen to preface every single scare with a low, rumbling sound. By doing this, he manages to strip any sense of foreboding or menace from other moments in the film.

For all its flaws, however, Paranormal Activity 2 is a fun film, which artfully balances scares and a sense of humour. Certainly worth a watch.

*Note to any libel lawyers/interested parties. This is a joke. It didn’t really happen. Please don’t sue me, or the site.

** Yes, it clearly cost a hell of a lot more than the first film, and wasn’t exactly a ‘low budget’ affair, but it’s still cheap in Hollywood terms.

Warner Bros. have picked up a spec script from the writer/director of The Fourth Kind Olatunde Osunsanmi called Dark Moon, which is in no way to be confused with the recently revealed subtitle of Michael Bay’s next Transformers film.

Here’s how THR describe the scene Osunsanmi plans to lay before us,

[Dark Moon] takes on the idea that  manned moon missions did not stop with Apollo 17 and follows a black ops post-Apollo mission sent to the moon to explore previously classified discoveries and its unintended and disturbing consequences.

Akiva Goldsman will be on production duties, following his work on the Paranormal Activity sequel released this week. It’s a sound idea, though I wonder how many more iterations the found footage device, which Dark Moon will employ, can stand. Will it bring something new to what is, on paper, a fairly standard plot?

A new TV spot for Paranormal Activity 2 has surfaced online tonight, featuring some never-before-seen footage from the much-anticipated horror sequel.

Paranormal Activity 2, this time directed by Tod Williams, is again filmed in the style of a documentary, using found footage and handheld video cameras. Plot details, however, have been kept under wraps.

Oren Peli, who directed the first, returns as producer alongside Jason Blum.

Paramount will release the film worldwide this Friday, October 22.

AceShowbiz reported this one.

We’ve just been sent the brand new edition of the Film Distributors Association’s Cinema Scoop – October Edition by the awesome chaps at Upbeat. It’s hosted by Sian Welby and gives us a lovely round of the movies we can expect to see coming up in October. In this edition, they also show us what we can expect to see in the last three months of the year.

Movies featured in this edition include (click any of the following for our coverage including reviews of many of these): Despicable Me, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, A Town Called Panic, Back to the Future, Made in Dagenham, The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud, Easy A, Life as We Know It, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, RED, Takers, Paranormal Activity 2, Vampires Suck, The Social Network, Mr Nice and Africa United.

Movies coming later in the year featured include: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, The American, Megamind, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Tron: Legacy.

So as you can see, the next few months are going to be somewhat awesome at the cinema! Check out footage from all the above in the video below.

Paramount Pictures have released a new trailer and clip for Paranormal Activity 2.

A sequel to the sleeper hit of 2009, Paranormal Activity 2 is directed by Tod Williams from a screenplay by Michael R. Perry, and sees the return of Katie Featherston as Katie.

Up to now – despite having seen a few trailers, and multiple viral clips – we’ve not been given any real clues as to what direction the sequel is headed.

You’ll be pleased to hear, then, that the new trailer (from Apple) – gives us more of an insight into the film, suggesting it focuses on a mum, dad, teenage daughter and baby, Hunter.

Watch the trailer and clip for yourself below, and feel free to speculate until the cows come home:

Paranormal Activity 2 will be released on October 22.

Thanks to Empire for the clip.

The channel devoted entirely to men, and possibly the greatest television channel to ever exist, is preparing to launch its 5th Annual SCREAM Awards. Spike TV will be taping and celebrating all things comic, horror, fantasy and Sci-Fi related as the genre awards ceremony get’s ready for its taping on October 16th and ultimate premiere on October 19th 9-11pm ET/PT.

What makes this even special is not just the films that are being recognized for awards, but the films that are premiering footage at the ceremony. Scream Mastermind Award Recipient Wes Craven, along with David Arquette, Neve Campbel, Emma Roberts and Hayden Panettiere will be premiering footage from the recently wrapped Scream 4. Following that will be footage presented by Anthony Hopkins as well as a first look at Paranormal Activity 2. Exciting, I know.

One other treat that will occur at the show is the reunification of Michael J. Fox, Lea Thompson and Elisabeth Shue for the 25th anniversary of Back to the Future, the film which we have been talking about for the past few weeks on our site.
SCREAM 2010 has a total of 33 categories in which Inception, Kick-Ass, True Blood, and Iron Man 2 lead with the nominations. Many celebrities will be in attendance and possibly even presenting awards including Aaron Eckhart (Two Face), Sigourney Weaver, and Johnny Knoxville of the upcoming Jackass 3D.

Fans can vote for their favorite films, celebrities, and moments up until October 15th over at Spike TV’s website. There will be red carpet and backstage coverage so stay tuned and prepare yourself for one of the most entertaining award ceremonies of the year.

We’re only a month away from the second round of Paranormal Activity, and the marketing machine is doing well in building up the tension for Tod Williams’ film.

In particular a series of viral videos pertaining to Paranormal Activity 2 have been sent out to various websites and today Dave was sent a memory stick in a brown envelope and on it was this short video below.

We’ve seen a few of these videos already and these are worth checking out and hidden in them are a few frames which deepen the mystery and are very freaky in isolation. This video we got sent is more of the same…

Here’s the video, and a few screengrabs we managed to pick out – there may be more hiding away so if you find any more let us know,

Hallowe’en is almost upon us, and with it comes another bout of Paranormal Activity.

Tod Williams takes over from Oren Peli to direct the sequel which, from what we’ve seen, seeks to scare seven shades of spooky out of us with the same home video footage as the first. This time there’s a baby involved. And a dog. But we can expect the same shocks and suspense as the first.

Click here to see the other trailers and clips already released for Paranormal Activity 2, and it’s a veritable Easter parade with eggs aplenty at the mercy of your pause button.

Not wishing to deviate from the tried and trusted formula a few more videos made their way online today and they too contain images which in isolation are pretty unsettling – when I was taking a screengrab of the first clip for the thumbnail for this post I managed, by complete accident, to capture this image -

Lasting only a frame this image is surely one among many packed into these clips, so get hunting.

Bloody Disgusting got this video in the post, and suitably creepy it is too,

This one comes from UGO,

And in an interview with THR Paranormal Activity director Oren Peli talks about Dreamworks’ original plans for the first film and how the ending of the film was shaped by a suggestion from Steven Spielberg.

Empire have posted an exclusive new poster for Paranormal Activity 2.

Albeit a rather mediocre poster – one that shows us nothing we haven’t already seen – the poster does hint at the surprises that may be in store once this is finally released.

Directed by Tod Williams, the film appears to focus on Katie (Katie Featherston), after the events of the first installment, as she enters another household, complete with angry dogs and babies with no reflection.

Check out the poster below:

Paranormal Activity 2 will be released nationwide on October 22.

Paramount have released an updated trailer for Paranormal Activity 2, the sequel to 2009′s low-budget horror sensation.

Tod Williams (The Door in the Floor) takes over directorial duties from Oren Peli, who returns as writer/producer.

If you look closely at the trailer – like MTV Movies did – you can pick out some easter eggs with clues as to what might happen in the much-anticipated sequel.

Check out the updated trailer for yourself, below:

Paranormal Activity 2 will be released on October 22.

With Paranormal Activity 2 due for release next month in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, Japan has decided to go into production with a local language sequel to the 2009 horror smash.

Bloody Disgusting are reporting that Japanese distributor-come-production company Presidio Corporation has tentatively scheduled Paranormal Activity: Tokyo Night for a December release.

A direct sequel to the Oren Peli original, the spin-off will follow a Japanese exchange student who returns home having completed her studies in San Diego. Unbeknownst to her, she brings the entity that consumed Katie Featherston back to her family home.

Continuing the found-footage fad, the film will chronicle the young woman and her attempts to record the the supernatural force which her family must inevitably defeat. Cue bad things.

More news as it comes in.