OREN PELI
“Having the movie become successful was more than I ever imagined and hoped for…”
Almost nine years ago, the esteemed writer and director Oren Peli created a supernatural horror film, that proved to be psychologically tantalising and became a rather visceral documentary-like experience. In 2006 PARANORMAL ACTIVITY was born and after such unprecedented success, a horror franchise giant was created.
The producer of the latest movie PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE GHOST DIMENSION spoke about the film, the franchise and his experiences making the films over the years.
“When I set up the first one I wanted to make the kind of movie that would scare me, one that would play mind tricks on you.” Peli is of course talking about the first movie, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, which crosses a variety of genres and is a supernatural horror film without the gore or torture. The documentary style of the movie adds a sense of realism and intimacy to the films. “For me, if there is something lurking in your own home and it’s invisible and you don’t know what it is, what it wants from you and how to defend yourself from it is something on a different level.”
The inspiration for the movies has come from some of Peli’s own experiences, which helped to influence the plot and style of the original film:
“When I moved into my house, which is in PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 1, we would hear things in the middle of the night; suddenly the house was creaking, the temperature would change and my girlfriend would freak out that there was a ghost in the house. I thought how scary it would be if someone set up a video camera and filmed themselves asleep at night and then they do find evidence of something going on whilst they are asleep. This was the inception of the idea of the movie.”
When the film first hit the screens in 2009, it became an unexpected success. It went on to gross over $193 million worldwide on a very modest $15,000 budget, and the sequel was released a year later, grossing $177.5 million. The franchise continued to captivate global audiences and the third instalment from PARANORMAL ACTIVITY holds the worldwide franchise no.1 with $207 million.)
“When I was making the first movie, I thought it would just be a miracle if the first movie would be screened because I had no connections, it was done with no budget, no real crew, no famous actors, I just went around my house with a video camera and shot a movie. Having the movie become successful was more than I ever imagined and hoped for, never mind having one sequel or two sequels or three or four. Every time we have another sequel, I think it is crazy. I am very thankful to all of the fans who have stuck with us over the years.”
With so much success with the films, trying to pin a favourite movie from the franchise wasn’t too difficult:
“I am very proud of all of them, but I would have to say the first one because it is the one that I have the most sense of ownership on; I wrote, directed, produced and edited.”
The new film, THE GHOST DIMENSION, has taken a while to hit the big screen, but this is due to Peli’s desire to make sure the film is perfect, but it has not been without its challenges:
“The production side of it has become easier in some aspects; we’re working with the same crew every year. In the first one with the visual effects I was doing it in my house on the computer. Now we have a team who all know what they’re doing and it’s much easier.” He continues, “With the story, we wanted to make sure it ties in with the mythology of the previous movie, but we wanted to make sure we are presenting something new to the audience, but also to stay true to the original formula that has worked. It’s trying to find the delicate balance of trying to tie in to the original storylines – that can be quite challenging.”
The use of advanced technology has certainly helped to benefit the movies over the years, but the need to keep it authentic and realistic were of the most paramount importance to the producer and writer: “Now for the first time we have some visual components that we never had before, which is showing the activity as it evolves and showing the demon in 3D. We had very creative people from the studio and Ireland that helped us over many months to come up with this. It was definitely a challenge!”
There is no denying that the horror genre has captivated audiences for generations and for Peli, there were several movies that he counts as an inspiration including THE SIXTH SENSE, THE EXORCIST, ROSEMARY’S BABY…
“I think most of the credit should go to the BLAIR WITCH PROJECT because it was so successful, a huge phenomena. I took note of it and I think a lot of people tried to do something with this style, but they never fully committed to it. They would say ‘let’s use professional actors’ or they would say ‘let’s use professional lighting and sound’ and then it didn’t feel right. When I decided to do PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, I wanted to do it exactly the same way BLAIR WITCH PROJECT did it because it worked for them and it looked so real. It was one of the scariest movies I had ever seen without showing too much. It relied on sounds and your imagination as oppose to shock and gore.”
Peli has been the producer of the final five films, but would he like to be back in the director’s chair again?
“Possibly, depending on the project. I am definitely open to any possibilities, but it depends on what presents itself.”
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE GHOST DIMENSION is currently out now in cinemas and is the perfect film for those wanting a scare during Halloween. “There is an extra fun element of releasing a movie on Halloween, a lot of people are looking specifically for a Halloween movie and to get scared, so I think it can definitely help to release the movie around this time.”
As the interview draws to a close, no amount of persuasion would tempt the multi-talented man to divulge any information about future projects, but we did try..!
“I never discuss anything I am planning on doing until after it’s done… So if I am working on something, I will be keeping my mouth shut!”
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE GHOST DIMENSION is out now in cinemas.
