Sidney Blakemore isn’t usually bothered by horror movies.But Sunday night, the 21-year-old University student slept with the lights on.Blakemore, environmental management senior, is one of the increasing number of moviegoers who has seen the low-budget horror film “Paranormal Activity.”The film, which started as a limited release in Baton Rouge and 12 other college towns Sept. 25, developed a viral following and will be released nationwide Friday, according to a Paramount Pictures news release.DEMAND TO SEE ITThe film was initially shown at midnight-only screenings for two weeks, according to the same news release. But in an unprecedented marketing technique, Paramount urged fans to go to the film’s official Web site and “demand” to have it come to their towns.The film, which played in fewer than 200 theaters last weekend, raked in more than $7.1 million, according to the entertainment magazine Variety.And people have been flocking to Baton Rouge to see the film as well, said Jenna Erwin, manager at Rave Motion Pictures 15 on Picardy Avenue Extension.”We’ve been selling it out since the first weekend,” she said. “It’s the highest-selling [limited-release] film that I’ve seen for how simple it is.”The Rave sold 4,013 total tickets for the film between Oct. 6-12, Erwin said.”DOCUMENTARY-STYLE” Despite having no formal film training, Director Oren Peli shot the film in less than a week with an unheard-of cast, a few friends and a hand-held video camera, according to a report by The Los Angeles Times.The entire film is shot from a single shaky camera in a documentary style similar to films like “The Blair Witch Project” and “Cloverfield” and cost under $15,000 to produce, according to The Times. “Paranormal” documents a young couple living alone and their attempts to determine what has been haunting them by filming what happens in the home while they sleep. And Blakemore said this intimate style of filming contributes to how effective the scares are.”The filming makes it more realistic and makes you feel like you’re in the movie and right there next to them,” he said. “After you see this movie, every little noise gives you the chills at night.”Thompson Davis, associate psychology professor specializing in clinical psychology, said a film’s simple, intimate production may make it effective with college-aged viewers.”The lack of production may immerse people more,” he said. “If I had to guess for the audience, it would be college-aged people who are living by themselves for the first time in their life. [The actors] are modeling very scary behavior happening in their house by themselves in a context that a lot of people have just moved into.” Martin DeLatte, psychology junior, said seeing the film through the eyes of the main character allows audiences to connect with their fear.”The fact that it’s all filmed through their own personal experiences [allows you to] gain the emotions of the people that are there,” DeLatte said. “You side with the main character Micah, and as he is progressing through it, you take on his fear.”ANATOMY OF A SCAREOne way phobias can develop is when someone is given negative information about a subject, said Davis, whose clinical work deals with individuals with phobias. For example, someone who is told dogs are vicious and can severely injure people can develop a fear of dogs, he said. And this factor often carries over into film.”If you think about a film and how you’re going to cause fear, you see people be afraid, and you get the negative information,” he said. “You have people [in the film] modeling this behavior showing you that you should be afraid of this — don’t go into the bedroom, for example.”Davis offers the disclaimer someone should seek clinical help if truly traumatized by a phobia. But someone losing sleep over a film like “Paranormal” may have to muster the courage to go see it again.”If you’re just talking about seeing a movie and getting a little scared, one of the things we’d suggest is to watch it again,” he said. “We offer repeated gradual exposure to what it is they’re afraid of. We do it slow and at a pace you’re comfortable with — we don’t want to give you another traumatic experience that will scare you.”
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‘Paranormal Activity’ expands through viral marketing
October 14, 2009