‘Mother’s Day’ Not Policemen’s Day

A scene from Bousman's 'Mother's Day.' No wonder the Winnipeg constabulary came a runnin'.

Marketing is a very tricky business, especially when it comes to movies. While Paranormal Activity has pretty much won the Most Effective Meme-Passing Award for this year, it’s not the only movie making headlines.

As mentioned a few weeks back, director Darren Bousman (Saw II-IV, Repo) has been pimping the hell out of his remake of Mother’s Day, and doing a pretty impressive job of keeping that flick from slipping head first into the I-Could-Give-a-Rat’s-Ass pit reserved for most remakes. Despite a hectic schedule and countless details to pore over with the production, the dude’s been keeping the Twitter faithful apprised of everything that happens on set, working Facebook like a pro, and now…

Now we’re all a little red faced after the “balloon boy” fiasco of last week. It turns out that, after a long diet of reality TV, we’ll pretty much believe anything at this point. So it’s perfectly natural to question whether Bousman has the ability to pull off a fake police raid on his own movie production in Winnipeg. Personally, I would think even more of him if he did actually manage to make this happen.

What’s that? How did I find out about the police raid, you ask? Why from his Facebook page of course.

To better understand Darren Bousman and how he got his start in this business, check out the chapter on Bousman in The New Horror Handbook.

‘Paranormal Activity’ Experiences Paranormal Box Office

The movie is Airplane. The titular aircraft is experiencing a bad day and somebody’s sitting in their seat, losing their shit, while nuns, boxers and a great many more are lined up to slap some sense into her.

We are that line of disciplinarians, and Hollywood is the squealling passenger. And Paranormal Activity is the slap heard round the world.

Don’t think so? Think again. Paranormal Activity cost $15,000 to make, cost Paramount about $2 million to acquire, and so far has made more than $9 million on an extremely limited release. It’s set to open across the country very soon.

Thwack!

Addendum: After an amazing, viral PR push, Paranormal Activity is now opening across the country on 10/16/09. Click here to find a theater near you.

‘Paranormal Activity’: This Decade’s ‘Blair Witch’

Paranormal Activity, the Little Horror Movie That Could, continues its subtle domination of the world, one theater at a time. After a few weeks of enticing horror fans to “Demand” screenings of the flick in their neck of the woods, word now comes that if 1 million people do so, Paramount will open the movie wide across the country. What that actually means is open to interpretation right now, but still, an extremely clever gambit this.

This year being the 10th anniversary of the release of The Blair Witch Project, the temptation to compare the two films is overwhelming, especially considering the expert use of viral marketing. However, there’s more to it than that.

When you look at the ebb and flow of horror movies in the last 15 years (feel free to do so by picking up a copy of The New Horror Handbook), Paranormal Activity has more in common with Blair Witch than a great marketing campaign. Both movies hit theaters at a time when theatrical horror releases had descended into flaccid, formulaic tripe.

In 1999, the competition was The Mummy, Stigmata, Sleepy Hollow, and a few other equally predictable works. This year, it’s H2, Final Destination 4, Jennifer’s Body and Saw 6. With the exception of Diablo Cody’s entry, it’s all been there/done that.

Will we still be talking about Paranormal Activity 10 years from now? I’m guessing that we will. It’s not often that you get a genuinely scary movie in cinemas. Hopefully we will all get the chance to see this one amidst the shrieks and jumps of other horror fans.

Addendum: After an amazing, viral PR push, Paranormal Activity is now opening across the country on 10/16/09. Click here to find a theater near you.

‘Paranormal Activity’ to Open Fantastic Fest

Paranormal Activity, the low-budget frightener that had a brief run at film festivals before disappearing down a black hole, finally sees the light of day again Sept. 24 at Austin’s Fantastic Fest at the Alamo Drafthouse. (Also check out this trailer — much more effective than what was circulating before.)

Around the same time (it’s not clear if it will be the same night), it will show at theaters around the country including:

• Los Angeles (ArcLight Hollywood)
• New York (Landmark Sunshine Theater)
• San Francisco (The Castro)
• Chicago (The Music Box)
• Boston (The Coolidge)
• Atlanta (The Plaza)
• Seattle (Neptune)

After that, it looks like it’s going the roadshow route with sneak previews starting Sept. 25 in the following cities:

• Seattle (Neptune)
• Ann Arbor, Mich. (State)
• Durham, NC (Southpoint 16)
• Baton Rouge (RAVE Mall of Louisiana 15)
• Boulder, Colo. (Cinemark 16)
• Columbus, Ohio (Studio 35)
• Orlando, Fla. (AMC Universal Cineplex)
• Madison, Wis. (Marcus Eastgate 16)
• Santa Cruz, Calif. (Del Mar 3)
• State College, Pa. (Premiere College 9)
• Tucson (El Con)
• Lincoln, Neb. (Ross Media Center)

Finally, if you want Paranormal Activity to show in your neck of the woods, you can “demand” it at the official Web site.

OK…so what’s the big deal about this movie?

Other than a lot of word-of-mouth buzz from people who know horror movies, just this. In a year when the most interesting horror movie releases have been straight to DVD, and the cinemas are choked with by-the-numbers nonsense, it’s nice — scratch that, it’s vital to the genre — to have a small movie that hasn’t been workshopped into another banal vehicle for the startlet of the week.

Sure, there’s a few bucks behind the distribution of Paranormal Activity, but all appearances suggest that it’s the filmmakers themselves who are working to get the word out, which suggests there just might be a shred of integrity to this picture. (Kudos to Paramount if this is actually a well-calculated marketing tactic.)

After some pretty lean years for theatrical-release horror, there’s something heartening about looking forward to the Little Horror Movie That Could, rather than the Big Horror Movies That Shouldn’t.

‘Paranormal Activity’ Finally to Screen?

There’s really no kind way to put this. You usually don’t get a lot of buzz about haunted house movies today. (Apologies to Tony at the HorrorEtc podcast…The Changeling is still a good film!)

Which is why it was so odd when horror audiences — hell, horror directors — were telling me about this intense little ghost flick that was was making the festival rounds back in 2007: Paranormal Activity.

But as quickly as it appeared, it promptly disappeared down that cinematic chasm of which we do not speak. Paramount had bought it, reportedly to remake the relatively low-budget flick, and that was that.

Now ShockTillYouDrop.com (via Examiner.com) is reporting that the original is probably going to be enjoying a limited theatrical release next month, albeit with a different ending.

I’ve never been one for ghost movies, but when you have the likes of Darren Lynn Bousman telling you that it made an impression on him, you really have to give it a chance.

Speaking of DLB, he’s set to begin shooting his Mother’s Day remake next week. Bug him on Facebook here. And if you do get through to him, would you please ask him where I should send his copy of The New Horror Handbook?

Addendum: After an amazing, viral PR push, Paranormal Activity is now opening across the country on 10/16/09. Click here to find a theater near you.