Update: Review: Horror: ‘Paranormal Activity’ Screening Cities announced…
Update: Review in from SciFi – Todd Gilchrist, and it sounds like it lives up to expectations AWESOME!! GO READ THE ENTIRE THING!
Either as an example of the simple effectiveness of classical filmmaking or just an alternative to the gag-inducing gore that constitutes the meat (no pun intended) of most contemporary horror flicks, Paranormal Activity is a really, really great movie. Writer-director Oren Peli, working in one location with a single camera, two actors and a shoestring budget, tells the story of a couple that is terrorized by an unseen apparition, in the process creating suspense out of thin air and evoking evil forces not merely scary, but haunting.
And while its low-budget aesthetic will automatically be referenced in the context of the granddaddy of first-person gimmick films, The Blair Witch Project, it’s important to remember that the reason it’s an immediate point of comparison is because for better or for worse, that film worked—and this one does even better.
Compiled of “found” footage, the film chronicles several days in the life of Katie (Katie Featherston) and Micah (Micah Sloat), a couple who buys a video camera to record unexplained phenomena around their home. Much to her discomfort, Katie explains that since her earliest childhood, something has always seemed to follow her around, and her family was constantly beset by strange occurrences. Micah is perhaps typically skeptical, but after a few nights of filming, he captures some odd, convincing footage, and becomes determined to document more concrete proof of the spirit’s existence, if not also hopefully get rid of it. But as the unseen force grows in power and makes it known that it wants Katie for itself, the couple slowly begins to lose control of their experiment, and decides to get out of the house before it’s too late for either of them to escape its powerful grasp.
At 33 and having seen probably more than my share of cinematic boogeymen, there isn’t a whole lot that really stays with me when I watch horror movies now; certainly when I was a kid, there were things that scared the hell out of me, kept me up nights, and had me thinking about the possibilities of paranormal activity in the real world, much less my bedroom closet. But Paranormal Activity is the first movie in probably a decade that truly lingered in my head after I finished watching it, and actually creeped me out for a few days afterward. Brilliantly, Peli sets up certain audience expectations by establishing a simple premise—a girl thinks she’s being haunted—and then delivering on it in a delicate matter of degrees; but it’s the patience and subtlety of the escalation of events that makes it seem believable, and eventually, genuinely terrifying… A MUST READ REVIEW AND A MUST SEE FOR HORROR FANS!
DreadCentral reports the list of cities for the pre screening have been announced and a Demand It! campaign website launched to bring the film to your city:
Update: ‘Paranormal Legislative Activity’; “Paranormal TAXivity”
Courtesy of TheSunlightFoundation
h/t HotAir
Warehouse 13 renewed for Season 3
yay! Warehouse 13 has THE BEST DEMOS for wimmuns on SciFi, of course I think they ALWAYS undercount we female SciFi/Fantasy fans :0)
…Agents Pete Lattimer and Myka Bering. Their hunt for strange artifacts will go on, because Syfy just announced the hit series has been renewed for a third season.
Here’s Syfy’s official press release:
SYFY ANNOUNCES THIRD SEASON PICKUP FOR HIT ORIGINAL SERIES WAREHOUSE 13 WAREHOUSE 13 AVERAGED 3.4 MILLION TOTAL VIEWERS AND 1.8 MILLION ADULTS 25-54 IN SOPHOMORE SEASON—SYFY’S MOST WATCHED SERIES OF 2010EXECUTIVE PRODUCER/SHOWRUNNER JACK KENNY WILL RETURN
NEW YORK – October 5, 2010 – Buoyed by strong ratings and critical acclaim, Syfy today announced a third season pickup of 13 episodes for its hit dramedy Warehouse 13, which will return in 2011.
Universal Cable Productions also announced that Jack Kenny has signed a development deal that will return him for a third season as Executive Producer and Showrunner of Warehouse 13.
During its second season, Warehouse 13 averaged 3.43 total viewers, 1.48 million Adults 18-49, 1.78 million Adults 25-54 and a 2.4 household rating, based on DVR Live +7 data (through 10 episodes).
Warehouse 13 is Syfy’s top series in 2010 for total viewers and Adults 25-54.
Warehouse 13 Season 2 Premieres Tonight 9/8C
Warehouse 13 is the highest rated SciFi channel series to date, and has the added bonus of having drawn the most ‘female’ viewers. (Of course I think they underrate how many women watch SciFi anyway!)
Fancast: Warehouse 13‘ (9pm on Syfy)
Syfy’s most popular series (4.1 million total viewers) is back for a new season with an explosive season premiere.
This innovative series follows two Secret Service agents who find themselves abruptly transferred to a massive, top-secret storage facility in windswept South Dakota which houses every strange artifact, mysterious relic, fantastical object and supernatural souvenir ever collected by the U.S. government. The Warehouse’s caretaker Artie (Saul Rubinek) charges Pete (Eddie McClintock) and Myka (Joanne Kelly) with chasing down reports of supernatural and paranormal activity in search of new objects to cache at the Warehouse.
SciFi renews Ghost Hunters for Season 7!
Ghost Hunters TAPS team members Jason Hawes, Grant Wilson, Dave Tango and Steve Gonsalves. Image by xanath
Yay!
THR Live Feed has it:
…The flagship series in Syfy’s most popular franchise, “Ghost Hunters” will resume next year with 25 new episodes.
Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson will resume their roles as the leaders of TAPS (the Atlantic Paranormal Society), which investigates reports of paranormal activity.
Since debuting in 2004, “Hunters” has launched two spinoffs, “Ghost Hunters Academy” and “Ghost Hunters International,” and inspired countless imitators on rival networks. The show has become Syfy’s longest-running original series.
The first half of Season 6 averaged 2.6 million viewers, which put Syfy as the top-rated cable network in the “Hunters” time slot.
Fan mashup by GhostHunterLover
Warehouse 13 returns July 13th with Season 2…
Yay:) Warehouse 13 has been a ratings powerhouse for SciFi and is also drawing more women than any other original show in its history. I tend to think they undercount how many of we scifi/fantasy fans are women, they always have, but I am always glad to see scifi/fantasy draw more eyeballs, especially in their cherished demos….
SciFiWire posted the press release:
SYFY’S HIT SERIES, WAREHOUSE 13 BEGINS SEASON TWO PRODUCTION THIS MARCH LEADING TO ITS SUMMER PREMIERE ON TUESDAY, JULY 13 – Eddie McClintock, Joanne Kelly, Saul Rubinek, Allison Scagliotti and CCH Pounder All Return For Second Season Pick-Up
Nolan Funk (Nickelodeon’s Spectacular) To Guest Star In Four Episode Storyline
New York, NY – March 2, 2010 – Syfy’s #1 original hit series, Warehouse 13, commences production on season two this March in Toronto and will kick off the new season with a summer premiere on Tuesday, July 13. Series regulars, Eddie McClintock, Joanne Kelly, Saul Rubinek and Allison Scagliotti, along with series guest star, CCH Pounder, reprise their roles in the series ratings leader for Syfy. The 13 episode, hour-long dramedy is slated to return this summer 2010.
Nickelodeon star, Nolan Funk (Spectacular, Drake & Josh) guest stars in a four-episode storyline in season two. Funk portrays Todd, a tech savvy local who takes a special romantic interest in Claudia (Scagliotti). This budding relationship is put to the test by the secrets they are forced to keep from one another.
Warehouse 13 follows two Secret Service agents who find themselves abruptly transferred to a massive, top-secret storage facility in windswept South Dakota which houses every strange artifact, mysterious relic, fantastical object and supernatural souvenir ever collected by the U.S. government. The Warehouse’s caretaker Artie (Saul Rubinek) charges Pete (Eddie McClintock) and Myka (Joanne Kelly) with chasing down reports of supernatural and paranormal activity in search of new objects to cache at the Warehouse, as well as helping him to control the Warehouse itself.
Warehouse 13 became the all-time Syfy leader in total viewers (4.1 million), Adults 25-54 (2.1 million) and Household ratings (2.9), as measured by 7-Day DVR data, making it the most successful series in Syfy’s 17-year history.
Warehouse 13 is produced for Syfy by Universal Cable Productions. Jack Kenny (The Book of Daniel), returns as showrunner.
Horror: “The Fourth Kind” Sneak Peeks
This looks as though it will hit me the way I expected Paranormal Activity to, awesome!..of course I did miss a few mins of PA to hurl (motion sickness?nachos? ‘disturbed’ by the film?) 🙂
Courtesy of HollywoodStreams
1n 1972, a scale of measurement was established for alien encounters. When a UFO is sighted, it is called an encounter of the first kind. When evidence is collected, it is known as an encounter of the second kind. When contact is made with extraterrestrials, it is the third kind. The next level, abduction, is the fourth kind. This encounter has been the most difficult to document-until now. Set in modern-day Nome, Alaska, where–mysteriously since the 1960s–a disproportionate number of the population has been reported missing every year. Despite multiple FBI investigations of the region, the truth has never been discovered. Here in this remote region, psychologist Dr. Abigail Tyler began videotaping sessions with traumatized patients and unwittingly discovered some of the most disturbing evidence of alien abduction ever documented.
More clips after the break:
Moderate in the Middle 