Movies
‘Paranormal Activity’ Franchise to Conclude Where it All Began… At Screamfest!
In some very cool news via Heat Vision, Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension will premiere as the closing night of the Screamfest Horror Film Festival, playing in RealD 3D at the TCL Chinese Theatre Thursday, October 22, the day before its wide release.
What makes this so special is that Screamfest hosted the World Premiere of Oren Peli’s indie Paranormal Activity, where it was acquired, retooled, and eventually released through Paramount Pictures to great success.
Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension is to be the final film in the franchise (for now), making this Screamfest premiere extra special, especially for those loyal festival goers who were there in 2007 for the first film’s debut.
“We are thrilled to have the Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension premiere close this year’s festival,” said Screamfest founder and festival director Rachel Belofsky. “We are so proud of Oren Peli and his success with the franchise. It’s great to have him back in the festival where it all began.”
The original movie, which Peri wrote and directed, had a platform release via “Demand It” fan screenings before going wide in 2009. In a nod to the importance of fans to the franchise, Screamfest, in a first, will simultaneously screen the movie in those original 12 markets
The markets include: Ann Arbor, MI; Baton Rouge, LA; Boulder, CO; Columbus, OH; Durham, NC; Lincoln, NE; Madison, WI; Orlando, FL; Santa Cruz, CA; Seattle, WA; State College, PA; and Tucson, AZ.
“It’s incredibly exciting, and somewhat surreal, to premiere the final installment of the Paranormal series at Screamfest where the first film premiered eight years ago,” said Peli “These films continued to be made because of the incredible fans that supported them from the very beginning, so I look forward to bringing the series back to its roots to honor them.”
Screamfest runs October 13 to October 22. Ghost Dimension is set to open October 23.
Movies
Curry Barker’s ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ Movie Aims to Capture the Rawness of the Original Classic
Up next from mega popular Obsession filmmaker Curry Barker is the horror-comedy Anything But Ghosts, which has already wrapped production with a release incoming from Focus Features. In the wake of that film, Barker will turn his attention to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, directing a brand new installment in the legendary horror saga for A24.
Curry Barker’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie has been described as a “reimagining” of the franchise, but he’s aiming to recapture the vibe of Tobe Hooper’s original classic.
Barker tells THR in a new interview this week, “I wouldn’t be interested if I didn’t think I could find a way in that feels fresh and new, while still respecting the original.”
“The canon itself is all over the place, so there’s not much to stay loyal to other than the original,” Barker elaborates. “I want to make a new generation of people scared and give them this feeling of: ‘What if you went on a road trip with your friends and this happened to you?’ I want to capture the rawness and the grounded-ness of the original.”
Barker has stated in other interviews that he wants to make a Chainsaw movie that’s more than just Leatherface running around with a chainsaw hacking people up, and his comments have seemed to suggest that he’s going to be leaning into Leatherface’s family and other elements from the ’74 original that became less central to the franchise in recent years.
Roy Lee and Steven Schneider of Spooky Pictures will produce A24’s new Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie, along with Stuart Manashil and Exurbia Films’ Pat Cassidy, Ian Henkel, and Kim Henkel. Ben Ross of Image Nation serves as executive producer.
Curry Barker’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie is only part of A24’s grand plans for the franchise. A television series from A24, JT Mollner, and Glen Powell is also in the works.
Strange Darling filmmaker and The Long Walk screenwriter JT Mollner is spearheading the TV series based on the iconic horror property. Glen Powell will executive produce.
In the 1974 genre-defining masterpiece from Tobe Hooper, five youths traveling through rural Texas fall prey to a butcher in a mask made of human skin and his cannibalistic family.
Stay tuned for much more on Curry Barker’s Chainsaw Massacre as we learn it.
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