Scares Are Minimal In The First Paranormal Activity, The One That Started It All

Though it may have been released in 2009, Paranormal Activity was actually filmed in 2006 (something reflected in on-screen text in the film itself), an entire decade ago and a year before the first iPhone was released. Imagine how much technology has changed in the years since then. Everyone's got a portable camera/computer/entertainment system residing in their pocket now and entire films (like Tangerine) are filmed on people's phones now. Analyzing how much technology has changed in the epoch since Paranormal Activity was filmed provides a lot more entertainment than the movie itself, which is just disposable horror fare at the end of the day.

Tusk Review

I Am The Walrus Goo-Goo-Ka-AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!

Horror movies are in a rut. Scratch that, they've been in a rut for ages. For a time, the success of Saw led to most of the genre being inhabited by film solely focused on torture porn. Then Paranormal Activity became a phenomenon and everything had to be found-footage. The influence of The Conjuring is already being felt, with a large amount of features being centered around on spooky homes, families, strange noises and jump scares.

Box Office Analysis: The Only Thing More Eternal Than Death And Taxes? Hollywoods Love Of Horror Sequels

The Purge: Anarchy hit 2800 theaters this past weekend and was by far the highest grossing of the weekends three new releases. Sure, it didn't break any records, or even beat out it's predecessor, but it got better reviews from both critics and audiences and was only $5.7 million behind the first movie. Plus, Universal and Blumhouse Productions have already tripled their budget for the film (it cost $9 million). Obviously, this is a win for both studios and I expect The Purg3 to hit theaters next July.