oren peli

Israeli-born writer/director Oren Peli will be following up the surprise hit Paranormal Activity with an extraterrestrial spook job, Area 51, and according to a report by Variety, it looks like Paramount Pictures has picked up the U.S. distribution rights. In case you've been living under a rock for the past few months, Paranormal Activity is the little horror flick that could, mustering $106 million at the box office (thus far) from a Blair Witch Project-worthy $11,000 budget. Online support (mostly via Twitter) helped push the film into wide release. It was kind of a big deal.

For Peli's alien-themed follow-up, he had an exponential increase in budget to a whopping...$5 million. Principal photography has already wrapped about three weeks ago, so we can assume a release sometime in 2010, logically around September/October, when Paramount started seriously rolling out Paranormal Activity. Variety tells us the film uses the same "found footage" construct in Paranormal Activity, focusing on three teens who stumble into the famed Area 51 at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.

I haven't gotten around to seeing Paranormal Activity so I can't really weigh in on Peli as a writer or director, but regardless, it's heartening to see some original genre properties emerging, especially low-budget ones. The "found footage" thing is a little disappointing though. With a Paranormal Activity sequel in the works, you have to wonder if Peli might be overdoing this faux documentary shtick.

Is there anyone out there who hates Paranormal Activity, Oren Peli's incredibly effective dive into "found footage" filmmaking? Judging by the fact that it sold out every single one of its midnight showings in 33 different cities last weekend, I think it's safe to say that people are loving the idea of being terrified Blair Witch style without having to commit to the false idea that what they're seeing is reportedly real footage. Sure, Peli's film made for roughly $15,000 is a genuinely frightening breath of fresh air, but what I admire most about is its refusal, from a marketing and narrative standpoint, to try and sucker viewers into thinking it is anything but a damn good haunted house simulation.

So how does one follow up faux found footage from a haunted house? With faux found footage from Area 51, of course. Variety is reporting that two groups of investors have locked down $5,000,000 for Oren Peli to make a film that tells, "the story of three teens whose curiosity leads them to the notorious "Area 51" part of Nellis Air Force Base in the Nevada desert."