Cloverfield may have fallen harder than Rudy Giuliani’s Presidential campaign (and you thought that we didn’t do satire) in its second weekend, but the Matt Reeves monster movie has made enough moolah to warrant not only a sequel, but also to provoke a string of movies which deploy the same ‘shot on a camcorder’ conceit.
The first of these, it seems, will be a horror film called Paranormal Activity, a micro-budget flick that caused quite a stir at the Slamdance Film Festival recently. Directed by first-timer Oren Peli, it’s a haunted house flick which was shot on hi-def cameras in about a week, with the film’s cast – actors Micah Sloat and Katie Featherstone – often manning the cameras.
Now, obviously, given that the film has already been completed and screened, there’s no way that this version of Paranormal Activity can be accused of being a Cloverfield clone. We can’t say the same, though, about the forthcoming remake. Yes, that’s right – remake, for DreamWorks today picked up domestic and remake rights for the movie.
The original will probably go straight to DVD, or might even be buried altogether. But expect DreamWorks to shell out a bit of cash on a lavish redo, with name actors, artfully amateurish camerawork and a shedload of effects. Peli’s involvement in any new version of Paranormal Activity is not yet known.