Paranormal Activity (12/29/09)

[manicsounds]

from dvdtimes:

Paramount Home Entertainment have announced the US DVD and Blu-ray Disc release of Paranormal Activity on 29th December 2009. Written and directed by Oren Peli, the horror story follows a young, middle-class couple who become increasingly disturbed by a presence that may or may not be demonic, but is certainly most active in the middle of the night. Especially while they sleep. The DVD and two-disc Blu-ray include the original theatrical version of the film, plus an unrated version with an alternate ending not seen in cinemas. The Blu-ray also includes a digital copy of the theatrical version.

There are no other extras on the DVD ($29.99 SRP) or Blu-ray ($40.99 SRP) which are presented like so:

DVD: Anamorphic Widescreen, English DD5.1, Spanish DD5.1 (Theatrical Version only), English, French and Spanish subtitles.
Blu-ray: 1080P Widescreen, English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, Spanish DD5.1 (Theatrical Version only), English, English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles

Pretty barebones. The alternate cut is the only 'extra'.
Which is surprising. Everything from the small budget, Spielberg's interest, viral marketing, and the amount of time between production to distribution is nowhere to be seen. I imagine a double dip for this one....

[asianxcore]

Definitely getting the BD on Day 1.

Even though it's low on extras, I'm happy this will be out by the end of the year.

[DeputyDave]

Originally Posted by manicsounds

from dvdtimes:



Pretty barebones. The alternate cut is the only 'extra'.
Which is surprising. Everything from the small budget, Spielberg's interest, viral marketing, and the amount of time between production to distribution is nowhere to be seen. I imagine a double dip for this one....

I agree. I'm not even sure how interested I am in seeing this again so soon. Without extras I can't see this being worth it right now.

[Skyclad01]

Interesting, cause from what I know, theres actually 3 different endings to it in total.


All listed under the one spoiler button:

Spoiler:

~In no order that im aware of and this is taken from another source and not my words~

#1) The ending in theaters is as follows:

SPOILERS AHEAD

Katie, possessed, wakes up in the night and stands over their bed for a while. The sheet covering Micah is pulled off by invisible hands, and Katie goes and stands over him for a time before she slowly walks downstairs. After a short period of silence, she begins shrieking at the top of her lungs, most likely it is the demon using her body to lure Micah downstairs as Katie once implied it could set up traps. Micah rushes down the stairs, we hear him shout a bit, then silence. Next, we hear heavy footsteps coming up the stairs and all of a sudden Micah's body flies across the room at the camera. We see Katie standing in the doorway, covered in blood, moving toward Micah's body. She crawls to him and either sniffs or licks his body before approaching the camera with a super-creepy possessed face. She then lunges at it and the screen goes black. The end.

There are also 2 other endings, all with the same lead-up EXCEPT nothing happens to Micah's sheet, Katie simply stands over her side of the bed as she had done earlier in the film. The change in the theatrical ending was probably put there to express how much worse the possession had gotten.


#2) In the ORIGINAL ENDING, as in, the one that was shown in most of the earlier screenings and can be seen in most versions found online,

SPOILERS AHEAD

We hear the footsteps coming up the stairs after the whole screaming incident with Micah, except this time Katie is alone, bloody, and holding a knife. She then sits on the floor next to the bed rocking back and forth for about 2 days straight. During that time, their friend from earlier calls to ask if they're okay as she hasn't heard from them in days. Later, she actually comes to the house in the night and discovers Micah's body. Finally, cops arrive, and as they enter the bedroom to see Katie on the floor, she emerges from the possessed trance, begins freaking out, confused about where Micah is, panicking, etc...She is making very little sense and the cops are clearly freaked especially when she starts coming at them with the knife in her hand. Taking this as a threat, they gun her down in the hallway.

EDIT: After reviewing this ending thanks to a replying poster to this thread, the gunshots fired by the police that murder Katie were more a result of them being startled by a door slamming behind them. Earlier in this scene, just before Katie is discovered, we see the light at the end of the hall turn on and then off, presumably indicating the demon escaping from Katie's body.

#3) Finally, there is the ALTERNATE ENDING which was only shown at one screening.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Again, we hear the heavy footsteps and like the one with the cops, it is Katie alone, bloody with a knife, but no body. She stands in front of the camera without looking directly into it, implying she is still entranced, and proceeds to slit her own throat. This is supposedly meant to bookend Micah's comment earlier in the movie when he is cooking something, holding a knife, and jokingly gestures that they will slit the throat of whatever is tormenting them. The reason this ending was fairly easily dismissed was that the director felt the gore of it didn't coincide with the rest of the movie, as up until that point there was no gore whatsoever. However, both actors have attested that this ending was most effective in terms of audience reaction.

[DeputyDave]

Originally Posted by Skyclad01

Interesting, cause from what I know, theres actually 3 different endings to it in total.


All listed under the one spoiler button:

Spoiler:

~In no order that im aware of and this is taken from another source and not my words~

#1) The ending in theaters is as follows:

SPOILERS AHEAD

Katie, possessed, wakes up in the night and stands over their bed for a while. The sheet covering Micah is pulled off by invisible hands, and Katie goes and stands over him for a time before she slowly walks downstairs. After a short period of silence, she begins shrieking at the top of her lungs, most likely it is the demon using her body to lure Micah downstairs as Katie once implied it could set up traps. Micah rushes down the stairs, we hear him shout a bit, then silence. Next, we hear heavy footsteps coming up the stairs and all of a sudden Micah's body flies across the room at the camera. We see Katie standing in the doorway, covered in blood, moving toward Micah's body. She crawls to him and either sniffs or licks his body before approaching the camera with a super-creepy possessed face. She then lunges at it and the screen goes black. The end.

There are also 2 other endings, all with the same lead-up EXCEPT nothing happens to Micah's sheet, Katie simply stands over her side of the bed as she had done earlier in the film. The change in the theatrical ending was probably put there to express how much worse the possession had gotten.


#2) In the ORIGINAL ENDING, as in, the one that was shown in most of the earlier screenings and can be seen in most versions found online,

SPOILERS AHEAD

We hear the footsteps coming up the stairs after the whole screaming incident with Micah, except this time Katie is alone, bloody, and holding a knife. She then sits on the floor next to the bed rocking back and forth for about 2 days straight. During that time, their friend from earlier calls to ask if they're okay as she hasn't heard from them in days. Later, she actually comes to the house in the night and discovers Micah's body. Finally, cops arrive, and as they enter the bedroom to see Katie on the floor, she emerges from the possessed trance, begins freaking out, confused about where Micah is, panicking, etc...She is making very little sense and the cops are clearly freaked especially when she starts coming at them with the knife in her hand. Taking this as a threat, they gun her down in the hallway.

EDIT: After reviewing this ending thanks to a replying poster to this thread, the gunshots fired by the police that murder Katie were more a result of them being startled by a door slamming behind them. Earlier in this scene, just before Katie is discovered, we see the light at the end of the hall turn on and then off, presumably indicating the demon escaping from Katie's body.

#3) Finally, there is the ALTERNATE ENDING which was only shown at one screening.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Again, we hear the heavy footsteps and like the one with the cops, it is Katie alone, bloody with a knife, but no body. She stands in front of the camera without looking directly into it, implying she is still entranced, and proceeds to slit her own throat. This is supposedly meant to bookend Micah's comment earlier in the movie when he is cooking something, holding a knife, and jokingly gestures that they will slit the throat of whatever is tormenting them. The reason this ending was fairly easily dismissed was that the director felt the gore of it didn't coincide with the rest of the movie, as up until that point there was no gore whatsoever. However, both actors have attested that this ending was most effective in terms of audience reaction.

Wow, thanks for that.

[TomOpus]

Birthday present for me

[DeputyDave]

Originally Posted by TomOpus

Birthday present for me

I'm a Capricorn too (Like Jesus!) Send me one.

[Skyclad01]

If you go here you can get this edition.

Paranormal Activity Limited Collector's Edition


Product Description
This intense edge-of-your seat horror film follows a young suburban couple who record the sinister disturbances in their home while they sleep – even as the domestic haunting becomes more frequent, more threatening and all too personal. Hypnotic and harrowing, Paranormal Activity uniquely delivers frightful suspense punctuated by moments of sudden and unexpected terror, all the way to the shocking ending.

Featuring a version not shown in theaters with an exclusive alternate ending, Paranormal Activity is the one supernatural thriller DVD to own that plays on your most primal fears, and guarantees you’ll need to sleep with the lights on.

Includes:
- Single Disc DVD, including the unrated version with an alternate ending
- An authentic film cell from the movie, featured on a collectible trading card
- An individually numbered, limited edition t-shirt

[Bandit03]

Missed this one in theaters unfortunately but will definitely pick up the DVD.

[cwileyy]

I can't remember where I read it (sorry!) but I could have sworn the director said he was working on an elaborate special edition a couple months back...

[TomOpus]

Originally Posted by DeputyDave

I'm a Capricorn too (Like Jesus!) Send me one.

Sure. I'll be at my g/f's in Kansas City but I could send one to the station. You can share with your fellow officers... see who screams like a little girl

[newginafets]

Hopefully i can find my name listed in the credit

[acdcrocks1980]

Originally Posted by newginafets

Hopefully i can find my name listed in the credit

this

[DJLinus]

Well, it being barebones is really disappointing, especially since they filmed tons of footage.

UC: I remember you guys were doing reshoots for the ending for god knows how long. How many endings did you end up actually filming?

MS: Yeah, a lot. I don't know; I can't remember all of them actually.

KF: Like three or four main ones and endless variations of each.

MS: I think there were more than that!

KF: Were there?

MS: Yeah, there's a lot of stuff that we shot that we never saw or that Oren never brought up again, and we forgot we did it. We were doing so many little tiny reshoots here and there for dialogue and ADR, getting you know little things, and we shot the whole demonologist scene just to see if it would work within the context of the film, and it just didn't work so we never used it. We were doing reshoots for years.

http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/342...ormal-activity

You reshot the ending like, what 52 times? (laughs)

"Yeah, 52-53 times," Featherston jokes with a laugh.

"We filmed the first ending in the first seven day stretch, then we came back for a weekend 'cause Oren had another idea," adds Sloat. "Basically, we were shooting endings for a really long time."

"So long"

Sloat: "We have like a vault full of them."

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/17810

But I'll likely get this edition of the DVD (with hopefully a packed one to follow), if only to find my name tacked onto the credits. I'm still undecided about whether to get it right away or wait a while and get it used at Blockbuster.

[JordanGLC]

So no store exclusives on this (besides the Amazon one)?

[OutRun2]

Won't be buying.

Really really disappointed at the lack of extras on this release. Came this close to buying it but then decided to come here to see what the reviews of the disc were. Glad I did

Two different ending and not even ONE commentary track? Pffft....