With the unbridled success of this fall’s Paranormal Activity, it seemed a sure thing that director Oren Peli’s next project would be an instant pickup for the studio, and that theory has proven to be true. According to Variety, Paramount recently bought the distribution rights for Peli’s Area 51, which reportedly again utilizes Paranormal Activity’s “handicam” style of shooting. According to the trade:

“51, which completed principal photography three weeks ago, was fully financed by Incentive and the Aramid Entertainment Fund. Latter is a co-financing partner of Par’s slate on films that include the ‘Transformers’ films.

The film employs the ‘found footage’ narrative structure that Peli used in ‘Paranormal Activity’ to tell the story of three teens whose curiosity leads them to the notorious Area 51 portion of Nellis Air Force Base in the Nevada desert.”

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It takes a lot to be a horror fan. We suffer indignities that other film fans wouldn’t dream of. Genre films are seldom screened for press, leading to frantic scrambling to get a seat at a midnight showing so that we can have that review up and ready for you, dear readers, on opening day. Regular critics scoff at our genre, and often can’t be bothered with it at all. So it rests upon those of us who are true lovers of the genre to keep you abreast of the happenings in horror-land.

Adding to my general frustration with the powers that be is the mishandling of three recent films in particular.  All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, Trick ‘r Treat, and Paranormal Activity have all gotten a rotten distribution deal in one way or another. I  asked Scott Weinberg, Managing Editor of Cinematical and Editor of Horror Squad if he was surprised that all three of these got shelved after they received good festival buzz. ”Annoyed, yes. Surprised, no. Every distributor seems to want a ‘break-out’ horror flick, but few know what to do with it once they get one,” he said

So here is the rundown on these three films.

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When I first heard about writer/director Oren Peli’s first person video camera horror film Paranormal Activity, I have to admit I was skeptical. Seeing some of the advertising and hearing the buzz from various sources, this film seemed to be yet another cheap video production still hoping to cash in on the “magic” generated by The Blair Witch Project. Fortunately, after seeing the film at a sold-out midnight screening during Austin’s Fantastic Fest, I can thankfully say my first impressions of the film were completely wrong . . . mostly.

The premise of the film is simplicity itself. A young couple have lived together for a few years and gradually there have been strange and unexplained sounds and the woman (Katie Featherston) it is revealed has been experiencing this type of “activity” since she was a young girl. Her boyfriend, the annoyingly overconfident Micah (Micah Sloat), is determined to get to the bottom of these phenomenons and so begins his quest to videotape the couple’s activities 24 hours a day in order to catch the ghosts in action and ultimately, to take care of the situation and get them to stop.

One of the film’s biggest strengths is that it follows the Hitchcock tradition of not showing everything. Instead, during several scenes, the camera stays in one place as the couple goes off to investigates a noise or other disturbance and the audience is left only able to hear what’s happening, their imagination filling in the blanks. This conceit serves the film far more effectively than an outlandish display of gore or other visual effects would have. This technique is used very effectively in Paranormal Activity, much more than it has been lately in films like Cloverfield or Quarantine.

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Very rarely does the internet critic community throw around phrases like “scariest movie ever” or “looks amazing”, but those seem to be used a lot when talking about the newest film, Paranormal Activity. It’s said to have the same feel as The Blair Witch Project, just updated for today’s jaded audiences.

Much like Blair Witch, the cast and crew have done next to nothing else prior to this film. Writer/director Oren Peli has only worked on this film, which makes the general audience question whether this is a Hollywood film, or a real, documented haunting.

The story follows a typical suburban middle-class husband and wife who start to notice spooky things happening around their new house. They decide to document a few nights using a video camera, and the audience gets to watch as the haunting continues.

Check out the new trailer for the film after the jump, which opens up in select theaters September 25, and moving to different cities every week from there. For a complete schedule, check out their official website.

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