Page 35 - 201210 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - October 2012

Ghosts Scare Off Gore Ghosts scare off gore for Halloween movies Chicago Tribune LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - After almost a decade in which torture films dominated the box office, horror movies are returning to ghostly thrills with a new slew of low-budget productions making big money for studios. The success of 2009's "Paranormal Activity" - which was made for $15,000 and grossed more than $107 million at U.S. box offices - has fueled a thirst in audiences and movie studios for things that go bump in the "The torture porn stuff really played Surging, unto skies of fire; night. Halloween audiences previously itself out, 'Saw' and 'Hostel', they were just too Lakes that endlessly outspread gripped by the gory "Saw" franchise about a much. People want to be engaged with the story Their lone waters, lone and dead, — and not just grossed beyond imagination," Their still waters, still and chilly sadistic serial killer are flocking this season to see supernatural horrors, with "Sinister" and Bradley Jacobs, film editor at Us Weekly, told With the snows of the lolling lily. Reuters. "Paranormal Activity 4" providing otherworldly In comparison, the "Paranormal scares for the spooky festivities. Activity" franchise, which relies on suspense By a route obscure and lonely, Haunted by ill angels only, The supernatural trend, with very little blood, started this year with "The Woman in and strange phenomena, has revamped the Where an Eidolon, named Night, Black" and "The Apparition", and will spill into genre with a more cost-effective model since On a black throne reigns upright, most of the scares are off-screen and on I have reached these lands but newly 2013 with upcoming horror films including "Mama", "Evil Dead", "Carrie", and ghostly deliberately grainy footage, minimizing the From an ultimate dim Thule. need for costly special effects and action shots. spoof "Scary Movie 5", which will parody The second "Paranormal" film was shot By the lakes that thus outspread "Paranormal Activity". "It's a return to a more classic style of for an estimated $3 million and made $84 Their lone waters, lone and dead, — suspense," Henry Joost, who co-directed the million, while the third film, made for $5 Their sad waters, sad and chilly million, has grossed more than $104 million in With the snows of the lolling lily, — third and fourth "Paranormal Activity" films with Ariel Schulman, told Reuters. North America. By the mountains — near the river "The profitability of making a film for Murmuring lowly, murmuring ever, — "When you've just been obliterated with gore, having it slammed in your face for a less than $5 million and hedging the bet of the By the gray woods, — by the swamp financiers and the studios with a possible giant Where the toad and the newt encamp, — decade, you respond by seeking the opposite." upside becomes extremely attractive," By the dismal tarns and pools "Sinister", currently playing in U.S. Where dwell the Ghouls, — movie theaters for Halloween-loving audiences, Derrickson said. By each spot the most unholy — "Sinister", made for $3 million, has features an author (Ethan Hawke) who discovers home videos of mysterious murders grossed $39 million after three weeks in U.S. In each nook most melancholy, — theaters. "Paranormal Activity 4", which cost $5 There the traveller meets aghast and soon finds himself pursued by an million, has made more than $42 million since Sheeted Memories of the Past — otherworldly presence. Director Scott Derrickson said it opened on October 19. Shrouded forms that start and sigh audiences were drawn to bloodless supernatural "Audiences realized that the feeling of As they pass the wanderer by — horrors as a means to escape from news about suspense and the anticipation of horror is White-robed forms of friends long given, wars and violent killings. actually more emotionally impacting than In agony, to the worms, and Heaven. graphic horror itself in these low-budget "There's something about the real-world pain and violence that has enveloped the movies," Derrickson said. By a route obscure and lonely, The "Paranormal Activity" franchise Haunted by ill angels only, American reality, that makes films like ("Saw") was released by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Where an Eidolon, named Night, not necessarily the catharsis that people are looking for," Derrickson told Reuters in an Viacom Inc, while Lions Gate Entertainment's On a black throne reigns upright, I have reached these lands but newly Summit studio distributed "Sinister" as well as interview. the "Saw" and "Hostel" films. [] From an ultimate dim Thule — INEXPENSIVE GHOSTS REAP DREAM-LAND For the heart whose woes are legion BOX-OFFICE BENEFITS ’T is a peaceful, soothing region — by Edgar Allan Poe (1844) For the spirit that walks in shadow "Saw", made for $1.2 million, grossed more ’T is — oh ’t is an Eldorado! than $55 million at the U.S. box office in 2004 Haunted by ill angels only, But the traveler, traveling through it, and spawned a franchise, leading a slew of films Where an Eidolon, named Night, May not — dare not openly view it; dubbed "torture porn" for the excessive use of On a black throne reigns upright, Never its mysteries are exposed gratuitous violence. I have reached these lands but newly To the weak human eye unclosed; The trend produced the "Hostel" trilogy, From an ultimate dim Thule — So wills its King, who hath forbid 2006's "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The From a wild weird clime, that lieth, sublime, The uplifting of the fringéd lid; Beginning" and 2008's "The Strangers". Out of Space — out of Time. And thus the sad Soul that here passes But while the "Saw" franchise initially Beholds it but through darkened glasses. brought in big money for movie studios - the Bottomless vales and boundless floods, second and third films each grossed more than And chasms, and caves, and Titian woods, By a route obscure and lonely, $80 million at the domestic box office - the With forms that no man can discover Haunted by ill angels only, profits slowed by 2009, when the franchise's For the dews that drip all over; Where an Eidolon, named Night, seventh and final film "Saw 3D: The Final Mountains toppling evermore On a black throne reigns upright, Chapter" was made for $20 million and grossed Into seas without a shore; I have wandered home but newly only $45 million. Seas that restlessly aspire, From this ultimate dim Thule. []