{"id":5704,"date":"2009-12-16T07:57:12","date_gmt":"2009-12-15T20:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/?p=5704"},"modified":"2009-12-16T15:48:26","modified_gmt":"2009-12-16T04:48:26","slug":"pretty-normal-activity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/2009\/12\/16\/pretty-normal-activity\/","title":{"rendered":"Pretty Normal Activity"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the success of the ultra-low-budget ghost flick, Paranormal Activity<\/em> (US-2007; dir. Oren Peli), it’s perhaps only to be expected that others would attempt to leap on the bandwagon. Infamous bandwagon leapers, The Asylum — known for producing cheap “spin-offs” of blockbuster films, so how could they possibly resist a cheap spin-off of an already cheap blockbuster — have announced the imminent 22 December release of Paranormal Entity<\/strong><\/em> on DVD.<\/p>\n

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Looking like a cross between Paranormal Activity<\/em> and the Spanish found-footage zombiesque flick [Rec]<\/em> (France-2007; dir. Jaume Balaguer\u00f3 and Paco Plaza), Paranormal Entity<\/em> is being presented as genuine footage of a murder — a murder that was, in “reality”, the result of a supernatural incursion:<\/p>\n

Actual footage of the events leading to the 2008 “murder” of Samantha Finley. This DVD, released against the wishes of the authorities, proves that nothing human caused Samantha’s death.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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On The Asylum’s blog, the pseudo-reality backstory is being maintained — on the off-chance that there are those out there who never realised that The Blair Witch Project<\/em> was a fake. They’ve even gone so far as to avoid listing credits for director, writer and actors on the website. That’s okay. The whole [for me, largely unwatchable] found-footage schtick has become a subgenre unto itself and in many ways whether we believe it or not is irrelevant. To pretend that it’s all real is just part of the subgenre’s aesthetic — and sometimes this results in the creation of advertising collateral that is more interesting than the film itself. Will that happen here? Who knows?
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There\u2019s been some comment on the internet about our release called Paranormal Entity<\/em> and why is hasn\u2019t been posted on our website until now.<\/p>\n

This has been a sensitive issue for all of us:<\/p>\n

A few weeks ago we were approached by surviving members of the Finley family who asked us to release never-before-seen home video footage shot by Thomas Finley, who was accused of murdering his sister, Samantha in 2008,\u00a0and who later took his own life in prison.<\/p>\n

The family has always maintained that Thom was innocent of the crime\u00a0and that Samantha\u2019s tragic death was not caused by anything human. (Asylum blog<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Addendum: The Trailer<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

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Gallery<\/strong>:<\/p>\n