Steven Spielberg Believed His PARANORMAL ACTIVITY DVD Was Haunted, But He Still Liked the Film and Helped Give It a Better Ending
Here’s a fun story regarding Steven Spielberg and the classic found footage horror film Paranormal Activity that I wasn’t aware of until now. Spielberg thought that his Paranormal Activity DVD was haunted! This was during the time where DreamWorks was looking at picking up the film for distribution.
I love that this film even scared the shit out of filmmaking legend like Spielberg! According to the LA Times, Spielberg took the Paranormal Activity DVD to his home, “and not long after he watched it, the door to his empty bedroom inexplicably locked from the inside, forcing him to summon a locksmith.”
After that, the filmmaker didn’t want that DVD anywhere near his house, and he ended up bringing the movie back to the studio in a garbage bag! Regardless of his fear of the film, Spielberg was enthusiastic about director Oren Peli’s haunting story about the demonic invasion of a couple’s suburban home. So, they acquired it and then Paramount Pictures acquired DreamWorks.
As you know, the film was shot over the course of seven days, and it only had a $15,000 budget. The original version of the film ended very differently than the ending we saw when it was released. Spielberg didn’t like the ending of the film, so he helped change it and gave Peli's team $4,000 to reshoot the ending.
The movie original ending saw Katie rocking back and forth on the floor in the bedroom while holding a knife after she murders Micah. After several hours of this, the police show up and find her holding the knife. When she approaches them with the weapon, she is gunned down by the police. If you haven’t seen that original ending I included it below for you to watch.
Yeah, the new ending was much better than that it. It was a lot more creepy and offered audiences one more good jump scare. That ending saw Katie standing over Micah's dead body then she gets on the floor and crawls toward the camera and ends up lunging toward it with a menacing smile.
The movie went on to be an epic box office success.
Via: /Film