During a conversation with Franklin Leonard, Blumhouse’s Founder and CEO, Jason Blum touched upon the subject of Paranormal Activity, and why he believes the movie would struggle to be a success in today’s time (via Franklin Leonard). According to Blum, the supernatural horror wouldn’t do well due to people’s low attention spans.
We won’t do it because the audience isn’t accepting of it, but I’ve really loved slow-burning horror movies. Even the original Paranormal Activity, you know, the amount of conversations that we had. The first scare in the original Paranormal Activity is 50 minutes into the movie. I don’t know if Paranormal Activity came along today, but if it would make it. I really don’t know.
Blum went on to say how viewers (himself included) are “all just less patient.” He believes that phones have decreased our attention, and that’s why we struggle to sit through movies that one would describe as a “slow-burn.”
Now, let’s look at why Paranormal Activity became a huge success, and if our impatience is truly shaping up to be the death of movies that demand more of our time and investment!
Why Paranormal Activity Was a Massive Hit Despite a Minimal Budget
In the interview, Jason Blum spoke about the power of word of mouth, which is one of the most influential factors that led to Paranormal Activity becoming a huge hit. It was filmed in a found-footage format, with natural dialogue that felt raw and spontaneous.
They also used the unusual strategy of a limited release, and first did screenings in small spaces. As the demand from fans increased through social media buzz, and people kept talking about how scary it was, the fear factor became its advertisement.
Paranormal Activity, being a horror movie, helped a lot as well because one doesn’t need big stars or huge sets for that. Building atmospheric tension through sound design and other creative elements is enough and often appreciated by fans of the genre.
Here’s an overview of the movie:
| Title | Paranormal Activity |
| Genre | Supernatural Horror |
| Director | Oren Peli |
| Cast Highlights | Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Ashley Palmer |
| Rotten Tomatoes (critic score | audience score) | 83% | 57% |
On a budget of $450,000, the movie made $194.1 million, which is 431.3 times the amount they invested (via The Numbers). Now, you rarely see such insane returns even with inflated budgets. But is it because the quality of the films has degraded, or has our collective palette changed drastically over the years?
Is Low Attention Span Truly Killing Slow-Burn Cinema Like Paranormal Activity?
Is the blame completely on us? Not really, because huge conglomerates are pouring in tons of money to create algorithms that keep us hooked for hours. We’re almost in a trance-like state, yet there’s no retention of the content we’ve consumed.
Think about the impact on your brain of watching a cute kitten video, followed by someone’s political rant, then a casual dance, a recipe, a war crime, and so on. That’s certainly frying our brain cells and changing the way we interact with the world. Most noticeably, it reflects in the kind of media we consume.
In the past few years, movies have been quicker, with a color pop and fast cuts, almost as if we are toddlers whose attention would go astray if not engaged in a flashy manner. And truth be told? Maybe it will. So, creatives have simply adapted to how our taste has developed, and there’s indeed little to no space for Paranormal Activity movies.
We don’t have the patience for a good build-up anymore. Everything needs to be appealing from the get-go; otherwise, one can skip to thousands of other things that would accomplish the same. So, Jason Blum is indeed correct in assuming that a slow-burning horror wouldn’t do well in today’s time.
But do you think that’s simply because of our bad attention span, or are terrible movies the real culprit here?
You can watch Paranormal Activity on Paramount+ (USA).
