Word of mouth makes 'Paranormal Activity' a scream

America's most frightening "home video," "Paranormal Activity" is a movie everyone is talking about, but few will dare to see.

Making $22 million this past weekend, "Paranormal" came in number one at the box office, outranking "Saw VI," which came in second with a disappointing $14.8 million, and "Where the Wild Things Are," which, after dominating the box office on its opening weekend, came in third at $14.4 million.

For those who get a thrill out of ghosts, demons and haunted houses minus the gore, this horror film takes supposedly innocent nighttime noises and reveals them to be the products of other-worldly mischief.

New homeowners, Katie and Micah, are a young couple enjoying their suburban seclusion -- that is, until creaking stairs become clear footsteps, and weak hinges give way to slamming doors. When Katie divulges to Micah that she suspects the noises are coming from a ghost that has been haunting her since childhood, Micah is at first highly skeptical. However, when he sets up his high-tech camera to capture any paranormal nighttime activities, his tapes prove him dead wrong. Among the frightful sounds and sights recorded are the unnerving growls of an animal and curious cases of sleepwalking.

Starring Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat, this plot was the brainchild of video game-programmer Oren Peli, who, after moving into his first real "house" in a quiet California neighborhood, was surprised by the many unexplained noises during the night.

Doors would swing and books would fall off shelves. Peli decided his house would make a great location and storyline for a movie; so together, with co-directors Amir Zbeda and Toni Taylor, he located the perfect actors for the part of the unsuspecting couple. The independent film was then shot in a week's time in 2006 with a budget of only $15,000.

Originally released only to Screamfest, a boutique festival for cult and homemade horror films held every October on Hollywood Boulevard, the film was recommended for submission to popular horror Web site DreadCentral.com. When the Web site received over a million requests from people wanting to see "Paranormal," Peli began to consider a much larger audience for his film.

This past Friday, the "mock-doc" expanded from 760 theaters to 2,000. It has been compared to the 1999 "Blair Witch Project," which earned $29 million after expanding to just over 1,000 theaters. Since its Sept. 25th limited release, "Paranormal" has earned an overall $62.5 million. With the Halloween weekend yet to come, it is predicted that if word-of-mouth continues to favor Paramount's micro-budget horror flick, then earnings could reach as high as $100 million. Paramount acquired the rights to the movie at the Slamdance Film Festival in 2007, originally intending to allow Peli a re-shoot with a bigger budget. But after seeing the success of its raw and unaltered version, the studio decided to release "Paranormal" in all its homemade glory, and test audiences continued to respond well in screenings. Subsequent success was then left to the circulation of online blogs and tweets (mostly from college students) that spread news of the creepy ghost story.

With a slow incline in terror throughout the entire film, "Paranormal Activity" scares in small doses and then shocks at the end. A perfect fit for the easily scared.

This writer can be contacted at features@theeastcarolinian.com.