And Another

One last note on Paranormal-type activity until the obligatory updates on the sequel. As with any independent-film success story, the emulators should be on the way, and while nobody can beat The Asylum to the marketplace, look for Paranormal Activity influence in plot, budget, film style, and advertising.

First out of the gate (other than Paranormal Entity, of course) looks to be a British offering, The Possession of David O’Reilly. The official line on Possession: “A supernatural shockumentary about a demonic presence in a young couple’s home in London.” Writer/director Andrew Cull wrote it in 2003, inspired by an unspecified “domestic incident” in the local news. It went into pre-production in late 2009 and was shot early this year, exonerating it from being a knockoff, but PA’s success surely had a hand in Possession finding a release – IFC announced today that it had picked the film up and would be debuting it in less than a week: it makes its OnDemand debut on May 5th.

Though graphically, it’s pure Blair Witch Project. Maybe with a little Quarantine filter. Get in where ya fit in.

Brief last-minute post to document today’s release of Quarantine, American remake of the shockingly recent Spanish production [REC]. Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza’s project had its first showing on August 29 of ‘07, making this surely one of the quickest turnarounds in remake history. Last year’s version is a fine flick, a punched-up little mostly-single-locale, mostly-real-time aggressive-infection flick that I’d happily set alongside Mulberry Street, Cloverfield, or even Shivers at my next Halloween party (or all of the above, if only my friends were a little more devoted).

Remake is directed by John Eric Dowdle, whose last assignment was The Poughkeepsie Tapes, some sort of faux-snuff pseudodoc project that did what seemed to me like a fair bit of internet viral marketing before completely disappearing from anyone’s radar. Cursory research reveals that after screening at Tribeca in April 2007, it was scheduled for February 2008 release (hence the marketing machine kicking in) before being delayed to sometime in 2009.

[REC]² is in the script stage, set for sometime 2009. Teaser poster confirms Balaguero and Plaza both on as writers/directors.