Steven Spielberg is the man behind the ruined ending of ‘Paranormal Activity’
In the strictest sense of the genre, Steven Spielberg has never directed a horror movie designed to leave audiences quivering in their seats unless, of course, anybody wants to buy into the disputed urban legend that Tobe Hooper was credited in name only on Poltergeist.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre helmer has repeatedly denied that he was only hired so that Spielberg wouldn’t be breaching his contract with Universal that forbade him from directing anything else while he was working on E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, but the whispers continued to follow the supernatural terror nonetheless.
It turns out that Spielberg had a heavy hand in another wildly popular horror, though, albeit one that proved mighty polarising – depending on how any given viewer interprets a slow-burning psychological found footage flick – where absolutely nothing of note happens for what feels like forever before ending on a solitary jump scare and then rolling credits.
Clearly, people were hooked by Oren Peli’s Paranormal Activity after it became one of the most profitable feature films in history, hoovering up an astonishing $193million at the box office on production costs of just $15,000. Inevitably, a franchise was born, but for the most part, all of the moments in the seven-chapter saga that stand out as genuinely spine-chilling could be cobbled together into a two-minute montage.
After 80 or so minutes of static images and various appliances jangling ominously into the night, Paranormal Activity ended on a note that signposted a sequel from a mile off. However, it wasn’t the finale that Peli had in mind, with the filmmaker still preferring his ending to the one suggested by Spielberg. It’s bold for an untested director to suggest their conclusion was superior to the one put forth by one of the all-time greats, but he certainly has a case.
In the theatrical edition, Katie Featherstone’s Katie launches Micah Sloat’s Micah directly towards the camera prior to her face twisting into something altogether more demonic, which may as well have ended with her turning to the gathered throngs and saying, “Paranormal Activity 2: coming soon.”
It was Spielberg who suggested it, but Peli wanted the police to burst into the abode at the centre of the paranormal shenanigans and gun Katie down. Suggesting that the studio “wanted to find something a bit more… that will be more universally loved,” he “wasn’t a huge fan” of how Paranormal Activity ended up drawing to a close.
Had Peli followed through with his initial plans, then it would have been a lot more difficult for the studio to immediately begin milking the prospective cash cow for all that it was worth. Having so far earned upwards of $890m in ticket sales from combined budgetary expenses of under $30m, it’s not untrue to say he was wrong to try and draw a definitive line under the story he was telling from a purely fiscal point of view if not a creative one.
