MTV Movies Blog › Oren Peli

When Johnny Depp's Barnabas Collins throws a party, he asks Alice Cooper to bring a little musical ambiance in Tim Burton's upcoming "Dark Shadows" remake. The veteran rocker, who just released a brand new album, "Welcome 2 My Nightmare," will be appearing in the "Alice in Wonderland" director's reboot of the gothic soap opera.

Cooper plays himself in the movie — which is set in 1972 — and he'll be performing the classic "No More Mr. Nice Guy" for his Collins party set. On rock, horror, and comedy, Cooper told the Los Angeles Times: "Tim Burton knows it so well. He’s one of a kind. He’s a kindred spirit."

There's a lot of horror happening at Santa Monica's American Film Market (AFM) this week — which means there's a lot of wheelin' and dealin' for new projects in the pipeline that want to get made. See what new terror tales are being previewed this week, and catch up on other horror bites past the break.

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Tags 247F, Alice Cooper, Black Light, Cillian Murphy, dark shadows, elijah wood, jessica biel, Maniac, Oren Peli, Red Lights, The Briar Lake Murders, The Tall Man

It's summer movie season, which means horror fans have sun, surf, and killer fish on the brain. We've been bringing you tons of "Piranha 3DD" news – because life just doesn't feel complete without it – but this week's best in horror updates also skinny-dips, battles sharks (and some invisible sea creatures), and heads to Venice, California.

Movies like "Hobo With a Shotgun" and "Machete" have breathed new life into the exploitation subgenre, and "Skinny Dip" is upping the ante with a great cast that includes Sasha Grey, badass Danny Trejo, and now Pam Grier, Michael Madsen, and Brigitte Nielsen. Meanwhile, Halle Berry is battling sharks in "Dark Tide," but the cast of "Sector 7" has to deal with a transparent monster on board their ship. There's a vampire on Venice Beach that wants to take a bite out of you. No, it isn't Lindsay Lohan, but she's dressed to kill for a new bloodsucking photoshoot that "Buffy" star Sarah Michelle Gellar would probably put a stake to.

It's all in this week's Horror Bites after the jump.

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Tags Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, buffy the vampire slayer, Dark Tide, david hassellhoff, David Tennant, Final Destination 5, Finding Bigfoot, Fright Night, halle berry, lindsay lohan, Oren Peli, Piranha 3DD, sasha grey, Section 7, Skinny Dip, Vampire in Venice

Around this time last year we were all getting excited about this little low-budget horror/thriller "Paranormal Activity," by a then-unknown filmmaker by the name of Oren Peli. The movie arrived and it made ridiculous amounts of money which, coupled with the tiny budget, quickly turned it into the most profitable movie of all time.

Peli star has been on the rise since then. He's producing a sequel to "Paranormal," which arrives in theaters just before Halloween this year. He's working on another sort of "found footage" film, this one apparently involving aliens, called "Area 51." And now he's got a TV series in the works. Deadline reports that ABC has picked up a pilot for "The River," which is described as "cinema verite-style thriller drama in the vein of 'Paranormal Activity' set on a mysterious river." I'll be curious to see how a couple's self-filmed struggles with an unfriendly demon compares to a river thriller, but Peli is definitely the right guy for a verite-style treatment of the supernatural.

Tags Oren Peli, Paranormal Activity, The River

Last year, "Paranormal Activity" became a late-in-the-year sensation when Oren Peli's "found footage" horror flick -- which first screened in 2007 -- arrived in theaters following an extensive social campaign staged by Paramount. The $15,000 budgeted movie grossed almost $200 million worldwide, the strongest budget-to-box office earnings ratio in Hollywood history.

A sequel was inevitable.

Now we have the first trailer for "Paranormal Activity 2." If you haven't seen the original, there's a definite spoiler alert here: the first half runs through a brief retelling of the conclusion. The rest is all new though, and it looks very much the same in terms of style. Instead of a handheld we appear to be peering through a full suite of security cameras. There's a dog too.

I hope nothing bad happens to that dog.

The sequel hits theaters on October 22 of this year. Peli is busy working on his follow-up, "Area 51." Tod "Kip" Williams will be directing in his place, with a screenplay from Peli and Michael R. Perry.

Tags Oren Peli, Paranormal Activity, Paranormal Activity 2, Tod Williams

One of the more interesting developing projects out there right now is "Paranormal Activity 2," sequel to the 2009 smash hit from newcomer director Oren Peli. Since Peli is off now working on his own follow-up -- called "Area 51" (for now) -- Paramount has had to turn to other possible candidates to direct. "Saw VI" director Kevin Greutert was at one point set to helm, but he was later shuffled back to Lionsgate's long-running franchise. The most recent rumblings suggested another crop of possibilities, including veteran filmmaker Brian De Palma, but the studio isn't ready to confirm anything just yet.

MTV's Josh Horowitz caught up with "Paranormal Activity" star Micah Sloat on the red carpet at last night's 2010 Independent Spirit Awards ceremony, and he asked the actor to set the record straight.

"I know a lot, I can't tell you--" he said, cracking into a smile before adding, "Well, just a little." Read more...

Tags Micah Sloat, Oren Peli, Paranormal Activity, Paranormal Activity 2, Video

"Paranormal Activity" isn't really a presence right now, as we swing into awards season. Still, it's hard to forget the stunning performance of a sub-$15,000 budgeted film that earned in excess of $100 million during its theatrical run. Awards-worthy or not, director Oren Peli accomplished something special with his found footage haunted house flick.

As a result of that, I'm leery of any sequel talk. Let's not forget "The Blair Witch Project," which had a similarly successful grassroots promotional campaign and budget-to-box office performance ratio. A sequel for that one dropped, "Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2," and it completely abandoned the spirit of the original. I won't discount a "Paranormal Activity" sequel out of hand... but I'm uncertain. Especially with "Saw VI" director Kevin Greutert hired to direct it. Read more...

Tags kevin greutert, Michael R. Perry, Oren Peli, Paranormal Activity, saw vi

One of the more remarkable showings in the world of film last year was director Oren Peli's found-footage haunted house flick, "Paranormal Activity." Made on a budget of less than $15,000 and first screened for festival audiences in 2007, the movie bounced around in the back corridors of Hollywood before finally opening wide to record-breaking numbers last fall, after more than 1 million fans "Demanded It" in an unconventional grassroots Internet marketing campaign staged by Paramount.

As we enter 2010, Peli has a lot to look forward to. "Paranormal" is fresh out on DVD/Blu-ray and his sophomore effort, "Area 51," will presumably hit theaters. The director was kind enough to share some of his thoughts on the excitement of 2009 for us to bring to on MTV Movies Blog, so here they are...

To our "Paranormal Activity" fans,

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your incredible support now that "Paranormal Activity" is out on DVD and Blu-ray.

As many of you know, the road to getting this movie distributed was long and challenging, to say the least. Looking back on everything, I can truly say that it was your passion and enthusiasm that made it all possible. Read more...

Tags Oren Peli, Paranormal Activity

While "Michael Jackson's This Is It" was busy crossing the $200 million box office threshold, director Oren Peli's "found footage" horror flick "Paranormal Activity" quietly slipped past $100 million in box office receipts. Not a bad haul for a movie that cost less than $15,000 to make.

It's been an impressive run from multiple angles, really. "Paranormal" was completed in 2007 and screened for festival audiences in 2008. It was picked up for release, shuffled around as studio forces re-aligned, pegged for a total re-do and ultimately trickled out slowly into theaters by way of an ingenious marketing campaign that ostensibly gave fans the power to bring the movie to their city. Anticipation worked up to a fever pitch and the flick opened wide to unprecedented numbers. Read more...

Tags Oren Peli, Paranormal Activity

"Paranormal Activity" is one of the most impressive theatrical releases of the year, what with its miniscule budget and still-rapidly-climbing box office performance. As a result, everyone has been all sorts of curious to hear more about director Oren Peli's next project, titled "Area 51."

Peli has been adamant in his refusal to share any details about the movie, which is described as another "found footage" effort in the vein of "Paranormal." In the two times I've interviewed him, I don't even think he repeated the title; every question on the subject is greeted with a "no comment." Now, the first details have come to light. I hesitate to even post about it, since it falls into the realm of "leak." Needless to say, tread carefully, readers... spoilers lie ahead. Read more...

Tags area 51, Oren Peli, Paranormal Activity

Big shock there, right? A decade after the release of "The Blair Witch Project," we have director Oren Peli's found-footage supernatural thriller "Paranormal Activity" setting Hollywood ablaze with an record setting box office performance in comparison to its miniscule, sub-$15,000 budget. So it's no wonder that the "Blair Witch" creators, in many ways the progenitors of this sort of phenomenon, are looking to bring it back home to their original success story.

We heard back in August from co-directors Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick that "Blair Witch 3" talk was happening, but Sanchez spoke to The Star last week a little more about how those talks are shaping up so far (via Latino Review). Read more...

Tags Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sanchez, Oren Peli, Paranormal Activity, The Blair Witch Project