UPDATE: FlixPatrol have seemingly removed the film from their Top 10 chart for Netflix, though as of yet, they’ve provided no reason way. As recently as this morning, however, it was listed on there.
Halloween might have been over a week ago, but Netflix subscribers are still willing to check out horror titles long after spooky season has drawn to a close. As you would expect, the onslaught of festive films are starting to sink their claws into the streaming service’s Top 10 most-watched list with Operation Christmas Drop, Holidate and Christmas Made to Order all taking up residency, but Paranormal Activity has also been gaining a surprising amount of traction and has now squeaked onto the list as well.
The micro budget supernatural chiller put Blumhouse on the map with what was just the company’s fifth movie and only the second they’d produced on their own, and the result was one of the most profitable titles ever made. Writer/director Oren Peli shot Paranormal Activity on a shoestring budget of just $15,000, and it went on to earn over $193 million at the box office.
Audiences found it to be a little divisive, though, as many people praised the atmosphere and pervading sense of tension throughout the running time, while others criticized it for being 80 minutes of absolutely nothing before throwing in a couple of jump scares at the end. Whatever your opinion, it can’t be denied that Paranormal Activity is nothing if not efficient filmmaking that managed to put a modern spin on the haunted house subgenre.
Inevitably, it went on to launch a franchise that swiftly succumbed to the law of diminishing returns, but with $890 million in the coffers against combined production costs of just $28 million, it was hardly surprising when it was announced that Paranormal Activity would be coming back in from the cold. The seventh installment in the series, and the first since 2015, will arrive in March 2022 and will be hoping the premise hasn’t been worn out quite yet.