‘Paranormal Activity’ Crew Headed to Area 51

Published by Jeff Leins on: October 7th, 2009

Oren Peli, the writer/director of the viral horror hit Paranormal Activity, is set to begin next week on production of his second feature, Area 51.

The film will be more “found footage” style horror made popular originally by The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield.  Though details are being kept under wraps, it was described in the press release as a “claustrophobic terror” about three teenagers whose curiosity leads them to the legendary and mysterious Area 51 Air Force base deep in the Nevada desert.  It’s probably safe to say they encounter an extra-terrestrial.

Peli initially made the announcement at the Slamdance Film Festival, but with his ultra low-budget ($11,000) movie making big waves in its limited cities ($535,000) he’s making the news public again for the growing fan base he’s acquired in the last month.

“Actually, I’d rather not say anything about AREA 51 except that I am very pleased to be working with the same team who have stood by me for the two or three years it took PARANORMAL ACTIVITY to get into theatres,” he said.  However, this time around he’s working with a budget of $5 million.

I know the whole lost video tapes angle is a cheap gimmick, but I’ve enjoyed the films that rely on it so far.  With such positive, lasting buzz about his first film, I’m looking forward to see what he does with a horror version of E.T.  (It should be noted the picture above is from a video game cover and is not related to the Peli film, which is why you can see the lunar lander in the reflection of it’s creepy bug eye.)