Oren Peli, Paranormal's director
It’s one of those stand-up-and-be-proud moments. The surprise horror hit of the year, mockumentary “Paranormal Activity,” about a couple who thinks their house is haunted, was written and directed by Israeli Oren Peli.
Considered the scariest horror movie of all time, Peli came up with the idea of a couple filming the nighttime sounds in their own house after moving to San Diego and being creeped out by the silence of suburbia. Clearly, there are few ghosts in suburban Israeli apartments.
Peli dropped out of school at 16 and set up his own software company, moving to the U.S. at 19 where he began developing animation and video game programs. Fast forward ten years or so, and Peli got the idea for his script from the moans and groans of his new San Diego bungalow.
He wrote a script, fixed up his house with some better looking furniture and held a casting call. After filming the movie in one week – with the help of his wife and best friend — he then edited it on his own home PC, and then submitted it to Screamfest. The film was released in fewer than 200 theaters with limited late-night showings at just 13 college towns, but it then became a web sensation on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.
Paramount then snatched it up, and the rest is horror story history. Peli is now onto his next movie, “Area 51,” another documentary style thriller about three teenagers who check out the mysterious Area 51 Air Force base deep in the Nevada desert.
Israeli entrepreneurship at its best.
