This weekend, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY (PA) made $20 mil in just 760 screens.. That's big.

Big because PA has been consistently getting more popular with every week..

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY is important.

It's scary, sure. There's lots of dark moments in which you're on edge worried of what would happen next, but sometimes the most chilling moments were obvious, such as someone staring at you while you're sleeping for 3 hours and simply getting back into bed.

Things that go bump in the night are caught on camera in PARANORMAL ACTIVITY. The film isn't necessarily 'cutting edge,' after all BLAIR WITCH did the same hand-held video camera style in the previous century. But PARANORMAL ACTIVITY is very different, very scary, and quite important for the horror and thriller genre.

In a world where SAW film and cuss words litter the screen with gore and obscene but yet still boring moments, something that isn't gruesome or perverse is on screen. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY filmmaker Oren Peli makes you actually like the characters, though Micah was a bit overbearing with the camera.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY doesn't slice up cast members, doesn't have a body count, and doesn't have new and inventive ways to make someone's head blow up. And even more, it doesn't have graphic rape/sex/or kill scenes like those of THE HILLS HAVE EYES remake..

Instead, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY redefines horror by doing an old fashioned horror film that is downright chilling in the truest sense. It's been quite some time that I actually felt my heart beating in a movie--even though the scene I was watching had no overtly frightening moment.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY is succeeding in giving a generation someone they never had.. The teenagers and 20 somethings grew up on FRIDAY THE 13TH and SAW franchises.. This year, SAW is yet again being rolled out into the big screen with a promising foray of slash scenes to make your curdle up in your seat--not with fear but with revolt.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, however, gave viewers a sense of horror that hasn't been seen in years.

There were several reviews that portray PARANORMAL ACTIVITY as a BLAIR WITCH wannabe. It's far from it, and it far outdoes BLAIR WITCH in acting, scares, and storyline. Reviews that claim it to be the 'scariest movie' ever are probably far from accurate. Though PARANORMAL ACTIVITY may not be the scariest thing ever on screen, it's what happens to your mind after you leave the theater that makes you feel PARANORMAL ACTIVITY was the scariest movie in a long time.

A public relations story was dropped in the run up to PARANORMAL ACTIVITY by Paramount about Stephen Speilberg being so freaked out by the movie, he threw his copy out because he thought it was haunted. Someone I saw the film with didn't think it was very scary at all. He laughed at some moments and rolled his eyes at others. But he admitted today, one day after seeing the film, that he had trouble sleeping at night and kept thinking about what happens when he sleeps. He made a great point to me, saying "it's scary because of how helpless you are when you sleep." PARANORMAL ACTIVITY capitalizes on that fact, and takes it many steps further.. All caught on camera for the world to see.

If PARANORMAL ACTIVITY outdoes SAW at this year's October box office, it will be a monumental feat--and well deserved. And welcomed by the HORROR REPORT and others that feel horror has lost the sense of 'scare' that should come with a scary movie. The movie is producing big results with a low budget and years of debate about how to release it.

It may also be the marketing story of the year, one for business students across the world to think about. The movie was marketed in college towns first, long lines into theaters made newspaper headlines, Facebook spread the word, and hints and tweets were dropped on Twitter. Very inexpensive to do, just as the movie was pretty downright cheap to make. Cheap with a massive payoff.. hundreds of percent of profits for Paramount and a director named Orin Peli, who thanked everyone for the support the film was getting ..

In 2001, the Horror Report (then with the dash) called JEEPERS CREEPERS a breath of fresh air.. A few years later it praised the RING for a creative and frightening horror flick..

But in 2009, it's singing the praises of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY -- a little film that could, and should.

Here's to PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, good luck. And may you blow away all contenders in the Halloween box office race.

See PARANORMAL ACTIVITY -- even if you're not scared in the theater you will most likely be before you fall asleep..

BRYAN SMOLOCK HORROR REPORT SUNDAY 6:54 PM 10/18/2009