SAW FALLS AT BOX OFFICE
* * * UNDER $20 MIL FOR HORROR FLICK * * *
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY CONTINUES TO TO GROW, BEATING SAW VI IN WEEKEND BOX

Paramount's PARANORMAL ACTIVITY continues to expand in theaters and also grow in popularity.. the word of mouth and word of Net campaign launched by Paramount has proven successful, but making the success even stronger is the quality of the film: It's one of the best horror movies made in years (Read the HORROR REPORT review here)

SAW VI was heavily played.. Lionsgate has been lucky for 5 years, or 5 SAWs... since the debut of the gory genre onto the scene, teenagers and young adults flocked to the theaters to watch creative ways for people to die.. intense gore.. and sexualized torture all in the name of makinng a buck. The series was long heralded by gory horror fans as genuis, while others pondered the cultural complexity that the torture porn genre is bringing..

SAW VI, however, met its match..

Beating the film this week with over $22 mil for the weekend was PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, the little movie that could..

The $15,000-to-make ACTIVITY features no gore, no intense graphic sex, few curses, and a lot of intense and sometimes dramatic moments of fear..

SAW VI's predictability came back to haunt the film..

The biggest part of the story was that SAW was playing in 3,036 theaters on over 4,000 screens.. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, however, is not only in its fifth week, but also is only playing on a little over 1,900 theaters. The smaller movie blew away all competition, including the long promoted SAW..

x x x x

For weeks, horror websites, including major players like DREAD CENTRAL and FANGORIA MAGAZINE, had cutesy little product placements for SAW all over their sites.. Over the past few days, the intense marketing strategy employed by Lionsgate practically took over the site, with large images of Jigsaw being placed on backgrounds of the pages.. Reviews from some horror sites have been glowing.

But it's not movie critics or genre sites that create a buzz, it's people that actually see a movie. The popularity of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY was too strong for SAW to contend with..

x x x x

Maybe the biggest story of the fall of SAW is also the slow death of torture porn. Filmmakers have creative freedom--and free speech. And for a long time, horror writers thought the audiences wanted the shock and drop, the blood and gore, the sex and violence, and the graphic mutilation. But every generation grows up. This one finally may be..

Torture porn flicks have made a name for themselves, but also tainted the name of horror films. True horror doesn't have to feature brutally cruel death scenes, like those of the HILLS HAVE EYES REMAKE.. Horor movies don't have to have graphic rape scenes to be successful.. Horror movies that are serious and true can 'work' if they treat their viewers with decency and respect, and have fun, too. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY is a film that works well with big audiences -- and its getting big audiences. You don't have to leave the theater with a queasy stomach because of scenes with crushed genitals, but you may leave a little jumpy because the true scares played with your mind.

The death of torture porn has been a long time coming.. Movies like HOSTEL and SAW have gained noteriety and popularity because of the gallons of fake but real looking blood shed. Films like ANTICHRIST (2009) took the blood and intensified the gore. Even more, ANTICHRIST is actually a porn film, often graphic. It takes gross out scenes and makes them downright unwatchable..

HALLOWEEN 2 (2009) failed and flopped at the box.. Rob Zombie's graphic recreation didn't work with fans of the original. So the theater will try a 3D version next year..

It appears, though so many are trying to keep the gore flowing, that movies of the mind may be the new wave..

Director Eli Roth claimed that the use of the term "torture porn" by critics "genuinely says more about the critic's limited understanding of what horror movies can do than about the film itself." But director George A. Romero stated, "I don’t get the torture porn films. "They're lacking metaphor."

While it's premature to stick a fork in the dead flesh of torture porn, it's clear that creative ventures may take hold of theatergoers that may have finally had their fill of graphic gore without purpose.

BRYAN SMOLOCK HORROR REPORT SUNDAY 9:27 AM 10/25/2009