Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman To Direct Paranormal Activity 3

 

According to Bloody Disgusting, the directors of Catfish have been selected to direct Paranormal Activity 3.  My first response to this is why not the director of PA2 Tod Williams, who did an excellent job with the film?

Now granted, Catfish was a decent film but I kind of got the feeling that even the directors felt they lucked into how big Catfish was and to be honest, it was the film's misleading marketing that made people see the film.  I know I expected a horror flick but instead got a documentary about somebody misrepresenting themselves on Facebook which happens all the time and was frankly a lot less exciting.  I also think the release of Social Network had a lot to do with the film's success. 

The reason why I have a problem with this selection is that the success of Catfish was driven more by the timing and marketing of the film rather than the excellent directing.  Paranormal Activity 2 was thoroughly enjoyable and I'm not surprised they are making another one, after all, it only costs couple million dollars to produce one.  However, given that this film is one of the most successful horror flicks last year, I can't imagine the producers having a tough time finding better directors than these two.

But prove me wrong.

Comments

[Will]

See, I disagree. Catfish (and the Paranormal Activity movies) are not about great directing. These are films that require a director who has the ability to fool the audience into believing that what they are watching is real. Joost and Schulman pulled this off in Catfish and I don't think it's asking them to step too far outside their comfort zone with PA3.

[J.Bradley]

Ditto. Plus it turns this franchise into a showcase for up-and-coming talent, which is mostly what the producers are going to have to go with if they're going to keep the budgets on these low.