Blumhouse has risen quickly through the ranks to become one of the most prominent production companies for mainly horror content, while also establishing its ground into other successful genres. Founded in 2000 by Jason Blum, the original company model has been to produce primarily smaller budget movies, allowing directors to expand their creative freedom. Originally named Blum Israel Productions, they had an exclusive first-look deal with Miramax up until 2002, when it became Blumhouse Productions.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
7 Paranormal Activity
Paramount Pictures
As the first horror film to ever be released by Blumhouse, Paranormal Activity is about a couple, Katie (Katie Featherston) and Micah (Micah Sloat), who make the move into their new house together. Once strange occurrences start to happen in the couple’s home, Katie’s backstory comes to the surface, revealing that her and her sister Kristi have been tormented by a demonic entity since childhood.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
The scariest part about Paranormal Activity has to be that the project is shot in an unfiltered, found footage format, solely from a handheld recorder. Also, the fact that the actor’s real names are utilized as characters, and that the film opens by thanking their families and pretending everything was real, brings an authentic element into the film’s atmosphere.
6 Insidious
FilmDistrict
The supernatural thriller Insidious revolves around a local family who begins to experience a series of disturbing paranormal events after moving into their new home. Married couple Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai Lambert’s (Rose Byrne) son suddenly enters a blacked out state, where his physical body becomes a placeholder for demonic possession from entities to enter at any time, through an unidentifiable astral plane. Basically before you move into any new home, do extensive research.
5 The Purge
Universal Pictures
The Purge is one of the most organically terrifying films to be released in the current era; just the thought of having a whole night where any type of violence is legal and justified is petrifying beyond anything explainable. In the film, prisons are beyond crowded and citizens have become increasingly angry by everyday circumstances and stressors. While the government sanctions a yearly 12-hour period during which all criminal activity is legal, people in the film are able to “cleanse” themselves by committing crimes for the night. What’s interesting is that the government does this to justify murdering innocent people of color, but covers this up with the cleansing talking point.
4 Get Out
Dating has never been the same since Get Out was released. After appearing to be in the next stage of their relationship, Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) and his girlfriend Rose (Allison Williams) become more serious. When Rose invites him to meet her parents at the family’s secluded countryside home, the film takes a turn for the worst when Rose and her parents scheme to rework Chris’s mind and sell him off to their various friend groups. Chris, who’s a Black man, uncovers the family’s secrets, and their horrendous treatment of Black bodies, as he also tries to escape before it’s too late.
3 Halloween
The 2018 feature film reboot of Halloween project stars Jamie Lee Curtis, reprising her role as Laurie Strode. After being institutionalized for nearly 40 years at Smith’s Grove Psychiatric Hospital for his killing spree in Haddonfield, Michael Myers is set to be transferred to a maximum-security prison. He obviously breaks out (because he’s Michael Myers), leading him on his decades long quest to capture and kill his remaining family member (according to some Halloween installments), Laurie Strode.
2 Us
The meaning of the horror film Us, is heavily related to racial and economic identity, navigating away from the typical horror film plot line as it explores facets of politics from the 21st century. The idea of being afraid of outsiders and anyone who appears to be visibly different is a crucial component of the film, which interrogates a society that has become conditioned to be afraid of those who either aren’t from the same background as us, or have a different view point than ours. The point is that the worst enemies of human people can sometimes be ourselves.
1 Unfriended
On a typical night in Unfriended, several teenagers are all online, participating in a group video chat session. Once an unidentifiable user, “Billie22,” logs onto the chat, odd events begin to happen when one of the users begins to get a series of direct messages from a classmate who had killed herself. Forcing the group to reveal their darkest secrets, the rest of the users begin to get killed off, one by one, in this excellent and frightening example of social media in movies.
