Paranormal Activity: Alternate Endings & Recut Scenes
Oct 21, 2009 by Kofi OutlawDidn’t like the ending of Paranormal Activity? Find out what other endings were actually shot for the film!
UPDATE: Now you can watch the “Katie Myers” ending to Paranormal Activity!
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PARANORMAL ACTIVITY ORIGINAL ENDING
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[WARNING: This Article Contains HEAVY SPOILERS!!!]
So by now a lot of you have ventured out (and I do mean “ventured”) to see Oren Peli’s low-budget ghost story flick, Paranormal Activity. Ever since we posted an early review and the latest theatrical trailer, Paranormal Activity has become one of the hottest topics on our site. However, viewers seem split over whether the film is one of the best horror entries in recent years, or an over-hyped ripoff that couldn’t scare a ten-year-old.
Well, anybody who’s been following the Paranormal Activity knows that it took Oren Peli and his producing partners almost two years to get the film into a theater near you. And along that long journey, the film was cut and recut into the version we all saw in theaters. But how different were earlier versions of Paranormal Activity? Well, for one thing, the header image above was part of an alternate ending from an earlier version of the film – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg…
Love it or hate it, you should at least be aware of what Paranormal Activity might’ve been. If you loved the film, you may rejoice at the fact the old version was changed; if you hated it, maybe some info about the alternate cuts and endings will persuade you to check extra bits when they are (presumably) released on DVD/Blu-ray.
Either way, this is some interesting info about a much-debated film, so let’s get into it.
[FINAL WARNING, HEAVY, HEAVY, SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!]
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HOW WAS THE FILM RECUT?
According to Horror Squad, the earlier cut of Paranormal Activity had a much slower setup and less chemistry between leads Micah and Katie. Added to the theatrical version were more scenes of “play” between the couple (like Micah bringing the camera into the bedroom for a little romp in the sheets), as well as some daylight “haunting scenes” (Katie’s keys being thrown on the floor and the couple’s hanging photograph being smashed in), which were added to crank up the demon’s fright factor. When [ONE LAST SPOILER ALERT!!!] Katie starts to really slip into the darkside near the end, the filmmakers added some digital tweaking to her voice to make it sound more possessed.
Wanna watch 70 hrs of these two?
Horror Squad also reports that Peli and Co. originally shot about 70 hrs of “home footage” and even went back later to re-shoot some scenes. The running guestimate is that some of the “coupling scenes” were drawn from that original footage, while the daylight “scare scenes” were later re-shot and then added to the film. The sequencing of the demon attacks was also rearranged into escalating scale (instead of a random assortment of sheet pulls, drags and door slams). Finally, that heavy bass reverberation during the haunting scenes was added to the track as a signal to viewers that the demon was present.
VERDICT: There are a LOT of you out there (haters AND lovers) who held the criticism that Paranormal Activity started out too slowly. So if earlier versions of the film had an even slower buildup, and the only new bits added were scenes to make the lead characters more relatable, as well as some additional fright bits, I’d say the version we got in theaters was something of an improvement, wouldn’t you?
Continue reading about Paranormal Activity‘s alternate endings…
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I would rather watch the BBC Production Ghostwatch anyday. That is genuinely creepy as hell!
Great movie – but they lost me at the end with the cheesy lunge towards the camera – that is the only part of the movie where the characters are suddenly attached to the audience. The dread that built was primarily because of the ingenius way that the audience wasn’t a part of their lives – unlike every other lame “scary” movie out there.
My own opinion is that she should have walked in after throwing him on the floor, sniffed him as she did, then gotten up, turned and walked slowly back to the doorway, stood there for about an hour, and then walked out and down the stairs. Leave the camera going for another 10 mins or so (sped up of course) and then cut it.
Last night my friend and I were relaxing with Ghost Hunters…it wasn’t impressive…so we thought, let’s go see Paranormal Activity, why not? I was looking for a good, authentic scare. But I’m feeling pretty indifferent about it. Was it done well for a low-budget film? yes. believable? most of the time. But did it leave me awake at night? Not so much.
I’m wondering if my new obsession with Ghost Hunters and Extreme Paranormal and every other show out there have actually made the paranormal feel more normal to me. So maybe I went into it a bit too skeptical.
@HorrorFan is right, it’s more creepy than scary. Demons are a whole different level of creepiness than just odd sounds in the night.
My coworker tells me to just wait…that a seed has been planted and a week from now falling asleep at night won’t be so easy…we’ll see…
Had to walk out on a viewing last night – we had an unbelievable amount of rude and disenchanted youths in our theater. Sigh.
However, I had seen it earlier in the week, so as I scramble to find downloads of the theatrical ending to show my friend (who walked out also, but hadn’t seen it before), I reflect on its lasting effect on me:
I twitched in the theater, squeezed the hubby’s hand. I at no point felt like I was going to scream, but I was always on the edge of my seat, and was generally creeped out. I did feel that the theatrical ending was great up until the hackneyed OMG CAMERA LUNGE – however, the original cut (which I just saw) was a bit slow.
I was never in danger of loosing sleep from this, but I felt enriched, and interested, and wanting to know more about the lives of Katie and Micah! To me, this feels much more like the leaked footage of one of those haunting shows, one that’s actually real. No, not the scariest movie EVAR, but a genuinely warm and dense character movie – I laughed with them, and their pain affected me.
So if earlier versions of the film had an even slower buildup, and the only new bits added were scenes to make the lead characters more relatable, as well as some additional fright bits, I’d say the version we got in theaters was something of an improvement, wouldn’t you?
Not really, in my mind slow does not really mean bad. I rather enjoyed the current theatrical release but mainly to the later frights and of course the ending. However the film did feel slow from the beggining, not because of the pacing but because it felt lacking in some areas such as character relationships and fright scenes. It actually felt like something was missing to go deeper into the relationship of the couple so therefore perhaps the original scenes should be put back. As for the fright scenes, I would definitely welcome all the original scenes because the begining portion of the movie felt lacking in that area. I know it was building up but knowing that there were other fright scenes one can only wonder how much scarier it could have been from begining to end.
Ok I’m hearing that there is many endings to this. Ive heard she kills Micah throws him to the camera walks to him sniffs then leans on bed rocks back and fourth and I don’t know what else, but the version I saw in California was she kills him throws him to the camera crawls on all fours sniffs then lunges (Which was real cheesy) and movie is done.
My friend told me he had a different ending. My Point is how many different f**king endings is there?
And is any of it even real? Is this whole “Documentary” real?
I just saw this movie Monday I am a movie
rater that’s my hobbie
but this movie was of all kind scary.
The build up was the good part of it because
She mostly explained when the entity
began haunting her.
When the demonic entity pulled her off the bed
was the most chillful part of it but a good horror flic
I thought it was creepy-good for the entire movie. The last 2 minutes freaked me out though! After the screaming stops my friends and I were joking how she’d killed him but didn’t think it was really how it was going to end… I had to cover the corner of the screen Katie was crawling up from at the very end so I didn’t see her CGI’d face, although now I’m wishing I hadn’t. I liked the slow build, it was a nice change and I thought overall, this movie was great! (I saw the walking over and sniffing version)
It was a great movie….the throwing of the body on the bed and the creepy walk like the ring, and she just lays down next to micah would have left you in chills and hanging for more. That’s just mine opinion though.
I found this movie to be sub-par. I was not scared at all, but that may be due to me becoming callous to thrillers. The story line was underdeveloped and in the case of the theatrical not everything needs a squeal. It did have a few moments where I was on the edge of my seat, but it had nothing that made me jump.
I just watched the earlier version of it and i have to say after what i’ve heard about the newer version, i think the one i watched seems more creepy and real to me.
Yes the newer ending would’ve been scary but the whole movie was based on it being a true story and the earlier version seems more realistic than the new one.
It was too much like the blair witch movie…haven’t seen both endings either..they over played the ads for the movie, and a lot was lost in that. it might have been better if i hadn’t seen the best parts in the commercials already..it was kind of boring.
I am glad I had the opportunity to see the festival cut, which had the ending with Katie’s death by cop. When I later saw the theatrical version I laughed. The whole walking and the sniffing and the cgi face and the camera lunge and the -GLAVIN!- “SHE IS STILL OUT THERE” ending is horribly familiar. The death by cop disturbed me, it seemed realistic. Reason being, similar things happen every day. It also made the “demon” more cunning, mysterious, and deadly. The theatrical ending turned it into your typical monster, something we can seperate from reality. Gotta say, Steven Spielberg ruined this movie (his ending is the theatrical one.) My advice, somehow track down the original cut or wait for DVD. Either the death by cop or the murder suicide one are FAR more affecting than the cheasy typical monster camera lunge ending. All in all, as I saw it, best creepy film.
addition:
It is not a perfect film. A few scenes were rather stupid from the festival cut: the burning board, the close up of the internet-Diane-face, but all in all, I can forgive those scenes. The picture in the attic was a bit stupid as well. That stupidity would have been fixed by making it something Katie knew she had, as is common in hauntings, rather than something the “demon” pulled out of his travel bag. Overall, the version I saw was one of the better creep-out films I have ever seen. This depends on your taste in film -I hate 90% of all horror films and find 99.9% of them not scary- and your experiences in life. Thi film got to me, not in a JUMP! way, but a primal, child-like way, and that is scary.
I only saw the “Myers Ending”, and I thought it was great. The other two seem way too silly. Why would a demon attack a camera?
The Myers ending is the one that makes the most sense. The demon now inhabits her body, time has no meaning as he does whatever he is doing to her mind.
I much preferred the original ending (Katie rocking back and forth for a day). the theatrical ending to me made the film too self aware (why the hell would the demon care about the camera? And her lunging at the camera was just ludicrous)and was played for a cheap scare. While successful (the theatrical ending certainly makes you jump) I felt the original ending kept the sesnse of dread going, and showed a much more malevelent goal of the demons rather than just “possession”. In the original ending the goal of the demon becomes quite clear: Katie is just another victim in what will be (and probably already is) a long trail of victims. Also, the theatrical ending, with its inkilng of a possessed Katie on the lamb, makes me laugh out loud.
The fact two versions exist (and are readily available) is great tho, cause it show what simple manipulation can be done to a flick to “hollywood-ise” it. I preferred the slow pacing of the original, cause it make the shocks stand out even more (can’t have light without dark etc etc), and the drawn out ending (which still easily could have spawned a sequel) but by the looks of popular opinion, thats just me!
I also prefer the original ending. It wasn’t over the top or anything, considering the other facts in the movie. And I loved the little touch (if you didn’t notice) where when the cops come in and first encounter Michelle rocking-back and forth, right after she appears to not be possessed anymore, the door to the room where the light shut on and off whent he cops were down stairs slammed shut, as the demon was running away to hide. It happened right as the gunfired, so the cops never woulda realized it closed on them. Just love the touch. The pace was also made it like more pure raw footage that’s been shot.
So i guess i didnt see the theatrical ending??
i really need to look it up or something.
i thought the ending i saw was pretty good tho, it gave me chills and i was soooo curious to see if the film really was real or not. i was kinda disspointed when i found out it wasnt, but it was still a really good movie.
What I think would be a great ending would be her eating his body or taking a couple bites, smilling at the camera then slitting her own throat… What do u think?
I dont care what anyone says paranormal activity was scary as heck and eventhough its supposively not a true story i think that some of those events are true no one really knows what these ghosts or demons or poltergiests or whatever u want to call them are capable of doing some things are just unexplainable and that is what this movie is all about and if i didnt read all these stories saying it wasnt real i never would hav suspeted it to be fake overall this movie deserves 10 thumbs up for me i loved it and its truly the scariest movie in the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just saw the movie and I was a little disappointed. The hype advertised made it out to be a scary movie, when in reality it was just creepy. I love watching ghost shows like “Ghost Hunters” and “Paranormal State”, I felt like I was watching a long version of these shows. It was an okay movie but it wasn’t worth $9.
Two of my friends and I watched Paranormal Activity on Wednesday night to celebrate being done with our Anatomy and Chemistry tests. Although some people believe that Paranormal Activity had a slow beginning, I thought that it suited the film well. It made it seem like a real home video. I won’t lie, my friends and I grabbed on to each other every time the night scenes came on, and toward the end, we weren’t sure if we could make it without wetting our pants or not. We even ran from the car back to our dorms. The theatrical ending though, was intense. I watched the original ending with my friend when I got back to campus, and the original ending would not have done the film justice. I’m glad they went with the one that’s in theaters.
The theatrical ending of paranormal activity was mediocre. It goes for a sudden “come out and getcha” scare in a movie that had so far been completely atmospheric. Loud noises and sudden movements are cheap. And the “AND SHE WAS NEVER HEARD FROM AGAIN” thing at the end felt so tacked-on and cliche that it was laughable. Worst of all it opens up the possibility for a sequel to a movie that would be ruined by a sequel just like Blair Witch was. My friends and I actually walked out of the theater saying that Katie should have done something like slit her own throat with the knife, so the knowledge that just such an ending was actually proposed is extremely frustrating to me.
I’ve only seen the, uh… Katie Myers version of the movie… From what I’ve read about all the different versions, thank goodness that’s the version I saw. This cut had the perfect mood and was intense. The theatrical version seems more… gratuitous. All that stuff added in wasn’t necessary.
I generally hate the kinds of movies with these kinds of endings. If I’m going to invest over an hour and a half on these characters, I’d like to see at least one survive. This is still a good movie but these kinds of endings always blow it for me.
I went tonight to see the version they have in the theaters and I absolutely loved it… I was so into the whole paranormal thing that I scratch myself in the face screaming in the end. The other endings: Katie slitting her throat and Katie sitting in a trance, getting killed by the police… just doesn’t make sense. They picked the perfect ending to distribute in the theaters.
I’m surprised to see the comments on this movie. My gf and I were not scared by this movie at all. In fact we were bored silly. I would not recommend this movie to anyone. as far as the ending, I haven’t seen the alternate endings yet, but the theatrical ending was pretty much the only time I was remotely shocked or scared.
My verdict…
I saw the original version, and I loved it. IMHO, when she returns and sits rocking back and forth for days while a voice message from a friend is left, followed by her visit only to discover Micah’s body, and punctuated with the police arriving to find Katie does a few things to the psyche.
For me, watching her rock back and forth for days was both profoundly eerie and disturbing. I wondered when it would end. Then, when the police arrived I felt a sense of relief because it brought back a degree of normality that had clearly eroded. You almost feel comforted by their presence in securing the home. However, I was saddened about what they clearly had to do to Katie. Moreover, when the police heard the footsteps and proceeded to follow them to no avail, it drove home the idea that had been alluded to earlier in the movie about how demons arbitrarily pick people to do their biding- off to the next victim, so to speak.
The original ending, IMO, did a fine job of eliciting -in this order- feelings of abject fear, anomalousness, relief, sadness, anxiety over the demon getting away, then empathy because we know what the demon will put the next person through.
In the end, this brings us to the caveat behind this whole thing:
Control, and the fear of not having it.
Great movie!
It seems that I either saw something different in the original ending or some people missed something.
When the police officer is heading up the stairs, you see the light in empty bedroom down the hall turn on. The door to that empty bedroom then opens slowly. I believe the light in that bedroom then turned off.
When the officer sees Katie and she comes towards him (still holding the knife), the door to that empty bedroom slams shut. The slamming startles the cop and that’s when he shoots Katie.
She was out of her possessed trance when she was shot if I remember correctly. The demon woke her up just in time to get shot by the police officer.
I like the pacing of the theatrical ending better… but the content of the original ending seems to fit more with the tone of the movie. And, it ties in nicely with the scene at the beginning of the movie when Micah was waiving the kitchen knife around. I didn’t really like the whole jumping at the camera thing in the theatrical ending and the “Katie was never seen again” crap… it felt forced for such a subdued film.
Paranormal Activity is probably one of the most horrifying movies of our generation. There’s so much suspense from beginning to end that you literally become “stuck to the edge of your seat” while watching the movie.
Oren Peli did a wonderful job of building the horrific atmosphere the movie needed by implementing the idea of using a home camcorder to capture the events of the film. [SPOILER ALERT!!!] I also loved how it was easy to be fooled into thinking that the mysterious force disturbing the couple was a ghost, only to find out it was really a demon.
In my opinion, [SPOILER ALERT!!!] the original ending that featured Katie killing Micah, walking back upstairs, rocking back and forth, and finally be discovered and shot by the police would have done the film more justice than the version seen in theaters. The ending shown in theaters felt rushed and didn’t really tie into the rest of the film as well as the original ending did. Hopefully when Paranormal Activity comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray, they’ll incorporate all 3 endings (including the rumored version with Katie slitting her throat).
I definitely recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys thriller movies that incorporate a bit of mystery.