Overall box office last weekend dropped an astounding 33 percent compared to last year. To help lighten things up, Master Iron Fist has put together a list of his favorite funny “alternate version” film videos. It appears even Hollywood needs a laugh these days. The box office will get a much-needed boost this weekend as ‘Paranormal Activity’ brings back old-school scares.

This weekend’s predictions and revenue projections go as follows:

1. Paranormal Activity 3 ($47 million) - The film’s release perfectly caters to Halloween audiences. Also remember that unlikely blockbuster franchises (‘Pirates of the Caribbean,’ ‘Shrek’) always blow away pre-set expectations when audience interest is high. ‘Paranormal’ is a rare entry that actually scares audiences, and they’ll reward the film for it.

2. The Three Musketeers ($13 million) - Audience disenchantment with this film will set in very quickly, but it still will likely pull in crowds at the start of the weekend. That puts the opening number somewhere mid range (mainly around where ‘Priest’ opened last summer with similar foreign influence). After Saturday, though, expect this one to really start to nosedive. (more…)

“When are you going to stop taping us?” says the female star of ‘Paranormal Activity 3.’

“When this thing is over,” her obsessed husband replies. This franchise is far from over, even if its best days may be behind it.

The third chapter in the sleeper film series can’t measure up to the previous installments. But its signature gimmick – staring at security camera footage until things that shouldn’t be moving start moving on their own – remains a nerve-jangling affair.

Horror movies exhaust themselves with digital effects, torrents of blood and other genre flourishes. All ‘Paranormal Activity 3′ needs is a creaking door or a flapping bed sheet to make us recoil in our seats.

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The Blair Witch Project marks a touchstone in film horror, one best remembered for shattering the mold of what to expect from the genre.

No blood.  No monsters.  Just our own imagination tweaked by the single cam format, a sub-genre leveraged years later by Quarantine, Cloverfield, and Paranormal Activity.

Those films wouldn‘t exist unless Blair Witch proved the format could draw audiences in.

Made on the uber-cheap by a pair of unknown filmmakers, Blair Witch was nothing less than a sensation when it hit theaters 11 years ago. It was the ultimate word of mouth hit without recognizable stars, just a savvy Internet campaign that hinted that what you were about to see actually happened. Everything coalesced into a bracingly original experience, something impossible to recapture today.

That makes the just-released Blu-ray release a chance to appreciate a groundbreaking film, but not a moment to jump out of our seats all over again. The scares simply aren’t the same as they once were. That leaves a curious film, one that still commands our attention but cannot help but disappoint when compared to timeless shockers like The Omen and The Exorcist. (more…)

From the time they’re young children, most people are taught that there’s good and evil in the world, along with angels and demons, God as well as the devil. But while many continue to believe in this cosmic supernatural battle throughout their lives, many others also cease to believe.

But what would happen if you stopped believing in the devil – and even felt you had the means and a mission to prove he doesn’t exist – only to find out that you might be wrong and it might be too late to ever regain a strong enough belief to save yourself from his attack?

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That’s the creepy question underlying the new horror film “The Last Exorcism,” in which a former child preacher named Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian), who became famous for casting out demons, has grown up to be a sarcastic con artist scamming people out of their hard-earned dollars with fake ceremonies and false promises.

But after years of deception, Marcus has become wracked with guilt after hearing of a young girl who died after undergoing an exorcism, and as a result he’s hired a film crew to follow him on one last job in an attempt to reveal on-camera just how fake exorcisms are and teach people that the devil is just a figment of our collective imaginations. He picks a request by the Sweetzer family, who live down a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, and heads out to “free” their teenage daughter Nell (Ashley Bell) and prove that her bizarre behavior has nothing to do with possession. (more…)

The first “Paranormal Activity” was one of my most pleasant and unexpected cinematic finds of last year. Even in the comfort of my living room, the story of a young  suburban couple haunted by some kind of demonic poltergeist kept the tension tightening and tightening right up until the final scene, which was so scary it would take a glass of strawberry Nesquik and a phone call from mommy to get me to nigh, nigh.

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Before actually viewing it, the conceit of the film’s concept — having the events all caught on a home video camera — turned me off. But in this case, my prejudice towards gimmicks and Internet hype failed. If seeing this skillfully crafted low-budgeter at home made me wish I hadn’t given up my stuffed bunny Rudy when I was 15, seeing it in a theatre must’ve been twice the experience.

Horror is my favorite genre. The problem is that effectively and honestly terrifying your audience is in my opinion the most difficult thing for a film to do. Which is why truly worthy horror films come around so rarely. When they do work, however, there is no better movie-viewing experience. And the original “Paranormal” not only works but proves that even with no budget a skilled filmmaker — in this case writer/director Oren Peli — can freeze you cold with nothing more than the movement of a bedroom door. (more…)

The horror smash “Paranormal Activity” is scaring audiences silly without spilling so much as a spoonful of blood. “The Canyon,” in turn, delivers chills not with supernatural shocks but the very real dangers within the Grand Canyon. Who needs ghosts or goblins when Mother Nature starts acting up?

The new film, enjoying a brief theatrical release before jumping to DVD Nov. 17, doesn’t reinvent the wheel so much as spin said wheel as smoothly as possible for nearly two tense hours. Yuppie newlyweds Lori (Yvonne Strahovski) and Nick (Eion Bailey) want to see the Grand Canyon via mule, but they don’t have the permits necessary to make the trek.

Enter Henry (Will Patton), a grizzled local who promises he can secure two permits and guide them to some of the canyon’s lesser known sites. Nick can’t wait. He’s a city slicker at heart, and a rough and tumble trip through a tourist trap’s hidden side is an intoxicating challenge.

Henry knows the terrain, and has the scars to prove it, but even a savvy outdoors type can’t prepare for everything the canyon has to offer. Disaster soon strikes, leaving the newlyweds at the mercy of their surroundings. (more…)

Humans like to think they know the difference between truth and fiction. But in the modern media age, even as we feel technology has made us more savvy than ever, there’s always a disquieting edge that makes us wonder what’s really the truth and where are we being manipulated. Is Fox News really “fair and balanced” just ‘cause they say so, for instance? Or is Obama really bringing “Hope” back to America just because his colorful posters say so? 

Back in 1999, a movie called “The Blair Witch Project” burst into the American pop culture consciousness from seemingly nowhere.  It appeared to be (and was marketed to viewers as) a raw documentary film about three student filmmakers and their tragic last days experiencing supernatural forces while lost in the wilderness, but in reality it was a fictional film made for under $30,000 by a team of indie filmmakers and actors and had caused a sensation at the Sundance Film Festival months before.  (more…)