10 Films That Helped Blumhouse Take Over Cinema

The movie that put Blumhouse on the map in 2009, Paranormal Activity was a real statement of intent from Jason Blum and his studio. It's a micro-budget found footage story, made for somewhere in the region of $15,000 and earning $193m worldwide, which makes it the most profitable movie ever based on return on investment. It kick-started a new trend for cheaply made found footage horror films and became a reliable, annual Halloween franchise to replace the ailing Saw movies.

It's a disarmingly simple premise, following a couple who set up a security camera in their bedroom when one of them is worried about the titular supernatural events she believes are happening to her. Much of the movie is spent watching a grainy, static shot of a room and yet, the release of Paranormal Activity was met with real word of mouth buzz about the scariest film released in years.

The legacy of Paranormal Activity reverberated around genre cinema, whether in the aforementioned popularity of found footage or in the rise of Blumhouse to be almost certainly the defining name in the world of modern scary movies.