BLUMHOUSE PRODUCTIONS, run
by the indefatigable Jason Blum, has become one
of the biggest success stories in Hollywood by
sticking to one simple rule: making a succession
of horror movies with the emphasis on low
budgets and big proits. We asked Blum to talk
us through its standouts.
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY __ (2007)
Oren Peli’s micro-budget (it cost just $15,000),
supernatural home-invasion story was looking
for a distributor when Blum irst saw it. “I didn’t
FULL BLUM
WORDS CHRIS HEWITT
Producer Jason Blum — the
king of low-budget horror —
on his greatest hits
think it was the greatest movie ever made, but
I deinitely thought it was effective.” Blum
hooked up with Peli and screened the ilm at
his house multiple times before he sold it to
Paramount. “It took three years,” he laughs.
“It was a wild ride.” But one that led to ive
sequels and a total gross of $887 million, before
bowing out with Paranormal Activity: The Ghost
Dimension in 2015. Was Blum quitting while
he was ahead? “That’s generous,” he laughs.
“We might have quit one earlier!”
INSIDIOUS __ (2010)
Still thrumming from the success of Paranormal
Activity, Blum recalls getting a pitch in his “little
ofice” from the guys who had made Saw, director
James Wan and screenwriter Leigh Whannell.
Their idea: a haunted-house movie that goes
full-on berserk by the end. “James said the third
act was going to be very David Lynch, which
scared a lot of people,” recalls Blum. “Most
executives don’t like scary movies. Happily, I love
them.” Blum said yes to Wan, as long as he could
make it for $1 million. He did. And so far the
series — three and counting, with Whannell now
directing — has made over $350 million worldwide.
SINISTER __ (2012)
Blum went to college with Ethan Hawke, so
when he was looking for a name to anchor Scott
Derrickson’s demonic thriller, he knew just the
guy to call. “Ethan doesn’t like horror movies!”
laughs Blum. “One of the reasons he didn’t want
to do one was that he thought acting in a horror
movie would be scary. But he loved this idea that
it was about a guy choosing his career over his
family, and that we could use genre as a way to
deliver drama.”
THE PURGE __ (2013)
Hawke enjoyed his irst dalliance with the
horror genre so much, he immediately signed
