It had a better and more famous supporting
cast, was notably bigger at the box office, and had
sequel talks going on
for awhile (I think the
idea of a
sequel was recently canned after Jolie said she doesn't want to do a second film, actually).
At the film's recent press day, McCarthy, Falcone, Sarandon, Gary Cole, Mark Duplass, Nat Faxon, Sarah Baker and Kathy Bates talked about how the project first emerged, what sparked the
idea for the story, how growing up in Illinois informed McCarthy and Falcone's comedy, what the stellar
cast brought to the movie, their characters and how improv colored them, working with a first - time director, Sarandon's new look, the convincing couple dynamic between Bates and Sandra Oh's characters, Sarandon's selfie with Geena Davis that went viral, and the possibility of a «Thelma & Louise»
sequel.
The
idea of students trapped in an auditorium after dark and chased by vengeful spirits isn't without promise, but rookie directors Travis Cluff and Chris Lofing show no facility
for the kind of plausibly claustrophobic camera setups that make Paranormal Activity (or its
sequels) so visually compelling; it also doesn't help that their
cast of fresh - faced young actors (all playing characters under their real names) never quite inhabit the supposedly pants - wetting terror of their situation.