26 Like A Geyser (1/2)

Mae, played by Rachel, turned off the DV camcorder with a sinister smile, and then the movie ended. The Lionsgate Films logo appeared on the big screen once again. A few rows of small words appeared underneath the logo. They read: ”Filmmaker: Wang Yang” and ”This film is a work of fiction”. But the words were very small and they remained on the screen for only one or two seconds; they were barely noticeable. Besides, the audience was imbecilic with shock, so no one paid any attention to those words.

Once the audience had regained their composure, they gasped and began chattering amongst themselves, filling the theater with their noise. They were the first people to have ”eaten the crab”. Even before entering the theater, they had believed that Paranormal Activity was a true story. If anyone were to be scared and impressed by the movie, they were them. Their reviews mattered a lot to the movie. It was their reviews that would determine whether Wang Yang's viral marketing strategy would work.

Two Caucasian youngsters rose from their seats and exited the theater through the aisle. One of them was still shaking due to the movie; the other was so excited he would not stop talking about scaring his friends with it. ”This is unbelievable! Oh, Lord! That last part really got to me. Oh, God, do you think there is such a thing in this world as evil spirits?””We have to get Sean to see this. I can't wait to see his frightened face…”

Another group of youngsters walked along the aisle. One of them, a black guy, was cursing incessantly to the others. ”D*mn it, this is the most unsettling horror film I've ever seen! I shouldn't have come here and watched it. I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight, and even if I do, I'll have nightmares. Sh*t…”

Wang Yang was sitting in his seat. He listened to the audience's conversations as they left the theater, and he felt a sense of accomplishment. It was unlike anything he'd ever felt before. He closed his eyes gently and relished the moment. He felt it. He found it. He'd found what he'd been dreaming about ever since he had been a little boy. And that was the ability to make people laugh, to make people cry, and to make people lose their minds. That night, the audience at the theater was just like the villagers in Cinema Paradiso, and he was the director.

He had chewed through his own chrysalis and emerged as a full-fledged butterfly. He would take to the skies at any moment!

Jessica was sitting beside Wang Yang, but she did not disturb him. She looked at Wang Yang quietly. Her face was as sweet and tranquil as ever. As she looked at Wang Yang's face, she related to the desire, joy, and triumph in his heart. She recalled the first time she had acted in a movie, and how happy and excited she had been then to have found her true purpose in life.

They sat together for a good while as the audience left the theater one by one. Then, another small group of people entered the theater. They were there for the next screening. Suddenly, Wang Yang opened his eyes. He took a deep breath and saw that Jessica was smiling at him. ”Congratulations, Yang,” she said. ”Thanks, Jessica,” Wang Yang replied with a broad smile.

The two of them made their way out of the theater, and when they were at the ticket office, Wang Yang received a phone call from Joshua. Through his tone over the phone, he could tell he was extremely thrilled. ”Dude, that was awesome! Your movie nearly made them wet their pants! This guy who sat beside me jumped up when he saw that last part. Then, he ran off screaming, 'Ah! Help me! Help me!' I'm so glad I came. Too bad it's so late. Otherwise, I'd have stayed for the second session. Seeing the people's reactions is so much fun.”

Wang Yang ended his call with Joshua. At the same time, Jessica ended hers with her friend. Jessica waved her phone at Wang Yang, smiling at him. ”Yang, Erin said that she and her friends were nearly scared to death. She told me their hearts are still beating in fear,” she reported. ”Wow,” Wang Yang said happily, ”That's wonderful news. I'm glad I didn't disappoint them.”

The two of them went to the parking lot and found their car. Then, Wang Yang received another phone call. This time, it was from Lionsgate's VP of Publishing, John Feldmeyer. ”Young man, I have some good news and some bad news! The good news is, the people who watched your movie were thoroughly frightened; the bad news is, the occupancy rates for the first screening session were rather dismal,” he stated calmly.

Wang Yang installed himself in Jessica's car as he talked over the phone. ”Look, John, don't worry about that! I'm sure the sales will improve as long as the audiences were scared,” he said smilingly, paused, then asked, ”By the way, you haven't forgotten about the second phase of our promotional campaign, have you?”

In the second phase, Lionsgate would dispatch five employees into five cinemas where the movie was test screened. The employees, each carrying a camcorder in the dark, would capture the audience's shocked faces and upload them onto the internet along with the caption: ”Will you be this scared?” By doing so, they hoped to spark people's curiosity and encourage them to see the movie for themselves. People would think to themselves, ”What's so great about this horror film? No way am I going to be scared like that.”

”Don't worry,” John said smilingly. ”That's our job. We won't forget about it. We have already dispatched our filming crew to The Vitascope cinema. Were you there during the screening? Maybe you'll see yourself in the footage.,” he joked. Then, he switched to a more serious tone and stated, ”All right, Yang. Tomorrow, we shall see the box office figures for the first day of screening. As you know, there will only be a screening next week if the box office figure this week exceeds 100 thousand dollars; and if it exceeds 150 thousand, we'll consider expanding the screening to 50 cinemas.”

”I understand, John,” Wang Yang said with a nod.

It was already late at night, but Wang Yang did not ask Jessica to send him home, for he knew the sooner she got home, the better. He asked her to pull up at a subway station nearby and stepped out of the car. Then, he looked through the car window at Jessica and waved at her. ”Bye, Jessica! Please drive carefully. Don't forget to give me a call when you're home,” he said.

Jessica waved back at him with one hand while resting her other hand on the steering wheel. ”Will do, Yang. Thank you so much. This night has been unforgettable,” she said smilingly.

”I think so, too,” Wang Yang said with a smile. As she started the car and began to drive away, he gave her another wave and bade her goodbye. ”Goodnight, Jessica.”

Wang Yang reached his apartment at around 3 a.m. He received a phone call from Jessica to let him know that she had returned home safely. Then, he flopped onto his bed to sleep. He felt very tired, but the excitement in his mind jogged him from his sleep again and again. After lying on the bed for a good while, his mind finally settled down, and he drifted off to sleep. In his dream that night, he was sitting in a theater with a thousand seats, and all the seats were occupied with people. All of them were screaming at the top of their lungs…

Soon, dawn came. It had only been a few hours since he had fallen asleep, but Wang Yang, accustomed to making every day count, was already wide awake. He freshened himself in the bathroom, then he practiced kung fu and did other things to prepare himself for the day. Then, he took a bowl of freshly cooked noodles to his computer desk. He wanted to go online and see what people had to say about his movie. Just as his computer was booting up, his cell phone buzzed. John Feldmeyer was calling him.

The phone call made Wang Yang feel uneasy. Why did John call so early in the morning? Could it be about the box office numbers? He picked up his cell phone and answered the call. ”Good morning, John. Did you sleep well?” he said with a smile.

”Yang, we have a problem. I was woken up earlier this morning,” John said in a solemn tone. Wang Yang's heart lurched. ”What's the problem?” Wang Yang enquired. ”Last night, a 14-year-old girl in San Francisco had a seizure after watching Paranormal Activity,” John exclaimed after taking a deep breath.

”Oh, my God!” The news stunned Wang Yang. ”How's the girl right now? Is she all right?” Wang Yang asked anxiously, brows furrowed. Then, John cackled and said in a brighter tone, ”It's nothing too serious. She's fine now.” Thank God!

Wang Yang closed his eyes in relief and let out a sigh. ”Why, you… John, you gave me such a fright! From the way you said that, I thought the girl was in serious danger,” Wang Yang retorted, chuckling slightly. He felt extremely lucky. If anyone in the audience were to die due to his movie, he'd have to bear the guilt for the rest of his life.

John let out a big, ringing laugh. ”Hah, I thought maybe you'd like to be scared for once. Think of it as your punishment for giving that girl such a fright,” he joked, then let out another chuckle. ”Yang, this news has already reached Yahoo's news board. You should check out the full article there,” he urged.

”Okay, I'm right at my computer,” Wang Yang replied. He moved his cursor to the Yahoo homepage and clicked on it. Then, he spotted the news article on the homepage. It did not belong to the entertainment or the film category. Instead, it was posted under local news with the title ”14-Year-Old Girl in San Francisco Gets Seizure After Watching Horror Film”.

According to the article, a 14-year-old Caucasian girl in San Francisco and her 20-year-old brother had gone to a theater at midnight to see the movie. They had both been ardent followers of the Kevin murder case, so they'd decided to see the movie as soon as it was released. The movie had shaken her to the core, and at the end, the girl had lost control of her senses and had been shaking violently. Her big brother, who had been equally disturbed, immediately called for help from the workers at the theater. Together, they had rushed the girl off to the hospital. The hospital had tended to the girl immediately. Thankfully, she hadn't suffered any major injury and was only staying in the hospital for observation.

”She crumpled on the floor. Her face was pale green and her lips were black. She kept trembling and saying, 'Uuh…' You know, like she was dying or something. Man, thinking back, it was really creepy!” a worker at the movie theater had told the reporters. ”Why is Paranormal Activity rated PG-13? It should be NC-17 instead! No matter, our cinema will stick to this rating from now on. I don't want any of my customers to have their living daylights scared out of them!” the owner of the cinema said angrily.

Then, the editor of the news article cautioned its readers on the dangers of the movie. He advised those with heart conditions, the youth, and the children to take their physical tolerances into account before deciding to see a horror movie in the theaters or avoid watching the movie altogether lest they put themselves in danger.

”Thank God that no one was hurt,” Wang Yang remarked. As he finished reading the article, his mood lightened. ”Hey, John, that's not fair. That cinema is going to rate my movie as NC-17. It's bound to put a huge dent in the box office figures,” he said jokingly.

”Yang, I think we should thank that cinema owner instead!” John said with a laugh. ”Do you know why?” he asked intriguingly. ”It's because it's great for publicity.”

Wang Yang took a second to register what John had said. ”You mean use the news article as an advertisement?” he asked. The title of his movie, ”Paranormal Activity” had only appeared once in the article, when it was mentioned by the cinema owner. The rest of the time, it was referred to as ”the horror movie”.

”Yes,” John said. He sounded cheery as if he were shrugging his shoulders as he spoke. ”Yang, it's nothing to worry about. That girl is fine now. Besides, it's the truth. There's no harm in letting people know how scary your movie is,” he insisted.

”So what are you guys planning to do?” Wang Yang asked with a frown.

John explained his plan to Wang Yang. ”First, we'll issue a public apology to the girl. Then, we'll invite her and her brother down to Santa Monica for a trip and a tour of our company. We'll pay for the expenses, of course. The most important thing is, we'll post an article about it on our official website. Then, we'll spread the news on every web forum to ensure everyone sees the article.”