Area 51

Area 51

Oren Peli has a thing for people wandering where they shouldn’t. Whether it’s the hapless tourists in “The Chernobyl Diaries” or the ill-fated expedition of TV’s “The River,” both of which Peli wrote, the filmmaker loves those who see a line drawn in the sand and immediately cross it, fully aware that they’ll have to pay. It’s somewhat ironic, then, that the series for which Peli will probably always be best known is about people who refuse to leave their house.

In 2007, “Paranormal Activity” not only spawned a franchise (a SIXTH film titled “Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension” is due out this year; all six films have had Peli as producer) but essentially begat another one as Peli tweaked his haunted-house formula and produced the four “Insidious” movies as well. Even so: Until now, only one movie he ever directed 2009’s straight to VOD thriller “Area 51,” which finally opens today after ridiculous post-production delays and reshoots has played in theaters. Nice try.

Like most of “Paranormal Activity,” much of “Area 51” looks like DIY found-footage stuff; unlike most of “Paranormal Activity,” though, this film fails the Why Would They Film That test so quickly that you’re better off just taking it as a stylistic choice (like Dogme 95) and not worrying your pretty little head about who’s holding the camera and why.

Besides: The shaky cam/found footage thing might not have been quite so played out when Peli was shooting this movie six years ago, and there are stretches where its aesthetic proves less puke-inducing than it can be amid a glut of lesser “PA” clones. You won’t need Dramamine.

Three dude-bros go to a party; one dude-bro goes missing. He pops up, horror-movie style, in front of the car of his departing buddies, looking not quite like himself. Three months later, the man-children plan a trip to Vegas, where they’ll meet someone who can help them infiltrate the legendary Area 51 that is, the Nevada government compound long rumored to house proof of extraterrestrial life. But first: They have to swing by the Hooters Casino. Next thing you know, they’re using night-vision cameras and breaking into places where they shouldn’t be.

Well, not exactly before you know it. “Area 51” is a Slow Burn horror film most of the running time is spent in preparation. More than anything else, they talk about the titular location. And there’s a lot of prep to do scenes of the boys getting their stuff together, scouting the location, dealing with security, and eventually people knocking on their door in the middle of the night. There’s no tension or action for what feels like forever and “Area 51” might have made a better short film or episode of an anthology series; that whole first-hour set-up could have been cut to five minutes.

In one briefly entertaining interlude, the movie echoes “Willow Creek” a bit when the boys start talking to locals about the alien legend (a la Bobcat Goldthwait playing with mythology for two acts of his bigfoot movie), but Peli isn’t as good a filmmaker and these characters are so paper-thin that I just watched them and I’m not sure if I could pick them out of a police line-up.

They eventually get where they’re going and there’s lots of whispering (“Let’s keep moving”) but very little actual threat. When they find a lab with weird blobby things and floating rocks, it gets more interesting, but that’s at the hour-mark. Sorry spoiler I guess but I’m not sure if it’s really a spoiler if its the first interesting thing that happens in your movie.

To be fair, though slowly eventually catches fire and there’s lots of screaming and heavy breathing and dark tunnels and running etcetera etcetera. The relatively tense final half-hour is clearly why very smart producer Jason Blum thought this would be a solid follow-up to “Paranormal Activity.” It’s that first hour is why it took six years to (barely) get released.

Watch Area 51 For Free On Gomovies.