The River: Paranormal Activity Director's TV Horror

With the exception of Supernatural, horror fans won't find a lot for them on network TV these days. But that will be changing soon, as ABC debuts The River, from executive producer Oren Peli, the writer/director of Paranormal Activity.

When the cast and creators of The River spoke at the TCA (Television Critics Association) press tour today, Peli recalled how the idea began as a film concept he had, about a rescue mission to find a mission documentary crew. That idea got tabled, but Peli then humorously told us how Steven Spielberg -- one of the show's producers -- told him, 'Hey, we should do a TV show together!" and his natural, "Okay!" reaction. It was one of the Paranormal Activity 2 writers who then suggested that earlier idea would make a good TV show, albeit with some tweaks.

The result is a show focusing on the disappearance of Dr. Emmet Cole (Star Trek's Bruce Greenwood), a

 famous TV adventurer in the Crocodile Hunter mode. Accompanied by a documentary crew, Emmet's son, Joe (Lincoln Cole) and wife, Tess (Leslie Hope) set out to find him, only to find some very strange, scary and likely supernatural events occuring. And yes, the documentary crew allow for this to be a found footage style horror story.

The River Trailer

Executive producer Michael Green said he didn't fear audience exhaustion with that style, and that he felt it added, "a method of participation for the audience. It makes it feel a lot more improvisational, a lot scarier and lot more real to us." His fellow EP Zack Estrin said he felt the style contributed "the use of the camera as a character." In this case, since the cameramen are all characters on the show, he noted, "You're seeing the filmmakers themselves react. Those camera guys are getting as scared as everyone else."

Anderson said the documentary style took some used to, remarking, "Because there are multiple cameras, and those cameras can swing anywhere at any time, you have to be on your game 110%. You never know when you're going to be filmed."

Considering Greenwood's disappearance is the set up for the show, the question was raised about just how much we'd see him, outside the footage of him seen in the pilot. Greenwood of course couldn't answer in specifies, but simply stayed, "They find more and more evidence. You see more of me…"

Greenwood described Emmet as, "a guy who's happy to wake up in the morning. He has a lot of joy," noting that was a nice change of pace from some of the "unsavory" characters he's played. That being said, he added, "Something changes his view of the world and his ability to tap into that joy."

When it came to their approach to the story and making the series accessible to casual viewers, the producers said they were looking at The X-Files as a template, with Green noting that when it comes to heavily serialized series, "We're all fans of that type of television and know the pitfalls and don't want to fall into them." He said most of The River episodes would feature stand-alone stories, which would function as "Individual horror films," even while the search for Emmet continues.

Estrin said that they were, "Calling from lore of that region" for their episodes, noting there were all sorts of "Spooks and scary things." Said Green, "There's more than just ghosts to be scared of. It's the jungle. There's endless things."

The producers stressed that they really wanted to make The River scary, though gore was never important to them. Estrin said they were looking for, "Real scares from the anticipation of something happening, the waiting. The silence." He added, "The challenge is to be doing this for television, where you have to break for commercial six times, to be honest."

Asked if there might be some deaths along the way among the large cast of characters, Green simply smiled and said, "The amazon is a place with real stakes and real danger."

[source ign.com]