The Blumhouse Productions chief on The Lazarus Effect, Paranormal Activity, The Purge 3 and more.

But when one of their own is killed and resurrected, something else comes back as well.

Like many directors who work with Blumhouse, Gelb is still a relative newcomer.

It may also surprise some people to know that Blumhouse was behind last years acclaimed, triple Oscar winnerWhiplash.

Den of Geek: Congratulations is being an Oscar nominee (Whiplashwas nominated for Best Picture).

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Jason Blum: This is really my first one and its really cool.

Whiplashis kind of the little movie that could in a way.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It was definitely an underdog.

So Im really it was an awesome, awesome year.

Awesome run with that movie.

What appealed to you aboutThe Lazarus Effect?

You get so many projects that pass over your desk Im sure.

And we havent seen a movie like that for a while.

So thats what I liked about the movie.

Usually thats what I look for first, like does it feel different?

Does it feel fresh?

This felt like a modern descendent of that.

And also like, you know, talking about creation or the afterlife.

Is there an afterlife?

Is there not an afterlife?

Kind of tying religion into it.

I think thats the whole thing.

Were there any particular challenges to this one on the production end?

The biggest challenge to this was really distribution.

We made this movie and I really was happy with how it came out, all of us were.

And it was very touch and go if the movie was going to come out or not.

So that was kind of the hardest thing.

But Relativity got behind it and we figured it out.

But that was the trickiest thing on this movie by far for me.

Does it surprise you sometimes, what clicks with a distributor or what doesnt?

It shocks me every time.

We make a lot of movies that I dont think merit a wide release.

We have this label called Tilt and we have the movies come out on that and thats fine.

That does surprise me.

It still surprises me.

And he really like stuck his neck out for the guy, you know.

He really, really advocated and I didnt say yes but I didnt say no.

I said lets see how it goes.

I was never comfortable with David until we were looking at dailies.

Both those people wanted to do the movie and I thought, Okay.

Because thats a big deal.

Whats that experience been like?

Well Ive had a great time working with him.

Hes really passionate and I find that infectious.

You know, James Wan had doneSawbut then he had done two movies that hadnt worked before he didInsidious.

Some people loved him and some people didnt.

They came out of his brain.

So I prefer to work with those people.

Its nice, you know.

He feels much more collaborative and it feels very collaborative with him.

And we worked a lot on the movie.

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Its a horror movie?

Its not a horror movie, its a thriller but its scary.

Its actually really funny too.

Its a lot likeParanormal Activity 3.

I dont know if you remember but there was a lot of fun in that one.

And so Nights movie is a scary thriller but its a fun scary thriller.

Theres a lot of fun in it.

Its not just a dark journey, which is one of the things I like about it.

Where doesParanormal Activity: The Ghost Dimensionstand and whats been the process with that?

The release date has changed several times.

It was October (2013) to March (2015) and now its the following October.

Were tinkering with the movie like weve tinkered with all the other movies.

Shooting, writing, shooting, writing, cutting.

Found footage movies are actually much harder to make well.

An effective found footage movie is much harder to make than an effective traditionally shot movie.

But to make it effective theyre actually much trickier.

[Related:Paranormal Activity, Friday the 13thRelease Dates Shuffled]

Where are things at withThe Purge 3?

Were not in production but were working on it.

We have an idea, we have a script that were working on and itll be out July 2016.

And I hope James (DeMonaco, writer/director of the first two) is going to direct it.

He hasnt declared yet but Im hoping that he will.

Its an awesome idea.

Im super psyched about it.

You also just announced that youre doing a family horror film.

Is that an oxymoron?

Im trying to think of a good comparison for that.

Itll be fun, scary, likeHalloweenfor little kids.

I would think that would qualify as like scary fun, right, for young kids.

The Lazarus Effectis in theaters on Friday (February 27).