Paranormal Activity

Paramount’s Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension, the sixth film in the Paranormal Activity franchise, it to be the last.

USA Today shared the first images from the Greg Plotkin-directed sequel, in theaters October 23, 2015, while also revealing that it will conclude the supernatural series that began with Oren Peli’s indie from 2007.

“It’s coming to an end. This is it, the finale,” says producer Jason Blum. “We’re saying it before the movie opens. We’re not going to grind this horror franchise into the ground. This will keepParanormal Activity as part of this culture and this particular time in a really fantastic way.

“We couldn’t go just teasing,” Blum added. “All the questions that everyone has asked from the past Paranormal Activity films: What does Toby look like? What’s the backstory to the families? These questions have been teased out. Now they will be answered.”

Even Toby will be revealed after remaining unseen in previous films.

“We’ve done well without showing Toby, being able to create tensions and scares based on audiences’ imagination,” says producer and creator Oren Peli. “But people are very curious.”

“At some point, might there be a reboot? You never know. We’ve never discussed it,” says Blum. “(But) we made this movie like it’s the end of this Paranormal line for sure.”

In terms of story details, The Ghost Dimension, directed by Gregory Plotkin, follows a new family, the Fleeges — father Ryan (Chris J. Murray), mother Emily (Brit Shaw) and their young daughter Leila (Ivy George) — who move into a house and discover a video camera and a box of tapes in the garage.

When they look through the camera’s lens, they begin to see the paranormal activity happening around them — including the re-emergence of young Kristi and Katie. --Bloody Disgusting

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I can’t decide what sounds better, augmented reality ghosts or virtual reality ghosts, like the ones we’ll soon be seeing in the just-announced Paranormal Activity VR. Not content to be just another adaptation of a popular film franchise, this game will make full use of the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset and Sony’s Project Morpheus.

“Our goal is for the Paranormal Activity VR video game to not only be the scariest game you’ve ever played, but the scariest experience you’ve ever had,” claims the press release Paramount employed to quietly announce it.

Teaming up with a franchise like Paranormal Activity, which has established itself as a brand with significant worldwide appeal — albeit waning appeal — is the sort of thing that could help virtual reality see the mainstream success that many hope it will get when the headsets finally start shipping. And if it doesn’t, VR will always have a home in horror.

Paranormal Activity VR releases next year for PC, PS4 and Xbox One. Other platforms, including mobile, were mentioned but nothing specific has been confirmed just yet. --Bloody Disgusting

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