With 31 days till Halloween, it seems just about time for the big boys to start in on the list. Tonight’s film has a wealth of extras and, well Second Sight have dug deep to make the most of a huge hit film. The originator of this modern period of jump scares and ‘found footage’, the foundation for Blumhouse Productions (it paid for them at the very least) and the elder brother of the 4 sequels, its none other than PARANORMAL ACTIVITY.

WHATS IT ABOUT?

A young couple, Katie and Micah are experiencing disturbances in the evening while they sleep.  Slowly they see more and more evidence that suggests that their suburban home is actively haunted by a demon. In the hope of finding evidence they set up a video camera in their bedroom to film it. They set up the camera in their bedroom and wait. What they capture over the next 20 days, is a series of disturbing and terrifying things. Things that they could never ever have imagined.

WHY SHOULD WE WATCH IT FOR HALLOWEEN?

Well if you have been living under a rock for the last 12 years or if you have maybe been avoiding the big blockbusters of the period, then you would have missed this film. I was then and am now, not a fan of the film. Finding the act of picking up the camera instead of just running after the demon or say just shutting a door to the bedroom, a simple enough solution to the problem. However, it is a well built and structured feast of tension and fear. The director Oren Peli intelligently holds back from excess (which he discusses at great length in a commentary) and this in the end, creates the desired effect for the Halloween viewer.

WHAT SHOULD WE LOOK OUT FOR?

Well the disc extras are where all that money goes on. The disc is packed full of interesting bits and bobs. The aforementioned commentary from Oren Peli being the best but followed closely behind by Alternative Ending, which is weaker and The Festival Cut Ending, which is also weaker. The Audio commentary by Mary Beth McAndrews and Terry Mesnard, flip flops between horror obsession and horror adoration. But it also grasps enough detail to make it worthwhile.

Special Features 

• Audio commentary by Oren Peli
• Audio commentary by Mary Beth McAndrews and Terry Mesnard
• Breaking Normal: a new interview with Oren Peli
• The Marked One: a new interview with Katie Featherston
• The Man with the Camera: a new interview with Micah Sloat
• The Possessed: a new interview with Ashley Palmer
• Alternative Ending
• The Festival Cut Ending
• Deleted scene
• English subtitles for the hearing impaired

Limited Edition Contents

• Rigid slipcase with new artwork by James Neal
• Soft cover book with new essays by Sarah Appleton, Anton Bitel, Shellie McMurdo and Pete Turner
• 6 collectors’ art cards

BUY IT NOW

https://secondsightfilms.co.uk/products/paranormal-activity-limited-edition-pre-order