Movie Review: The Paranormal | Blu-ray | HNN

The Paranormal Movie Review by Matt Boiselle

The Paranormal – directed by Todd Norris, written by Todd Norris and C.Wayne Owens, and starring Josh Anderson, Audrey Crabtree and Nenita Gumangan

Synopsis: A paranormal investigator is called in to check out the Englewood Theater, and after he’ s sealed inside a zombie outbreak occurs.

The ghost-world and the local movie theater: that is a connection that is simply RIPE for horror fans to latch onto until the wheels fall off. In Director Todd Norris’ 1998 shot-on-video presentation, “The Paranormal”, the audience gets to witness when a full-scale zombie infestation hits a cinema after a gamma-ray strike and seismic occurrence befall a small town moviehouse, and the results are simply…well, interesting to witness.

Kyle (Norris) is a parapsychologist who wants to take on the job of investigating the theater after the mysterious event, and he’s eventually given the all-clear from a seedy scientist (Lisa Winegar) to proceed with his assessment. The theater is managed by Kyle’s ex-girlfriend (Crabtree), and once his investigation has commenced is when a film begins to play that acts as a portal-opener of sorts, allowing those inside to both enter and exit it. Only problem is that the film is riddled with the undead, and now with the portal-doors wide open, the chance for them to escape into the theater is right around the corner, and Kyle is now tasked with trying to find a way to shut that door for good.

The film does provide some thrills and chills, and even more fun performances from its starting cast – it looks like a fresh off the shelf VHS watch from the late 90’s, and gives the viewer the looks and feels of such – bravo to the retro-display, even with it actually having been filmed back in the late 90’s. We as a movie-viewing herd have been spoiled to an extent with all the 4K restorations going around that it’s nice to see something presented with that dust & grain look to it. With the release having been unleashed on Blu-ray, fans can jump into this one and be pleasantly surprised at how the film looks, and all of the special features crammed inside – make sure to hop on over to MVDShop.com and grab a copy now!

Bonus Features Include:

Region Free Blu-ray
New director-supervised transfer from original tape elements
Commentary with director Todd Norris
Commentary with director Todd Norris and Composer Paul Roberts
New Cast and Crew Interviews
The Two Todds: Todd Norris and Todd Sheets interview
The Paranormal Channel 5 TV Airing Bumpers
Blooper Reel
Deleted Scenes
Original Script Excerpts
Storyboard Gallery
Short Film: The Closet
Short Film: L…
Short Film: Night of the Growling
Short Film: Parallax
Visual Vengeance Trailer
Trailers
Optional English subtitles
Folded mini-poster with art by Giorgio Credaro
Reversible Sleeve Featuring Original VHS Art
‘Stick Your Own’ VHS Sticker Set
Limited Edition O-CARD featuring art by Uncle Frank – FIRST PRESSING ONLY
Limited Edition ‘Ghost Finder’ viewer – FIRST PRESSING ONLY
Limited Edition Promo flyer for ‘Z is For Zombie’ movie
Featuring original sleeve art by The Dude