The Paranormal Blu Ray Review (Visual Vengeance)

The Paranormal is a 1998 supernatural horror film co-written, edited, sound, and directed by Todd Norris (The Wonderful Way-Ahead Machine, Call Me Snake, Nighty Night, Fringe Follies, and Candy Apple Red). It was co-written by C. Wayne Owens (Linda Lovelace for President, Mind Over Murder, A Matter of Justice, A Deadly Vision, and Gone in the Night). Something is haunting the Englewood movie theater, an unseen force that comes alive after dark. Paranormal investigator Kyle Jennings (played by: Todd Norris from Degrees of Latitude, No Master Over Me, Charismata, and Mudjackin’) is called in, but the moment he steps inside, the nightmare begins. The theater seals itself shut, the screen tears open like a doorway, and the low budget zombie movie playing suddenly becomes real. With the undead spilling into the aisles, Kyle must uncover the source of the disturbance before the entire theater becomes a feeding ground, and the only clues may be trapped inside the film itself!!!! The Paranormal has an awesome concept especially for being a no budget shot on video production. Todd Norris kept busy with acting, sound, and writing while making his full length feature debut behind the camera. This supernatural independent film focuses on a group that tries to investigate a mysterious zombie that allows it’s viewer enter into a completely different universe. This mainly unseen horror movie doesn’t really have any known actors but they have a blast executing this creative script together. The cast includes Todd Norris, Josh Anderson, Nenita Gumangan, Carol Koehler, Brian Stubler, Gina Tarantino, Lisa Winegar, C. Wayne Owens (Mars Attacks!), Davide Baldin (Back to the Wind: The Danny Gilyeat Motorcycle Makeover Project), Dave Byerley (Punisher: War Zone), Audrey Crabtree (Factory Accident Sex), and Rick Daniels (Zombie Bloodbath). Most of these performers only appeared here. It’s a creative approach especially for the zombie sub-genre in the late 90’s. I think it was only made for around $3,000 but Norris put plenty of effort into the right behind the scenes stuff with this. The haunted cinema and multiverse angle is beyond ambitious for what they had but it keeps the attention of it’s viewers. It goes against some of the typical rules which I respected and it made it stand out a little more. The special fx were cheaper in this but I enjoyed the simple look of the zombies. It’s more thriller than a gorefest or anything like that but it still has some violence in it. It sticks to it’s main theme and it keeps building up to something more. The Paranormal is all about it’s darker atmosphere and it’s isolated setting. It gets s little slow at times but it’s worth sticking around for it all to fully resolve. It’s extremely obscure and it was barely released back in 1998 so it’s cool that it’s finally available to a wider fan base after all this time, RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from Visual Vengeance in association with Wlld Eye Releasing! This upconverted 1080i (1.33:1) fully uncut transfer from a newer restoration from the original tape elements. The Paranormal makes it’s home video debut here, Visual Vengeance does their best for the highest possible quality with this HD upgrade. The shot on video style and it’s main theater location pops out the most for it’s overall look. It has an English: Dolby Digital 2.0 track on the disc. The jump scares and zombie attacks shine the most when it comes to the audio. All of the dialogue is very clean, the suspense is elevated, and the music has a huge boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. It has an “Audio Commentary” with director Todd Norris. It has an additional “Audio Commentary” with director Todd Norris and composer Paul Roberts. It has brand new little over 8 minute “Cast and Crew Interviews” featuring Todd Norris, Dave Baldlin, and Jess Sisson. They chat about the auditions and casting for this. They talk about their characters and their opinions on it. They go over the original script and it’s changes. They joke about the special fx and doing more than 1 job on the production. They tell some inside stories about The Paranormal. It has the almost 15 minute “The Two Todds: Todd Norris and Todd Sheets Interview”. This is an interesting conversation between independent directors from Kansas City. They say they were consistently confused for each other back in the day. They share their appreciation for Italian Horror here. They bring up the Demons comparison to The Paranormal. They discuss how they first met and that they were doing similar things in the same area. They worked together and it’s cool to see them revisit their history. It has the almost 4 minute “The Paranormal Channel 5 TV Airings Bumpers”. It has the almost 11 minute “Blooper Reels”. It has the little over 12 minutes of “Deleted Scenes”. It has under the minute “Original Script Excerpts”. It has the 2 minute “Storyboard Gallery”. It has a variety of Visual Vengeance “Trailers” including one for The Paranormal. It has a few horror shorts that were directed by Todd Norris that were basically unreleased until now, they are not even listed anywhere including IMDB. It has the almost 6 minute “The Closet”, the little over 3 minute “L…”, the little over 9 minute “Night of the Growling”, and the almost 5 minute “Parallax”. These all kinda has a Twilight Zone vibe to them with some Italian influence thrown into the mix. It comes with a slipcover, 2 different artworks underneath, retro sticker sheet, The Paranormal Ghost Finder, Z is for Zombie insert, and a mini poster. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!