The Paranormal — The Paranormal( Blu Ray)
The Paranormal is a late 90’s SOV supernatural thriller, with light touches of action, humour & horror. It regards a paranormal team investigating an old movie house that has suddenly become haunted. As the SOV genre goes, it’s a well-produced / scoped affair, with a neat/ original plot, some clever effects, and a decent/likeable cast. Here, from Visual Vengeance, resurrectors of long-forgotten VHS fare, is a Blu-ray release of the film.
The Paranormal is from 1998 and is largely shot/ based around an old movie house. It was directed/ co-written/ stars Columbus, Ohio-born Todd Norris. He had five other director credits to his name- these were all shorts, such as lesbian romantic drama Candy Apple Red (2011), and high school drama Call Me Snake ( 2022). Though he’s seemingly most known as a cinematographer & editor, with seventeen to the former, and fifteen to the latter.
The film has a runtime of one hour and ten minutes. We kick off with a trailer of a film with in the film Z Is For Zombie, which looks very much like a Day Of The Dead clone/ send-up. We then move to the halls of academia, where in one of the classrooms, the bespeckled & polo-necked Kyle Jennings(Todd Norris) is asking for more funding for his department, which deals with the supernatural. The rather stern and tightly platted blond-haired Professor Gumangan( Nenita Gumangan) turns him & his team down, sighting there needs to be more proof.
We then switch to late-night Englewood, where a man in a pick-up has pulled over due to engine problems outside the town's picture house, which is initially all in darkness/ locked up. He starts fiddling around under the bonnet- and the place's neon sign comes on & the door opens. He goes inside, finding all the lights on with the till suddenly opening, he gets an uneasy vibe & rushes out.
Back in the halls of academia, Professor Gumangan has begrudgingly asked Kyle to help her to go investigate the incident at the picture house and the huge power surge it caused. So they pack up their equipment and head out- we find out Kyle grew up in Englewood, and now running the movie theatre is Lynne Meredith (Audrey Crabtree), whom he had a crush on in high school.
As the film unfolds, they try & figure out what is going on- as events move on, film reels start on their own, high supernatural readings are found in the attic, and encounters with a female ghost figure. Within time, the group gets locked in the building- with the film reel playing Z Is For Zombie being unstopped…oh, and it seems things can transfer between the screen & the group's reality.
At a point in the film, one of the characters literally goes inside Z Is For Zombie- then we get a great blend of suspense, action, light horror/ clever effects, and a few neat moments of tension.
From the off, you can see this is a SOV film with a bit more money and professionalism- and I mean really, aside from a few more murky shots/ set-up. It looks & feels like a shot on film movie, with some nice camera work, a few decent/ if simple effects, and a likeable/ well placed cast.
The Paranormal is a really promising debut from Todd Norris, with the whole thing being well/ put together and shot. Hell, he’s even good in the lead role, which you most certainly can’t say for many SOV creators turned amateur actors.
Moving onto this recent region-free Blu-ray, which is the film's first release since it’s 1990’s VHS release. The scan here looks largely good, and certainly a lot better than many SOV releases. It’s only some of the darker scenes that don’t have the same clarity, but I guess that can’t be helped, because as we find out from the commentary track, they were often filmed with just the available lights.
On the extras side of things, we get a decent enough selection of things. First off, there are two cometary tracks- one is with director Todd Norris, and the other is with both director Todd Norris and Composer Paul Roberts. I played the first of these, and I must say it’s a most fascinating track. He begins by commenting on the trailer for the film within the film Z For Zombie- we find out the original idea for the title came from a comic Todd made in grade school with a friend, and the gore scenes were from either Zombie Blood Bath 1 or 2, which were directed by SOV auteur Todd Sheets. He points out the credit front, which was his nod towards John Carpenter’s films. We find out during the 90’s he worked as a projectionist in a small movie theatre/ Video shop- hence how the idea for the film came about, after he got spooked out by hearing a noise in said theatre. We find out the picture was shot on a high 8 video camera- he started writing the script in 1993, going on to film it over a period of four years between 94 and 98. We find out the real Englewood Theatre wasn’t in Englewood, but in Independence, Missouri, and it still open today. He points out actors as they appear, and we find out he wasn’t going to play the lead, as they had another actor for the role, but due to changing schedules, he ended up stepping in. He points out different locations, and how at points shots of these where clever cut together to create a scene. Later on, he discusses when the character goes into the Z For Zombie film, and how this affects the original plot of the film within the film. He mentions subtle changes in his appearance over the film's length, because it was shot over four years. He points out memorable moments in the score, and of course, much more. A track well worth a play.
Otherwise, on the extras side, we have: 2023 Cast and Crew Interviews (9.28). The Two Todds (14.42) Todd Norris and Todd Sheets interview each other. The Paranormal Channel 5 TV Airing Bumpers (3.38). Blooper Reel (10.40). Deleted Scenes (12.38). Original Script Excerpts. Storyboard Gallery. And a selection of short films from Norris-The Closet (5.37). L…(3.24). Night of the Growling (9.06), and Parallax (4.58).
As we’ve come to expect from a Visual Vengeance release, we get a neat selection of things with the disc. Folded mini-poster with art by Giorgio Credaro. Reversible Sleeve Featuring Original VHS Art. 'Stick Your Own' VHS Sticker Set O-CARD featuring art by Uncle Frank. 'Ghost Finder' viewer. And a Promo flyer for 'Z is For Zombie' movie.
The Paranormal most certainly is a great example of a more pro/ polished SOV 90’s film. And it is well worth a look if you enjoy supernatural thrillers, with light touches of action, humour & horror