"Clearly you can't have found footage theatre. But in some ways the fact that Fly Davis's set is nothing but the couple's mundane two-storey house captures the genre's claustrophobia nicely: did something just move in that corner? What's happening on the top floor while the couple are in the lounge? A couple of grainy screens off to the side show us a camera angle of the top floor, which feels like a nice nod to the films."
"James (Patrick Heusinger) and Lou (Melissa James) are a thirtysomething US couple who have just moved to a rainy London for his job, and to get away from that were happening at their Chicago home. She believes she's been haunted by a malevolent supernatural presence since childhood. He wants to be supportive but doesn't want to pretend he believes in ghosts. She is taking strong antidepressants because she wants to be seen to be playing ball. Nothing weird has happened since they moved - but then, suddenly, weird stuff starts happening."
"The parameters for judging a stage adaption of the horror film franchise Paranormal Activity are clearly quite different to, say, a production of . It's not the only consideration, but judgement does essentially boil down to one main question: is it scary? To which the answer here is a frazzled 'oh my, yes'."
Paranormal Activity (the play) follows thirtysomething American couple James and Lou after their move to rainy London. Lou believes she has been haunted since childhood and takes strong antidepressants; James is skeptical but supportive. Fly Davis's minimal two-storey house set creates claustrophobia while grainy side screens provide a top-floor camera angle nod to the films. Levi Holloway's script structures the narrative, and Felix Barrett's Punchdrunk-informed direction amplifies atmosphere and scares. The production departs from found-footage form yet preserves franchise fundamentals and delivers frequent, effective frights beyond simple bumps in the night. Patrick Heusinger and Melissa James lead the cast, grounding the horror in believable domestic tension.
Read at Time Out London
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