Paranormal Activity: The Ultimate Chills Collection Blu-ray Review

The Paranormal Activity series started as the ultimate underdog. Born of the humblest beginnings as Oren Peli figured out on the fly how to make a homegrown movie, cast actors, get the actors to film, then edit the film countless times to refine it until he felt it was ready. He then rolled up his sleeves and found a festival for it to screen and it eventually found its way into the hands of Paramount Pictures. That it grew into a film series that sat atop the horror film mountain for years in a row was unexpected, but such a joy to look back on.

This collection showcases all the films, with the option to watch the theatrical or extended cuts, plus the otherwise out of print 3D edition of Ghost Dimension, it’s a great deal for anyone looking to see what the hubbub was all about, or to complete their collection (it’s the only way to get Next of Kin and the documentary on Blu-ray).

The Production: 3.5/5

Paranormal Activity

“Basically, they’re these malevolent evil spirits that only exist to cause pain and commit evil for their own amusement. It’s pretty creepy- I mean, they stalk people for years, like decades, and sometimes they’re really intelligent in the way they do things to freak you out.”

Micah and Katie are by all appearances a typical suburban couple who live together in San Diego, but they are beginning to deal with something that will change them forever. Something is making noises in their home and Micah has brought home a new video camera to try and catch evidence of whatever is making the disturbances. The home setting, and domestic interplay between the boyfriend/girlfriend couple, are given time to unfold comfortably during the first act. Some may consider that time dull, but it serves as a disarming, normalizing, and acclimating effect and allow the couple to tell say out loud all we as the audience need to know. Micah haphazardly documents the couple during the day and sets up the camera in their bedroom overnight as they sleep, which he then reviews the next day. As the nights pass, and the evidence mounts there is indeed some kind of paranormal activity taking place, the tensions between the young couple rise, nerves become frayed, and the options for what the couple can do begin to dwindle.

Part of Paranormal Activities’ appeal was the underdog story; a small film with a tiny budget enjoying the kind of success that effects heavy behemoths thirst for.

But did the film live up to its hype?

Well, yes and no. While it certainly doesn’t come close to being the ‘scariest movie ever’ as some called it at the time, it succeeded in generating genuine goose-bump raising chills, and when it struck, it struck hard. Surprisingly, those moments were limited, and by function of an ominous rumbling, the audience is given a heads up that a moment was on its way. However, despite the tip-off, that moment still did its thing.

When it gets it right, Paranormal Activity will give you good reason to pull a pillow close, turn down the sound, or turn up the lights. I’ve seen this a few times now and it still gives me chills.

Paranormal Activity 2

“I don’t know if the house is haunted, but I hope it is”

Initially set before the events of the first film, the story begins with Kristi, the sister of Katie from the first film, and her husband Daniel, filming the day their newborn son comes home from the hospital for the first time. We are introduced to this new couple, their daughter, their German Shepard, and meet Micah and Katie again from the first film. Daniel and Kristi also have a live-in housekeeper, a superstitious lady sensitive to the ‘troubles’ ahead. Following a break-in at their home where nothing but a bracelet given to Kristi by her sister is taken, the couple have security cameras installed throughout the house and outside pool area. Several nights pass with a thud heard here, a creak heard there. The footage concentrates on the baby’s room where the strangeness seems focused. The peculiar sounds escalate to unexplained events, then quickly turn into terror.

As with the original, the entire narrative is constructed from ‘found’ footage. This style, and the editing method to piece together the narrative produces a mosaic quality that can be at once disarming, and then acutely frightening. For this sequel, with the spread of security cameras, we naturally get more ‘angles’, and that helps this film feel quite a bit bigger than its predecessor.

Wisely here, the producers chose not to move away from the winning formula that captured audience attention and delivered a box office success. There is something to be said for upending audience expectations, but it comes with risks. Just ask Halloween III: Season of the Witch and Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows how that feels. But, at this point in the Paranormal Activity series, sticking with what worked seemed logical, if safe.

The cast, playing their roles as naturally as possible, do well. Micah Sloat and Katie Featherstone from the first film guest appear but are good, and Sprague Grayden as Kristi and Briand Boland as Daniel are likable, natural. The rest of cast, including daughter Ali, played by Molly Ephraim, and the housemaid played by Vivis Cortez, keep the dramatic acting to a minimum, preserving the natural intent of the film.

Paranormal Activity 2 plays it safe though does offer the emergence of the mythology that would deepen over the rest of the films. Importantly, you get some fun jump scares and some more chilling, hair-raising moments.

Paranormal Activity 3

“I just gotta film this stuff, I could set my cameras around the house, right? I could maybe capture something…”

It’s 1988, and sisters Katie and Kristi are living with their mother, Julie (Lauren Bittner) and her boyfriend, Dennis (Christopher Smith). Dennis is a wedding videographer and uses his trade to set up video camcorders around the house to capture the cause of the strange noises he hears. Kristi has also made an imaginary friend, Toby, causing increasing concern as the strange occurrences around the house become more frequent and alarming.

Paranormal Activity introduced us to Katie as an adult, Paranormal Activity 2 told the story of what happened to her sister, Kristi, so it makes sense that this third film, to keep it in ‘in the family’, would necessarily have to be a prequel. We’d heard hints of the unusual childhood the sisters lived through, and as the series explores its mythology in more detail, following up on the tidbits offered up in the first two films, things do become more interesting. The challenge, however, is the limited canvas this concept had to explore the story and offer up the scares. There are only so many slamming doors, low hums, and sounds of tapping and thumping that can work up an enjoyable scare, or at least an effective scare.

Written by Christopher Langdon, a writer/director I rather admire and the man who gave us the inventive Happy Death Day duo of films (as well as the enjoyable Freaky), he offers interesting ideas to further the plot and thrill audiences. The camera set up on the oscillating fan base was a stroke of genius. This 3^rd film was the most successful of the entire franchise and it was clearly in full swing. Langdon’s approach kept things fresher than you might expect, but once the final moments had caused audiences to jump out of their seats, the franchise really needed to inject new ideas, or rather, mix up the approach.

Paranormal Activity 4

“Please don’t hurt me!”

It has been a few years since Katie disappeared with Hunter, her nephew (at the end of Paranormal Activity 2) and now, some distance from where the paranormal events took place, a new family has moved into a nice suburban neighborhood. Alex, a teenage girl attempts to introduce herself to the family, a mother and son, but they don’t seem quite right. One night, the mother of the home is taken away and the young boy, Robbie, is taken in by Alex and her family. Alex’s young brother, Wyatt, befriends the unusual young boy and it isn’t long before the calm of their suburban life is interrupted by activity which cannot be explained.

Each of the Paranormal Activity films use the “found footage” exclusively in their approach (though it plays a little less straightforward as that as the films progress), and here the plot has one of the central figures of the story setting up cameras throughout the house to capture whatever strangeness is going on. This approach remains surprisingly capable of lulling audiences into states of calm, with periods of normalcy and even mundane routine before releasing the tension with a rumble of the audio and a frightening image, something to get the audience to recoil in fear.

Throughout the franchise the performances have been impressively natural, a product of scripts that serve as outlines with the actors given space to improvise within the parameters of the scene. That continues here with a strong turn by Kathryn Newton (Freaky) and a likeably light showing by Matt Shively as her plutonic friend, Ben. The parents this time around are played by Alexondra Lee and Stephen Dunman (The Mummy), married in real life. Sadly, Stephen Dunham passed away shortly before the film premiered. The two young actors playing Wyatt and Robbie are fine in their roles.

The Paranormal Activity series had become a regular at the October box office, with massive profits from tiny budgets, but, my goodness, there really needed to be something new thrown in.

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones

“They’re basically saying that if you build this door, it’s like, you could travel through time.”

Jesse (Andrew Jacobs) is fresh from his High School graduation, lives in an apartment complex with dad, sister, and grandmother. One night, their downstairs neighbor, Ana, can be heard moaning and making strange noises. With his friend Hector (Jorge Diaz), he uses a GoPro camera lowered down through the vents to get a closer look at what’s happening in Ana’s apartment and sees a naked woman and their neighbor Ana painting a strange symbol on her stomach in what looks like blood. This odd ritual is just the start of strange occurrences that will unravel the family.

The Marked Ones represents the fresh energy the series was in dire need of, shaking loose the framing of the earlier films and giving us not only more interesting characters but a deeply satisfying mystery for the characters to try and understand and unravel. Written and directed by Christopher Langdon, the man responsible for writing Paranormal Activity 2, 3 and 4, this fifth entry deepens the mythology and connects cleverly to the events from the earlier films. There’s a real spark of energy in the new setting and the new direction brings an exciting energy to the jump scares, and a rawness to the creepy.

The Marked Ones was exactly what this series needed. Written and directed by the architect of the series’ mythology, the frights are all born from the series DNA and taking the setting and characters out of the suburbs was exhilarating. Poorly marketed and released outside the familiar October schedule, the box office was another step down, but make no mistake, this is a very, very good film. While the original film will win for originality, this one is my favorite so far.

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension

“Ryan, your daughter was born on June 6th, 2005. Right? It’s the sixth day of the sixth month of the sixth year, 2005. 666. I believe this is no coincidence. She’s part of the prophecy.”

A new family, the Fleeges, unsuspectingly moves into the home where the Paranormal Activity first took a hold of Katie (from Paranormal Activity). Ryan (Chris Murray), Emily (Brit Shaw), and their daughter, Leila (Ivy George), find themselves contending with the dark permeating power of something evil, and it’s after young Leila.

Sensing the impressive run at the box office was at an end for Paranormal Activity, the producers sought to close the story on the story with a promise that audiences will “see the activity.” This pledge to show something new, beyond the same creepy visual sleight of hand ended up showing audiences more – but it didn’t quite satisfy.

To be able to “show” us the activity, the plot involves an old camcorder, left in the original house, that’s somehow able to “see” strange manifestations in different areas of the home. The camcorder plot device is a tad convenient, but at this point, I’m not sure it mattered. What we see, the product of some eerie visual effects courtesy of ILM, adds something new and interesting to the mix. We’re a long way from the simple single camera-driven scares of the original film at this point and firmly into throwing the kitchen sink onto the screen to entertain and thrill audiences. The budget was a long way from the earlier films too, even at their most expensive (this one cost $10MM, which was still a great investment given the nearly $80MM worldwide gross). Ghost Dimension was even released in 3D. I love 3D, but that seems incongruous with what the series was supposed to be about. I don’t think it helped things.

What the Paranormal Activity series did particularly well over the course of its run was spin a mythology and story throughline that connected the films in interesting ways, playing with time and location. It also showed us the menace of a witch coven in some of the darkest, scariest ways I can recall. While the final moments of these films seemed to play out following the same general blueprint, just louder or more elaborate, there was real menace to the witch angle once it made an appearance in part 3.

As the cap to the narrative arc, Ghost Dimension doesn’t’ really answer the lingering questions or meaningfully resolve anything. It’s just as bleak as the other films and doesn’t feel like it’s trying too hard to close things out in a meaningful way. In that regard, it’s a swing and a miss, but there are good performances, creepy visuals, and solid jump scares to be found.

Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin

“Why would they build a church all the way back here?”

A young woman, Margot (Emily Bader), abandoned at a hospital by her mother as a newborn, discovers that she has living relatives. She’s never met a blood relative before, so the surprise discovery following a DNA test through 23andme reveals she was born to an Amish woman. Margot arranges to meet up with the community with a small documentary film crew, her friends (Chris played by Roland Buck III and Dale, played by Dan Lippert), to document the ‘reunion’. Things aren’t quite what they seem.

Following the diminishing box office returns for the franchise, Paramount and the producers decided a break was needed following the disappointing Ghost Dimension. Six years would pass before a new film came to be with Next of Kin. Surprisingly, it has precious little to do with the other films. The quality of the video cameras over the intervening years had grown considerably so this is the first film where the characters using movie quality cameras makes sense and it produces a deeper immediacy about the terror and frights. The simple community, which Margot believes to be Amish, obviously isn’t, and death and mayhem are in the cards.

True to Paranormal Activity form, the protagonists hear creepy noises, see strange things, and come across community members acting strangely, occasionally with hostility, but always a little ‘off’. The scares are effective enough here, though the characters do have to make some poor choices to get us there.

Next of Kin is well made, the performances largely good, and the skill of the documentary crew premise strong enough to show us things in ways that wouldn’t have made sense before. The film was supposed to be released theatrically, but the COVID-19 Pandemic upended those plans, and it premiered on a streaming service with little fanfare. It’s all a bit predictable and while there is a connection to the previous films, its tenuous at best, and that can’t have pleased fans of the franchise. Doesn’t matter how good the scares are if everything else is leaving an unpleasant taste in the fan’s mouths. If this really is the end for Paranormal Activity (and producer Jason Blum has said as much), it went out with a whimper instead of a bang.

Unknown Dimension: The Story of Paranormal Activity

“I remember thinking, this could work!”

Unknown Dimension: The Story of Paranormal Activity is a very good look at the birth, life, and end of the 6-film (at the time) franchise that shook up and surprised the box office. Featuring the actors, producers, directors, and editor from the series, there’s a joyous sense of the remarkably humble origins of the series, where creator Oren Peli taught himself everything that he needed to know to stage a cheap horror film production in his own home. Peli, whom I had the pleasure of interviewing a few years ago when Ghost Dimension was released on home video, is disarming and likable, you can’t help but smile that he found as much success as he did with the Paramount and these films. Jason Blum is a great guest and is refreshingly honest about the process and failures along the way. Other’s offer rewarding insights into the whole affair and the documentary walks us through the impressive rise of the film series entertainingly.

The film begins discussing the origins of the ‘found footage’ genre, and they explore some early dabbles in that area. The proper amount of due is afforded The Blair Witch Project, and horror aficionados (from places like Dread Central) lend a solid critical evaluation of the rise and stumbles of the series.

Filmed while Next of Kin was still in production (there’s a tag with a look at the production of that film at the end of the Doc), is a terrific capsule of the Paranormal Activity phenomenon. The series may have run out of steam, but it was remarkably consistent in quality even if it suffered from a lack of the right kind of expansion. Certainly, a strong level of quality when compared with other horror franchises. I do wish the documentary would have explored the Paranormal Activity franchise in the greater context of the horror genre, perhaps even to argue for its right to be called one of the better franchises the genre has seen, but it was far too modest to go that route, and really, that was always part of the PA charm.

Video: 4/5

3D Rating: NA

Each film is presented 1080p High Definition and is framed at 1.78:1 except for the final film, Next of Kin, which is shown at 2.39:1. Throughout the series, night shots are expectedly grainier than the clean and crisp daylight HD footage, and the image appears free of processing issues. The realism afforded the film via amateur footage serves the chills well, and the natural lighting, warm colors, natural if muted flesh tones, and grainy, grey/blue night footage (or green when night vision is introduced) look good. The algae green of the X-Box Kinect motion sensors (which show up in night-mode on cameras apparently) still stands out as some of the more impressive imagery in the entire series.

This was never going to be, nor ever needed to be, showcase material. It’s footage quality higher than most homes were producing back in 2009, but the explosion of consumer-level video and photographic quality renders the lower grade look of the earlier films a little quaint by comparison. What we have here is about as faithful to the source material as I think you’re going to get. Next of Kin does have a 4K stream available to rent/purchase, and the high-quality cameras used for that film would certainly show off better with 4K resolution, but Blu-ray is more than good enough given the premise.

As for the 3D version of Ghost Dimension, I am sadly unable to view 3D at the moment as my 3D TV is out of commission. I may not get a chance to watch 3D at home again unless Avatar: The Way of Water gives that format a boost big enough for TV manufacturers to take notice. I’m not holding my breath.

Audio: 4/5

English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio tracks are the order of the day for each of the films (even the documentary), and most of these films are heavily dedicated to conversations between the main characters, giving most of the audio responsibility to the center channel. The low rumbles that show up to kick off the scares and chills broods healthily in the low range for your subwoofers, and there are a few moments in the later films where that rumble asks for a lot from your sub.

The simple, prudent use of sounds – mainly in the fronts, and a little in the surrounds, seems to do what is needed just fine in these films, and the louder, more chaotic climaxes are the most demanding moments in all the films. While there could have been a little more done with the surrounds, it’s possible there was some restraint given the homegrown nature of the footage. Still, no real complaints.

Special Features: 2/5

These films were never generous with the special feature, but the consistent inclusion of unrated versions, or for a couple of the alternate endings, was welcome. I watched the unrated version for each of these films for the purpose of reviewing them as the extra footage, as much as 9 minutes more, was always welcome.

Paranormal Activity Blu-ray

• Includes Theatrical and Unrated Version with Alternate Ending

Paranormal Activity 2 Blu-ray

• Includes Theatrical and Unrated Version

Paranormal Activity 3 Blu-ray

• Includes Theatrical and Unrated Version

Paranormal Activity 4 Blu-ray

• Includes Theatrical and Unrated Version
• The Recovered Files (HD): Around thirty minutes of scenes cut from the film, many are effective and provide additional exposition and character interactions.

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones Blu-ray

• Includes Theatrical and Unrated Version

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension Blu-ray

• Includes Theatrical, Unrated, and Unrated Version with Alternate Ending

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension 3D Blu-ray

• Includes Theatrical 3D Version

Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin Blu-ray

• Includes over 20 minutes of deleted scenes and an alternate ending

Unknown Dimension: The Story of Paranormal Activity Blu-ray

I should also note that this collection comes with a Paranormal Activity car decal, and the Blu-ray cover art is reversible (but the only difference I can see is the addition of the film’s taglines from the art) though Next of Kin is rewardingly different.

Overall: 3.5/5

The Paranormal Activity series started as the ultimate underdog. Born of the humblest beginnings as Oren Peli figured out on the fly how to make a homegrown movie, cast actors, get the actors to film, then edit the film countless times to refine it until he felt it was ready. He then rolled up his sleeves and found a festival for it to screen and it eventually found its way into the hands of Paramount Pictures. That it grew into a film series that sat atop the horror film mountain for years in a row was unexpected, but such a joy to look back on.

This collection showcases all the films, with the option to watch the theatrical or extended cuts, plus the otherwise out of print 3D edition of Ghost Dimension, it’s a great deal for anyone looking to see what the hubbub was all about, or to complete their collection (it’s the only way to get Next of Kin and the documentary on Blu-ray).

Neil Middlemiss

Neil has been a member of the Home Theater Forum reviewing staff since 2007, approaching a thousand reviews and interviews with actors, directors, writers, stunt performers, producers and more in that time. A senior communications manager and podcast host with a Fortune 500 company by day, Neil lives in the Charlotte, NC area with his wife and son, serves on the Down Syndrome Association of Greater Charlotte Board of Directors, and has a passion for film scores, with a collection in the thousands.