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Perhaps I’m not the audience for this particular show.

After all, I’ve never been all that into horror films. I did regularly attend horror films at the Culver Theatre in Culver City (now the legit Kirk Douglas run by CTG) in my college days, but that was only because my girlfriend at the time loved horror films. They never really scared me; perhaps the occasional startle reflex. These days, I’ll catch them here and there on TV (I seem to always run into the “Becky” franchise), and I don’t find them particularly scary. Horror films these days are particularly formulaic: you know who is going to get it; you pretty much know how; and you know it will be graphicly bloody, if possible. As for suspense? Gone are the days in which terror builds slowly (such as “Rosemary’s Baby” [insert obligatory “Tannis Root. It’s only Tannis Root” in Ruth Gordan’s voice]).

I’m also not a believer in the paranormal. Ghosts are something that were invented for entertainment purposes (cough, “Ghosts”, cough, “Beetlejuice”), or to perhaps assuage guilty minds (cough, the Scottish Play). If you don’t believe in ghosts, you don’t find ghosts all that scary.

Lastly, I have never seen any of the movies in the Paranormal Activity franchise. I think there’s something like 7, 8, 4000. Some larger number. Haven’t seen any of them. So perhaps I wasn’t the best person to be going to a stage instantiation of that franchise. My wife expressed that notion best, comparing this to the recent Harry Potter stage show. That show was light on plot and story (as any time-travel story is), but heavy on the stage magic, and relied far too much on fan service and making the fans happy.

Beyond that, Mrs. Lincoln, what did you think of the play?

This is all a long way of saying that we took time on this blustery and rainy Saturday to trundle down to the Ahmanson Theatre to see the Paranormal Activity play. The good news is that it wasn’t bad — it’s not something that will be a classic, and it isn’t even at the level of well done murder mysteries — but it isn’t heavy fan service and overdone stage magic. The bad news is that it is a clear profit grab by Paramount Pictures: it is not a story that needed to be on the stage. It is a trifle. I also didn’t find it particularly scary, but given what I wrote above, that’s not a surprise. It also isn’t obsessively dark, so you won’t come away from it with nightmares.

The other, perhaps more important, bad news: It is a sonic horror. By that I mean: to unsettle the audience, there is constant subsonic (low-frequency) and hypersonic (high-frequency) noise blasted at a high volume to the audience, from the moment you walk into the theatre. This is noise that is just outside the normal range of hearing, and it is not filtered out by foam earplugs, as bone conduction is involved. If you are sensitive to that range of sound (as my wife is), it will leave you queasy and on the verge of being sick. It may create headaches. For many, it will create unease. As for me, I’ve listened to too much music through headphones — I’ve lost those ranges. But be forewarned.

There are other sound problems that irritated me in other ways. The play takes place in London, and the people in the story have flat with a landline. When that phone rang, it was a single long bell. Folks that have been to the UK know that UK phones have a shorter double ring. They one of the folks had a cell phone that rang the same as a landline. You rarely see modern phones using bells for their ringtone, so that was off. Sloppy sound design.

As for the story itself: It takes place in a single set that consists of a downstairs living room and kitchen, and an upstairs bedroom, third room, and bathroom. This is all on stage in a single structure. Nothing flies in or out; nothing is rolled onto the stage. As such, this is like a situation comedy that takes place generally in a single room — think “All In The Family” or “Roseanne” or even “BIg Bang Theory”. It was, in other words, “situation horror”.

Given that this is a horror story and a suspense story, to describe all the details of the plot would serve to spoil the suspense for those that are into such things. So, suffice it to say that this is the story of a couple that moves from Chicago to London to ostensibly run away from their demons… but as anyone knows, demons have this horrible tendency to follow you and see things through to an appropriate end.

The suspenseful stage magic worked well. Besides the expected writing tricks of surprise entrances and premonition-ary lines, there were a number of stagecraft elements and diversions that worked quite well. There was also a fair amount of humor in the overall piece. It was also fun to listen to the audience reaction, especially the points of surprise. The sound was a little loud for my taste.

More of a problem was the overall story: Although the suspense and horror parts of it worked, when you come out of the show and think about the overall plausibility (setting aside the ghosts), it all starts to fall apart. Some pieces just don’t make sense, such as how some of the characters ended up where they did. But this is “situation horror”, and I guess it doesn’t have to make sense. It just has to serve the franchise.

The performances were strong and well played. I liked the two primary leads: they seemed to inhabit their character well.

“Paranormal Activity” continues through December 7, 2025, at the Ahmanson Theatre. Tickets are available through the Ahmanson website. Should you go see it? I guess it depends on whether you like horror and suspense and this particular franchise. For me, I get scared enough reading the news everyday about what this administration is doing. No ghost is scarier than that, unless it is the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein confronting Donald Trump. Now that’s a horror story I’d love to see on stage… or in real life!

Thinking even more, we need a version of “A Christmas Carol”, where the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein (past, present, and future) come out to haunt Donald Trump. That would certainly be worth seeing. Who’s up for writing it.

Credits

Paranormal Activity. Written by Levi Holloway. Directed by Felix Barrett. Restaged by Levi Holloway. Based on Paramount Picture’s Paranormal Activity films, first written and directed by Orne Peli and brought to the screen by Blumhouse and Solana Films. ™ and © 2025 Paramount Pictures.

Cast: Cher Álverez Lou; Shannon Cochran Carolanne; Kate Fry Etheline Cotgrave; Patrick Heusinger James. Understudies: Caron Buinis u/s Carolanne / Etheline Cotgrave; Caroline Hendricks u/s Lou; Michael Holding u/s James.

Production and Creative: Levi Holloway Written and Restaged by; Felix Barrett Director; Fly Davis Scenic & Costume Design; Anna Watson Lighting Design; Gareth Fry Sound Design; Luke Halls Video Design; Chris Fisher Illusions; Bob Mason CST Artistic Associate / Casting Director; What If We Productions Co-Production Technical Supervisor; Oren Peli Original Filmmaker; Melting Pot Commercial Producer; Melanie J. Lisby Production Stage Manager; Julie Jachym Stage Manager; Chels Morgan Intimacy/Fight Director.

Administrivia

I am not a professional critic. I’m a cybersecurity professional, a roadgeek who does a highway site and a podcast about California Highways, and someone who loves live performance. I buy all my own tickets, unless explicitly noted otherwise. I do these writeups to share my thoughts on shows with my friends and the community. I encourage you to go to your local theatres and support them (ideally, by purchasing full price tickets, if you can afford to do so). We currently subscribe or have memberships at: Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre; Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages Theatre; Pasadena Playhouse; The Soraya, and 5-Star Theatricals. We’re looking for the right intimate theatre to subscribe at — it hasn’t been the same since Rep East died (it’s now The Main, and although it does a lot of theatre, it doesn’t have seasons or a resident company), and post-COVID, most 99-seaters aren’t back to doing seasons (or seasons we like). I used to do more detailed writeups; here’s my current approach.

Upcoming ♦ Theatre / ♣ Music / ◊ Other Live Performance – Next 90ish Days (⊕ indicates ticketing is pending).

• November: ♦ Suffs at BIH/Pantages;
• December: ◊ ACSAC Conference; ♣ Ben Platt: Live at the Ahmanson at CTG/Ahmanson; ♣ Nochebuena: A Christmas Spectacular at The Soraya; ♦ Stereophonic at BIH/Pantages;
• January: ♦ The Notebook at BIH/Pantages; ♦ All the Devils Are Here at The Broad; ♣ Tom Chapin @ McCabes.
• February: ♦ Applause at MTG; ♦ Amadeus at Pasadena Playhouse; ♣ Anat Cohen at the Soraya; ♣ Preservation Hall Jazz Band at The Soraya.
• March: The Play That Goes Wrong at 5-Star Theatricals; Here Lies Love at CTG/Mark Taper; MoTAS Poker Tournament; Spamlot at BIH/Pantages.

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as Situation Horror | "Paranormal Activity" @ CTG/Ahmanson Theatre by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.