The Paranormal (1998) (USA)

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There’s something very wrong with the Englewood movie theater and that wrongness has brought struggling paranormal investigator Kyle Jennings into the theater’s troubled halls. His desperation is growing thanks to an inability to garner more funding from the university he works out of but a strange event centered around the theater has the eggheads concerned about disturbing energy signatures. Signatures that go along with certain theories he’s already presented to the board. Coincidentally, Englewood happens to be Kyle’s hometown which he hasn’t been back to since graduating high school. So, all this wraps up along with a speech from his colleague to get him back home and looking into the weirdness at the theater. This will not be a simple investigation for him and not only because it turns out an old crush is running the theater, the building seals itself up tight and a connection is made between the real world and the world playing out on the movie screen. A connection that will prove to be pretty dangerous thanks to the low budget zombie action showing up on the silver screen. Along with the skeptical science department head, his old flame and the world’s cutest (and super smart) projectionist, Kyle has to figure out what the hell is going on and that answer will involve our hero jumping into the zombie film, changing important plot points along the way. Attic apparitions, poltergeist activity, an amazing yellow sweater, gorgeous posters, tasteful turtlenecks, sentient film, home movie zombies, helpful narration that actually feels necessary and an abundance of science jargon to prove a point make for one comfortable viewing of backyard enthusiasm contained within an oddly mature script. It may lose itself in its own explanations at various points but it is still intriguing in just how much fascinating depth it put behind everything. If you’re not looking for SOV splatter (there’s very little blood) or insanity but a well-crafted horror-lite flick with a whole bunch of thought and heart, find this bad boy immediately.