With The Paranormal(1998), & their other titles, Visual Vengeance is becoming like a B-movie boutique label.
They have all the trimmings, just like Arrow Video, etc., tend to do with their releases, with additional artwork on the slipcase and the case.
They even have a few more somewhat recent(2023) interviews with the cast and crew.
Lots of new special features and interviews.
Each film comes with a group of stickers and a small promotional poster.
This is the first time the film has been on anything else other than VHS.
It has a new director-supervised transfer from the original tape elements.
The "Ghost Finder " viewer is a homage to William Castle's "Ghost Viewer " in 13 Ghosts.
If you were like me and pretty well saw most of everything that was on the video store shelves back in the day, you had rented a straight-to-video movie on VHS. I was an assistant manager of a few video stores in my life over the years. I had access to a lot of movies in my time, and still do. I also took an editing course back in 1995 where we edited actual film elements from student films as a part of the class, which taught me a lot about the whole process.
Which brings us to The Paranormal.
Story
Something is haunting the Englewood movie theater – an unseen force that comes alive after dark. Paranormal investigator Kyle Jennings is called in, but the moment he steps inside, the nightmare begins. The theater seals itself shut, the screen tears open like a doorway, and the low budget zombie movie playing suddenly becomes real. With the undead spilling into the aisles, Kyle must uncover the source of the disturbance before the entire theater becomes a feeding ground, and the only clues may be trapped inside the film itself.
So I wacthed the film with an open mind, with these smaller films, you really have to give it to the filmmakers for putting the time and energy into the film, and it's not a bad film, overall. The strongest actor in the film, is actually the director of the film, Todd Norris.
In an interview also included with the many special features, he mentions that the first half of the film is inspired by Poltergeist and the second half, Dawn of the Dead.
It actually takes the time for us to get to know the characters a little before putting them in harms way. Nothing is scary here, it's so low budget, but worth a one time watch.
There is a singular image that is included with the disc, Z is For Zombie, which I thought was a teaser for an upcoming movie, but instead it's playing in the theater and the group interact with the film in a very creative way.
The characters in the Zombie film start seeing the movie theater, our lead actor is able to enter the film during one of the many edits of the film to help with the story, however, his involvment changes the course of the film. It kind of works, and for it's time I thought it was pretty clever and done as well as one would expect.
I applaude Visual Vengeanance for finding these films andd upgrading them as best they can, sure these will never be upgraded to 4K, but it's kind of what gives the film it's charm.
The Paranormal Bonus Materials:
Commentary with director Todd Norris
Commentary with director Todd Norris and Composer Paul Roberts
New Cast and Crew Interviews
The Two Todds: Todd Norris and Todd Sheets interview
The Paranormal Channel 5 TV Airing Bumpers
Blooper Reel
Deleted Scenes
Original Script Excerpts
Storyboard Gallery
Short Film: The Closet
Short Film: L…
Short Film: Night of the Growling
Short Film: Parallax
Visual Vengeance Trailer
Trailers
Optional English subtitles
Folded mini-poster with art by Giorgio Credaro
Reversible Sleeve Featuring Original VHS Art
‘Stick Your Own’ VHS Sticker Set
Limited Edition O-CARD featuring art by Uncle Frank – FIRST PRESSING ONLY
Limited Edition ‘Ghost Finder’ viewer – FIRST PRESSING ONLY
Limited Edition Promo flyer for ‘Z is For Zombie’ movie
Featuring original sleeve art by The Dude
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