On Stage: “Paranormal Activity”

Photos: Matthew Murphy

Paranormal Activity

Halloween is more than a month away — yet supernatural horror has officially arrived on Broadway as “Paranormal Activity” has audiences shrieking from the get-go.

When you enter Broadway’s August Wilson Theatre, there’s deafeningly loud rock music and it’s dark, really dark, making it hard to find your assigned seat is unless an usher shows you. That’s intentional, of course.

Inspired by the successful film franchise, playwright Levi Holloway’s new, original ghost story has been adroitly staged by director Felix Barrett (“Sleep No More,” adapted from “Macbeth”) and illusion designer Chris Fisher (“Stranger Things,” “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”).

A young American couple — James (Travis A. Knight) and Lou (Cher Alvarez) — has recently relocated from Chicago to London. They’re living in a creaking, gloomy, split-level house with five rooms, including kitchen and living room downstairs and an upstairs bedroom and bathroom with a hallway leading to an unfinished second bedroom, the designated potential nursery.

Problem is: Obviously vulnerable and depressed, Lou is convinced something weirdly sinister has followed them across the Atlantic. Skeptical but supportive James, an avowed atheist, soon realizes that spooky, inexplicably ghoulish things are, indeed, happening.

But “Places aren’t haunted; people are.”

To tell you more would spoil some of the many magical surprises as their backstory unfolds, introducing James’s meddling, Boca Raton-based, evangelical mother Carolanne (Shannon Cochran) and British psychic-medium Etheline Cotgrave (Eva Kaminsky), who attempts to conjure the obviously vengeful spirits.

Anna Wilson’s dim lighting beckons attention to scenic designer Fly Davis’s cluttered, shadowy corners while Gareth Fry’s ominous sound effects heighten the suspense. There are jump scares aplenty, accompanied by clever misdirection, and long stretches of agonizing silence that allows the audience to dread the worst.

For the best sight-lines and most immersive viewing, try for mid-orchestra seats or mid-front mezzanine.

FYI: Released in 2007, Orin Peli’s original “Paranormal Activity” film cost $15,000 to make and, according to producer Jason Blum, grossed nearly $200 million worldwide, fostering the ‘found footage’ concept. There have been seven sequels; an eighth installment is scheduled for release in May, 2027.