There will be two new additions to the low-budget found-footage sub-genre arriving in the first quarter of 2015, in the shapes of time-travel adventure Project Almanac and the latest Paranormal Activity movie, Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension. Interestingly enough, both films were scripted by relative newcomers Jason Pagan and Andrew Stark; the latter, however, is reportedly going to have the distinction of being available for viewing in post-converted 3D.

Ghost Dimension, as directed by Paranormal Activity series editor Gregory Plotkin, revolves around a new family being haunted by a supernatural entity; the story will tie into the spinoff, The Marked Ones, though details beyond that are naught to be found. Nor, for that matter, is it apparent why 3D would be incorporated at this stage, since the intentionally unprofessional cinematography of the found-footage approach doesn’t exactly seem like a natural fit for the format.


Bloody Disgusting‘s report that Ghost Dimension will be released in 3D speculates that the eponymous “Ghost Dimension” might have something to do with this Paranormal Activity film getting a post-conversion treatment. It’s certainly possible that sequences set in the “Ghost Dimension” will be shot to really take advantage of the added visual depth afforded by 3D, whereas scenes set in the real world will feel more “flat” by comparison (see: how TRON: Legacy used 3D to differentiate “The Grid” from everyday reality).

That’s presuming that 3D is, in fact, being taken into account during production on Ghost Dimension, and that it will be post-converted to 3D (rather than filmed in 3D) in order to keep the cost down. Then again, Paranormal Activity 2 and Paranormal Activity 4 were both post-converted for IMAX and yet neither one was filmed so as to take advantage of that format, so… it’s probably best to not read too much into Ghost Dimension‘s 3D release, until we have a real reason to think it’s for artistic purposes.

paranormal activity 5 ghost dimension 3d Paranormal Activity 5 Reportedly Getting a 3D Release

Recent Paranormal Activity movies have tread familiar ground while also moving away from the minimalism horror filmmaking of early installments, arguably to the series’ detriment. There’s been nothing to indicate so far that Ghost Dimension will buck that trend, especially as the franchise builds to the “really big idea” that the franchise’s producers have in mind for how to end the series (… whenever that will happen).

Still, at this stage, fans of the larger mythology for the Paranormal Activity movies to date have little reason to get off the bandwagon – not since we’re now closer than not to finding out what all this is building to. Who knows, maybe the series will reverse its downward spiral in quality and start to become more interesting, now that we’re getting deeper into the supernatural mythos behind all this video-captured demonic activity.

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones opens in U.S. theaters on March 13th, 2015.