Paranormal Activity VR - eyes-on with the virtual reality demo

The Paranormal Activity film franchise is set to continue on with its latest installment this year, Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension. But moviegoers are going to find a little extra at select theaters. Developer VRWERX has put together a short demo for the Paranormal Activity VR game and will have it on display at select AMC theaters. Not ones to pass up a chance to be scared out of our wits, Shacknews recently went eyes-on with the short demo using an HTC Vive.

The demo doesn't take long remind users just what kind of experience they're in for. Upon loading into an abandoned house, the player can find a girl crying in a distant corner. Walking towards her will quickly trigger one of the many jump scares that pop up throughout the demo. The girl vanishes, leaving players to walk into the nearby bedroom, where there's a mysterious tent in place.

At this point, the idea is to hunch down and move into the tent, emerging along a different side of the house on the other side. This is where the scares start to kick in, as walls start to shake, paintings begin to fly off the wall, windows rattle, and loud explosions are heard outside. The louder the explosion, the more that bursts of blood seep in through the cracks. Prior to entering the last door, knives cut through the closet door on the side. And upon entering the last door, the little girl from the start of the demo falls through the ceiling, an unseen spirit keeping her afloat and sending her violently flailing across the room, back and forth.

Yes, it's pure Paranormal Activity. And while it's less a game and more of a visual tour of a haunted area, the potential for horror is on full display. How VRWERX plans to flesh out the gaming element remains to be seen, but the Paranormal Activity VR demo is certainly faithful to the films. Potential players will be able to see for themselves at the following locations:

• AMC Loews White Marsh 16 - Baltimore, MD
• AMC Neshaminy 24 - Bensalem, PA
• AMC Loews Boston Common 19 - Boston, MA
• AMC Century City 15 - Century City, CA
• AMC Bay Street 16 - Emeryville, CA
• AMC Town Square 18 - Las Vegas, NV
• AMC Loews Alderwood Mall 16 - Lynwood, WA
• AMC Tysons Corner 16 - McLean, VA
• AMC Mesquite 30 with Dine-In Theaters - Mesquite, TX
• AMC Empire 25 - New York, NY
• AMC Orange 30 - Orange, CA
• AMC Mission Valley 20 - San Diego, CA
• AMC Metreon 16 - San Francisco, CA
• AMC Mercado 20 - Santa Clara, CA
• AMC Universal CityWalk 19 - Universal City, CA

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension opens tonight at 7PM and the Paranormal Activity VR demo will be available at each of the aforementioned locations when the movie opens.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?