Paranormal Activity VR: "the scariest thing you've ever done"

We caught up with a couple of co-managing partners from VRWERX, Russell Naftal and Alex Barder, to talk about how it came to be that they're tasked with telling the next chapter of the Paranormal Activity franchise.

"We all look at this as the continuation of the franchise, it's really the next chapter of this franchise," says Alex Barder. "It's just another amazing way to tell the story, a very immersive way to tell the story, that we think is scarier than one could ever imagine in terms of a movie. A VR horror experience or game is way scarier than anything because you're inside of the environment, you're inside of the movie, you're inside of the house and that's terrifying."

"We actually, on some level think that this isn't just the scariest game that you're ever going to play, it could well be the scariest thing you've ever done. And that's really exciting."

Barder and Naftal than clarified that they meant outside of real-life situations. Those can be truly scary.

"Traditionally Paranormal Activity is a found footage scenario, you're looking at the view of a camera," says Russell Naftal. "In this case, this is the foundation of what that is. You're in an environment, it's a survival horror experience, you want to get out, you're unravelling the story as you're playing, but there are cameras in the house. So essentially if this game ended and someone found the footage in that house you would have your Paranormal Activity movie."

"It's an amazingly intricate story and that's what we're really excited about," says Barder. "We're not just using VR as a gimmick, this is a full triple A experience with three hours of narrative and if you're a completionist you could be in there for 6, 7, 8 hours," says Barder before Naftal interjects with "10 hours".