Paranormal Activity 8 “isn’t real” despite release date news, creator says

Paranormal Activity 8 reportedly has a release date – but according to the franchise’s creator, it’s not “real” and he doesn’t know who’s making it.

Paranormal Activity was a horror phenomenon in 2007. Its viral “don’t see it alone” marketing has rarely been bettered, and it reinvigorated the found-footage sub-genre.

Later entries have struggled to recapture the same nail-biting magic: Paranormal Activity 2 was a bit boring; the threequel is easily the best film other than the original; and then we have the fourth movie, The Marked Ones, The Ghost Dimension, and Next of Kin, all of which are negligible in more ways than one.

It’s essentially the Friday the 13th-ification of a horror series, without any of the schlocky fun of Jason Goes to Hell. Paranormal Activity 8 is seemingly up next, but it’s not “real”, the franchise’s creator has warned.

Paranormal Activity 8 sets release date – but it’s not “real”

Paranormal Activity 8 – reportedly titled The Other Side – is “eyeing a 2023 release date”, as per Variety. The film is said to follow four friends who move into a house together before starting college, only to discover its gruesome past and connection to Katie and Kristi’s horrifying story.

Initial reports claimed it’ll bring the franchise back to the story first introduced in the original Paranormal Activity, with writer-director Oren Peli even returning to pen the script.

However, Peli has debunked the news and distanced himself from any new Paranormal Activity movie.

“Paranormal Activity fans: there are stories coming out about sequels in the works. Those are listed on IMDB as Paranormal Activity 8, remake, etc,” he tweeted.

“Those are not real sequels. We have nothing to do with them, and do not know these people who claim to be making these films.”

Jason Blum says it’s time for Paranormal Activity to end

Jason Blum – the founder and CEO of Blumhouse Production – hasn’t responded to Peli’s tweet. However, even he thinks it’s time for the franchise to end. Despite producing 2021’s Next of Kin, he thinks it’s “terrible.”

In an interview with Variety, in which he didn’t mention the eighth film, he said: “It has been enough already. That last Paranormal Activity movie was terrible.

“With Halloween, we only had the rights to three movies, so we said: Halloween Ends! It ends for Blumhouse, at least. With other things, you just have this feeling it’s time to put them to bed.

“It would come back if some director I love, like Scott Derrickson, said: ‘I have a great idea for a Paranormal Activity movie.’ But it’s not something I want to do [at the moment].”

It’s currently unclear if Paranormal Activity 8 exists and if it’ll be released next year.