Editorials
[Special Report] So I Watched ‘Paranormal Activity 3’ At The House It Was Filmed In…
To help celebrate the DVD/Blu-ray release of Paranormal Activity 3, Paramount recently held a contest in which two contest winners would be flown out to LA to attend a special viewing of the film at the house in which it was filmed. The winners were picked based on trivia knowledge of the franchise and, in this instance, were flown in from Michigan. They were treated to an almost private viewing of the film, dinner and a few special “guests”.
Since the house had already been gussied up for the occasion we were asked if we wanted to come along and check it out. PA3 is my favorite film in the franchise and I felt that the house lent the film a lot of personality so it was kind of a no-brainer to attend.
Hit the jump for a breakdown along with some photos and video. My companion and I are picked up at my apartment via towncar. The new owners of the house are understandably cagey about giving out the exact location of the place so it’s probably good practice that they weren’t just emailing the address around or handing out directions.
At 630PM on a Friday night it takes almost an hour to reach our destination. But when we do, it’s clearly marked. Toby, under his sheet, stands in the driveway awaiting us.
We beat the contest winners there and are shown around the house by our hosts. It’s one of the few film locations I’ve visited that appears almost identical in real life when compared to its presentation onscreen. Aside from a few minor touches, it’s virtually the same. At least to my eyes.
We head out into the backyard, which houses a tent similar to the one the girls use in the film. Of course now it’s embellished with floodlights and a character that may seem familiar to you from the end of the film.
We head back inside and find Oren Peli and his girlfriend waiting for us. We talk for a bit (and stare at the food spread that awaits us (I’m starving). The contest winners arrive soon thereafter, not knowing quite what to make of the whole experience. They seemed really nice, just a bit overwhelmed and a little shy.
Now that they’re here we can finally eat. We all sit down at the kitchen table and help ourselves to some delicious burgers and sandwiches. I dutifully, and briefly, prod Oren for details about Paranormal Activity 4, but the dude is a steel trap when it comes to his development projects so I got absolutely zero new info. He’s a super nice guy, he just knows how to play the cards close to the chest, which is probably a wise idea. In fact, the only thing he was willing to go on record about was his hatred for pickles and vegetables in general. See, our catered burgers all had pickles on them. And Oren really can’t abide them. So much so that it’s not even enough to just take the pickles off. He won’t eat anything that once had a pickle on it. I almost felt bad that he limited himself to mac and cheese as I chowed down on three cheeseburgers.
After dinner we head upstairs. I’d done some snooping up there earlier – including turning off the lights in the bathroom and saying “Bloody Mary” three times* – but this time we all take turns checking out Toby’s little closet* – which still has some of that creepy writing on the walls.
We finally sit down to watch the movie in the upstairs loft featured prominently in the film. The screen is set up where the tea sat in he movie was placed. Toby’s closet is just to the left of it and Teddy Ruxpin keeps a dutiful eye on us as we watch the movie.
Paranormal Activity 3 has plenty of scares on its own, but the experience was slightly augmented by our “guests”. About 1/3rd of the way through the film, Toby’s closet door SLAMMED shut – generating a scream from just about everyone in the room. The aquarium in the corner made noises in time with the aquarium in the film and stuff “flew” at us during the appropriate sections of the film. At one point, Toby’s symbol appeared in the etch-o-sketch on the desk.
Sadly, my personal “no cell-phone policy” was in effect. I didn’t feel like ruining the movie for everyone else, so I didn’t get any of that on tape. You’ll have to use your imagination.
After the film I said goodbye to the house, as I’ll likely never be there again. On our way out I ask one of our hosts if the owners have ever seen PA3. “No way.” Probably a wise choice. If this film can keep people awake after watching it in their own apartments, imagine the effect it would have on an actual resident of the house!
* you can see this in the video below. I use the word “see” loosely – most of the video is pretty d*amn dark (with a few light spots). It’s a compendium of some cool moments in the evening that aren’t featured in the photos above, so you should check it out regardless.
Paranormal Activity 3 is now out on DVD and Blu-ray. It features a director’s cut that I prefer to the theatrical version.
I first heard about The Mandela Catalogue through a couple of nephews who were obsessed with the ARG’s sinister mythology. It was only after watching Wendigoon’s in-depth analysis of the series that I realized just how deep this rabbit hole goes.
In fact, I’d already been exposed to the nightmarish visuals of Alex Kister’s YouTube creation for years at that point without even realizing that it was the origin of several viral “cursed images” and spooky memes that had leaked into the wider internet – with this viral element actually being a part of the Catalogue’s overarching narrative.
Flash-forward to 2026 and the unprecedented success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms has led to Hollywood betting on horrific internet properties with existing fanbases, which means that Kister’s unique hybrid of both religious and analog horror is finally headed to the big screen with a script written by Kister himself alongside Tyler Clifton.
While this news shouldn’t be too surprising if you’ve been keeping up with the ongoing success of The Mandela Catalogue (both myself and Wendigoon having previously predicted that the series would inevitably make the jump to theaters one day), plenty of horror fans are likely confused as to why so many folks are excited for what appears to be a Hollywood adaptation of a series of creepy .jpeg images under a VHS filter.
With that in mind, today I’d like to invite fellow readers to accompany me as I explore the origins of Alex Kister’s viral hit and attempt to explain exactly why we should all be excited about the Mandela Catalogue adaptation!
From High School Writing Project to Internet Horror Phenomenon
The first seeds of The Mandela Catalogue were sown when Kister was still in high school and developed a writing project subverting religious tropes in a world where biblical history had been altered by demonic forces. A little while later, Kister came across an analog horror contest on Reddit and decided to adapt his ideas into a standalone video where he would edit a religious kids’ cartoon –The Beginner’s Bible: The Nativity, to be specific- into something far creepier. This is how the iconic Overthrone video was born, with this viral short film taking on a life of its own as fans demanded more eerie content from Kister.
Though the video was originally meant to be a one-and-done sort of affair, with Kister actually regretting some of its primitive visuals and considering the editing amateurish and “YouTube-Poop-like” when compared to his current standards, fan reaction and free time during the COVID-19 pandemic encouraged the (then) seventeen-year-old filmmaker to continue producing content set in this same world. The Mandela Catalogue name was inspired by the Mandela Effect conspiracy theory, as the series would slowly begin to explore the subtle horror of alternate histories.
Inspired by existential dread brought on by extended periods of quarantine as well as a personal crisis of faith, Kister continued to expand his alternate timeline where the rise of Christianity had been prevented by what was presumably the Devil disguised as the Archangel Gabriel. This alternate course of fictional events led to the existence of certain paranormal anomalies that had come to be accepted as “normal” by the 1990s, which is why most of the series’ supernatural horror is presented in such a matter-of-fact manner.
Most of this background information and religious lore is delivered by increasingly cryptic broadcasts and in-universe PSAs, as well as the occasional found footage video, that often have to be decoded by clever viewers. Of course, it’s the consistently disturbing imagery that made the series so popular – much of which was originally created by Kister on a smartphone!
The Alternates: Horror’s Most Unsettling Modern Monsters
The show’s early episodes mostly take place within the fictional Mandela County in Wisconsin and depict life in a world where demonic entities are capable of using media to enter our reality. This process usually involves scaring victims into killing themselves and then repurposing their bodies as horrific doppelgangers referred to as “Alternates”. This terrifying phenomenon has become so common that local police already have specialized procedures in place to deal with the issue, though this usually consists of simply ignoring calls for help so as to avoid spreading so-called “Metaphysical Awareness Disorder” any further.
Over time, Kister would expand this mythology and incorporate different kinds of Alternates into the mix, though the story never stopped deconstructing religious concepts. The series’ second volume exponentially increased both video quality and the overall narrative scope as we began to follow the lives of characters who had already grown up in this dystopian hellscape where the government is forced to prohibit religion, television, and even mirrors in the hopes of mitigating the damage done by the ongoing invasion of otherworldly entities.
The really interesting part comes into play when you realize exactly how the Alternates make use of scary media in order to spread their demonic influence, with the analog horror of it all being a diegetic part of the story and something of a memetic trap orchestrated by the false Gabriel.
I particularly appreciate how some characters begin to suspect that there’s something wrong with their version of reality and that things weren’t meant to play out this way, especially when Mark utters the haunting line “who have I been praying to all this time?” That’s why I think The Mandela Catalogue is an effective piece of religious horror even if you don’t subscribe to the Christian worldview, as the mere idea of a world where evil has already won is a universally terrifying concept in and of itself. Not only that, but the series’ uncanny analog imagery alone is already worth the price of admission, as you’ve likely already noticed by looking at the pictures accompanying this article.
Why The Feature Adaptation Could Be Horror’s Next Big Success
It’s actually been a whole year since Kister first announced that he had been working on a feature-length screenplay for a Mandela Catalogue movie since 2022, with his proposed story following an ensemble of high-school graduates who uncover a supernatural conspiracy after the mysterious disappearance of a fellow student. This premise sounds similar to narrative elements present in the series’ second volume, but I’m pretty sure that Kister is going to go the Kane Parsons route and make the movie more of a spin-off than a re-imagining of its source material.
While notable Hollywood producers like Aaron B. Koontz, Scott Stuber, and Steven Spielberg himself are backing the upcoming project, I feel like there’s no one better to adapt this deeply personal exploration of faith and the dark side of communication than the person who first came up with it. That’s why I can’t wait to see Kister’s work on the big screen, as I have a feeling that this young filmmaker is the next one on the list about to make cinematic history – especially since this is clearly a passion project that has been in the works for years at this point!
That being said, there’s always a chance that the film could end up unleashing a fresh wave of Alternate incursions, but I guess that’s just a risk we’ll have to take.
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