Actress Brit Shaw talks PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE GHOST DIMENSION.
As audiences prep to literally immerse themselves in the 6th and (supposedly) final entry in the venerable PARANORMAL ACTIVITY fright film franchise this Friday, one of its leads, actress Brit Shaw, sat down with SHOCK to talk shop about the spooky sequel that reportedly is the most bone-freezing PA flick of them all…
Shaw stars as Emily in the mostly found footage flick PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE GHOST DIMENSION; she’s a young mother who, after discovering a high-tech video camera hidden in her house, gains the ability to see the dead around her, specifically the enduring, malevolent ghost that wants to claim her daughter.
Shaw has appeared in a myriad television programs and films and even wrote and starred in the short film IT’S NOT ME, IT’S YOU. But with PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE GHOST DIMENSION, her star is about burst through the screen….
No, seriously. It actually will. The film is in 3D.
SHOCK: Why do you think children, especially little girls, are so effectively creepy in horror films?
BRIT SHAW: Yeah, they are and I really dont know. why, exactly. Its like in THE SHINING. Those girls. You cant even articulate it. Theyre just scary. Its like when youre a kid and youre playing cops and robbers, you believe it so much. Kids are so intense. So locked into the moment. So , maybe when theyre in a horror movie and theyre creepy, you just believe it.
SHOCK: This is the 6th film in the series, but your first appearance. Did the Blumhouse team demand you watch the previous 5 pictures?
SHAW: Yeah, so what happened was I got the job and then they sent me a package with every film in it and told me to watch them. So I did. And what we created on set was sort of a PARANORMAL ACTIVITY bible, where if we had any questions we had to reference the bible to get the facts right. Blumhouse really cares about the fans and what the fans are thinking. He knows that theyll remember everything and since this is the film, it has to provide closure and answer a lot of fan questions. So yeah, it was important that everyone in the cast and crew was on the same page.
SHOCK: Are we sure this is the last one?
SHAW: Well, I mean how many can you do?
SHOCK: Was there ever a reference on set to the film 13 GHOSTS?
SHAW: No. Whats that?
SHOCK: A William Castle classic. When the characters put on their ghost viewers, the audience would do the same and they could see the ghosts that the characters were seeing. It’s gimmick is very similar to the one in THE GHOST DIMENSION.
SHAW: What? No way! I never knew that! And no, no one ever talked about that.
SHOCK: Have you seen the final film yet?
SHAW: Not with a crowd, no, but I heard the audience response was crazy. Ive seen the behind the scenes trailer with filmed audience reactions and it looks great.
SHOCK: Are those audience reaction trailers real?
SHAW: Its totally real. The director was telling me about it and telling me me how Id be be blown away with the fans responses to the scenes. And the trailer has had great feedback.
SHOCK: Well, theres already a GHOST DIMENSION parody trailer
SHAW: There is? What do you mean?
SHOCK: Its called PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE TIGER MOM DIMENSION. It’s a play on the cliché of the Asian American family that expects too much from their kids. Here watch .
SHAW: Oh my god, thats hilarious!
SHOCK: Now, Ive never seen a found footage film get made. Did you have room to improv or did you have to stick to script?
SHAW: Oh, theres always room to improv and we shot tons of footage so that in the edit, they could find the movie. And we had a great writing team on set that was always writing and making suggestions. So it was both.
SHOCK: Are you going to wind up in any more horror movies?
SHAW: Well, horror films are a rite of passage for an actor. And it seems that since Ive starred in one, everyone thinks its cool and Im getting a bit more excited. I dont know what the future will bring but Im excited about it .
