Given the budget to box office ratio of the series, like it or not PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 was always an inevitability. It was only a matter of when the film would hit our screens.

Well, now we know that we’ve only got to wait a mere 10 months, with Paramount announcing an October release date has now been locked.

This extraordinary one year turn-around between movies seems to be the studio’s go-to tactic, taking a leaf out of Lionsgate’s book – their horror franchise SAW produced a new entry every halloween for a staggering seven years in a row. Whereas the rushed production in that instance could be pin-pointed as one of the main reasons those films suffered in quality, the same pressures don’t seem to be affecting the PARANORMAL series so drastically, with each subsequent movie garnering healthy reviews and even healthier box office.

Sure, the screenplays can’t take that long to whip up (INT. BEDROOM – NIGHT, Bed sheet moves. That’s it.) but still, it’s a credit to all involved that these movies manage to be half-way decent at all. Kudos must also go to the fact that the slowly unravelling, deceptively intricate mythology has clearly been mapped out from the start. Rather than made up as they went along. *cough* SAW *cough*

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 directors Henry Joost & Ariel Schulman (whose previous “documentary” CATFISH landed them the gig) have now been hired to return, giving them at least a four month jump on last year’s schedule. Given what the duo achieved with part 3, this can only be a good thing.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 opens October 19th 2012.

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