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Are the critics screaming over the first play of the 2026/27 Broadway season? Paranormal Activity officially opened tonight at the August Wilson Theatre. The new play is written by Levi Holloway and directed by Felix Barrett.
The production stars Cher Álvarez as Lou, Travis A. Knight as James, Shannon Cochran as Carolanne, and Eva Kaminsky as Etheline Cotgrave with understudies Caron Buinis, Caroline Hendricks and Michael Holding. Álvarez, Knight, Cochran, Buinis, Hendricks and Holding are all making their Broadway debuts and reprising their roles from previous productions across North America.
James and Lou move from Chicago to London to escape their past, but they soon discover that places aren’t haunted, people are… With an original story inspired by the film franchise, Paranormal Activity reimagines the modern ghost story with an intimacy that only live theatre can provide.
Let’s see what the critics are saying…
Helen Shaw, New York Times: Now, I am a big old scaredy-cat, and I did plenty of arm-clutching (sorry, neighbor to my left!) during “Paranormal Activity.” Yet the sense of release that follows horror of this kind might not only be the relief of having survived the jump scares. There’s also a strangely comforting suggestion that in a world where evil doers seem beyond the reach of justice, something is watching. If it’s hard to see for now, that’s only because it’s waiting to make the sinners pay.
Frank Rizzo, Variety: Just as he did with Punchdrunk’s long-running date night phenom “Sleep No More,” director Felix Barrett creates an impressive otherworldly, immersive experience. But this time the audience is sitting in place, as he expertly guides the gasps like a sinister maestro, and offers an exhilarating funhouse night in the theater.
Raven Snook, TimeOut New York: Horror plays are hard to pull off on Broadway, as Holloway’s own somewhat creaky Grey House demonstrated in 2023. But Paranormal Activity is a much more successful fright night. Barrett, who codirected Sleep No More, leans into voyeurism and elicits excellent performances from Álvarez and Knight. The true shocks come in watching Lou and James lose their grips on their lives—and each other—and the liveness of theater heightens the tension by creating a kind of mass hysteria where even innocuous bumps elicit shrieks that evolve into the relief of communal laughter. The whole show is a scream.
Emlyn Travis, Entertainment Weekly: Whether you’re a longtime fan, a horror head, or just looking to be scared, Paranormal Activity has something for everyone. It’s deeply unsettling. It’s hilarious. It’s a complicated tale of an even more complicated couple that will inspire debates long after you leave the theater. And, perhaps most importantly, it’s only on Broadway for a 20-week run this spooky season. So go pay Lou and James a visit — after all, you’re not the only one who’s stopping by.
Johnny Oleksinski, New York Post: Thrillers used to be common on Midtown stages. And if horror can be done as well as it is here, fear should be exploited and showcased more. There’s an audience for it. For Broadway, being possessed could prove a blessing.
Chris Jones, New York Daily News: Thankfully, “Paranormal Activity” avoids the self-aware tropes of tired horror franchises that have nothing left to do but parody themselves. Here, you get an honest, analog story, happily devoid of digital trickery but grounded in the kind of psychological realism that creates the best nightmares. This is a plot-driven, genre-fueled, audience-centered experience, for sure, and far from some artsy or pretentious affair that will be exciting the scholars of the American theater. Thank God, though. “Paranormal Activity” knows what it wants to pull off and the execution is first-rate.
Matt Windman, AM New York: More than anything, “Paranormal Activity” is a celebration of theatrical special effects and seeing them unfold live. Director Felix Barrett, co-director of “Sleep No More,” builds anticipation around Fly Davis’ terrific two-story house set. Much of the fun comes from scanning the rooms and waiting for something to move.
Thom Geier, Culture Sauce: Credit for that level of engagement goes to Álvarez and Knight, who convincingly portray millennials who are very much in love but not always capable of expressing empathy when the stresses build. James’s initial doubts, his desire to rationalize what Lou relates (could these visions be carbon monoxide poisoning from leaving the gas stove on?), register as genuine ways to grapple with the inexplicable. Álvarez, meanwhile, conveys an overriding dread that’s made more difficult by her partner’s impulse to discount or dismiss her lived experience. They give performances of understated honesty that help to compensate for some of the horror-movie stupidity of their later actions. You may be tempted to shout: For the love of God, don’t open the door! But by the time that thought occurs to you, it will be too late. Paranormal Activity will have crept into your bloodstream like some unearthly virus, and you’re unlikely to shake that sense of dread anytime soon. You won’t dare sleep until you’ve checked under the bed thoroughly.
Zachary Stewart, Theatremania: While the supernatural horror is the reason to buy a ticket to Paranormal Activity, Holloway cleverly reinforces his story with themes of trust and secrecy that many in the audience will find hits uncomfortably close to home. Yes, this is a play about a haunting, but it’s also about the cracks in a relationship just big enough for a ghost to slip in. Thinking about that will really keep you up at night.
Kobi Kassal, Theatrely: This is not your typical Broadway show, and I don’t expect it to find the typical Broadway audience, and how exciting. While on tour across the country, this production at numerous stops brought in the most amount of first time ticket buyers than ever before, and we need that more than ever right now. As a horror fanatic, yes I wanted them to go even further with the scares, but Barrett and Holloway have smartly devised a piece that works well for everyone and gets you thoroughly spooked. As fall and spooky season quickly approach, go get your heart rate pumping at Paranormal Activity, you surely won’t regret it.
Michael Sommers, New York Stage Review: Like an amusement park ride ascending an incline, the first act of Paranormal Activity deals out a gradual build-up of backstory detail and stormy night-type creepiness, prickly with relatively minor jump scares and climaxing with – well, let’s reveal no more but simply note this second act possesses even more backstory but also delivers some twists, turns and stage tricks that scared up highly audible responses from Saturday night’s preview crowd.
Frank Scheck, New York Stage Review: Theatergoers hoping for a sophisticated ghost story like The Weir or The Woman in Black will probably find the evening hopelessly lowbrow. But if you’re simply looking for a scary good time and can endure the frequently deafening sound level, Paranormal Activity is the show for you.
Jackson McHenry, Vulture: Watching a haunting play out in the moment around a thousand strangers gives the thing an odd and interesting warmth. We’re cheering on the technique, even in the midst of our dread. Paranormal Activity, the play, builds to the sort of slick and grisly finale that would be just right for the end of a cruel horror movie, but that lands awkwardly onstage. I could feel the people around me wanting a bit more sweetness. Or maybe just more of an excuse to applaud.
Ron Fassler, Theater Pizzazz: Trust me, I yearn for the thriller to make a comeback. Once a Broadway staple prior to the 1960s, over the ensuing years the successful ones can be counted on one hand: Wait Until Dark (1966), Sleuth (1970), Deathtrap (1977), Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2018), and Stranger Things (2025). See? One hand. So, it’s admirable that Holloway is out to change that, but he needs to become better at creating characters to care about and situations that don’t feel past their expiration date. There is little that is original about Paranormal Activity (it’s a common ghost story) and waiting for the next jump scare, built to make the audience scream and clutch one another, grows tiresome. There will surely be those who exit into the night from the August Wilson Theatre fully satisfied, but this ghost story left me more bemused than terrified.
Lane Williamson, Exeunt: The success of the play rides or dies on the quality of its illusions and its sound design and both Chris Fisher and Gareth Fry, respectively, nail their assignments. Fisher cooks up some chilling images that are wildly inventive and believable, even sitting very close to the stage. Fry’s sound design is perfectly timed to the twists and turns of Holloway’s writing and Fisher’s illusions, and the continual thrum underscoring the play is deliciously unnerving.
Brian Scott Lipton, Cititour: Unfortunately, without the benefit of a movie camera to provide close-ups, director Felix Barrett literally and figuratively leaves some audience members in the dark, with many special effects and illusions (by Luke Halls and Chris Fisher) too easily missed, compounded by some ill-chosen staging and design choices. (For example, why is that TV screen on stage left so small?) Moreover, while Anna Watson’s lighting may enhance the play’s spookiness, it also hurts the show’s overall visibility. (I truly believe the entire enterprise would be far more effective in a much smaller theater than the vast Wilson.) Still, if your idea of a good time is screaming in the dark with 1,000 strangers – even if you’re not always sure what everyone is screaming about – then I have the perfect “activity” for you.
Kyle Turner, New York Theatre Guide: Paranormal Activity’s nightmare fuel makes for a wonderfully inventive and terrifying variation on the American domestic drama, taking a couple on the brink and turning the ghosts of their guilt and unhappiness into an entrancing extravaganza.
Howard Miller, Talkin’ Broadway: For my part, I was particularly disconcerted by some quietly unsettling lighting/projection effects at the start of Act II. But there’s something for everyone who likes being frightened while nestled safely within a controlled environment that the theater can offer. Any nightmares that follow are your own to handle.
Dan Rubins, Slant: Throughout the play, Lou keeps complaining about an ever-present dread, and that’s the element that Holloway and Barrett get just right in passing along to the audience. Places aren’t haunted, people are, and, however little you care about James and Lou’s marriage, Paranormal Activity’s abiding creepiness will probably follow you home.
Billy McEntee, One-Minute Critic: Director Felix Barrett toys with pacing to augment the scares. Laughs interrupt bits of terror, and terror interrupts everyday moments. Álvarez and Knight deliver grounded performances that let audiences invest in their domestic life, making the demonic one more powerful. But the demons you think are within the house may belong to another soul. Here, the production achieves not only scares but twists, bringing the play, in its final act, into richer psychological realms.
Average Rating: 77.5%
