Paranormal State (DVD)

Paranormal State is the paranormal investigative show I'd imagine the hillbillies from Deliverance would watch. At least, those were the types of people I was afraid of seeing at any point in the show.

The show stars a group of college kids (the Paranormal Research Society, or PRS) at Penn State who pray together and make the sign of the cross before investigations, which are generally in the ultra religious boondocks. Their investigations involve reading the Bible in the haunted places and saying they feel that spirits don't want them to be reading it (although I would've preferred to see ghosts at some point). They call themselves "warriors," praying and giving protective religious energy to their clients, before they call in churches for backup help. Then they give young children advice like, "Throw holy water on any ghosts you see."

Usually, when you watch a show about paranormal investigators, the investigators never use personal experiences like feeling creeped out as "proof" of the supernatural. However, with Paranormal State, personal experiences are almost all you have to go on. You constantly have to trust the investigators because they never get any of their proof on video, even if a camera is handy. People in a room with the camera will leave the room and come back saying, "There's a ghost over there, I see it, and it called your name." Then other people will go and come back and say the same thing, and the camera will never actually go there so we can see too. Now, I'm not an expert, but I think that means the show may be sucking at those times.

There's a lot of prayer on this show. Like, a lot of prayer. They pray to investigate, to expel ghosts, to cure people's illnesses on the show (yep), well, the footage shows them praying in response to anything that happens. And all the people they investigate are extremely religious believers as well, responding to their children's "I saw a monster" statements by ultimately deciding they need to be Baptized etc. Investigations revolve around crosses and Bibles, and whenever investigators feel something like a ghost is near, they leave or run away immediately because the investigation is getting too "out of control." That's what good investigators do when they find clues! Run the f#%k away! Investigators come in and report they feel "presences" and that concludes the "traditional investigation" part of each episode, as they put it. The rest of the investigation involves what they call "dead time," meaning more prayer in the haunted house.

One of their experts is a "demonologist" and they name the Amityville horror on her resume, using that as proof that she's the real deal. Even though the Amityville horror turned out to be a hoax with no paranormal activity.

There are a few featurettes on the DVD. "Getting to Know the Members of PRS" introduces each member of the team. The head of the group talks about how he was told to stop investigating because it's against religion. If only those naysayers knew. "Guest Experts" introduces a history expert, a demonologist (where they once again cite the Amityville horror as a reason why their demonoligist is legit even though Amityville wasn't legit), and Chip Coffey, the medium, who's in a lot of episodes because he says things like "I feel something!" "Additional Footage" shows what the PRS do to screw around during investigations, men putting on women's clothes and such, sigh. It also shows extended scenes, in which the PRS crew talk about a lot of cool evidence they found, none of which we get to see. There's also a section explaining the difference between demons, ghosts, and poltergeists. And how the investigators have to participate in battle between good and evil. Sith and college students deal in absolutes. "Behind the Scenes" goes over what the PRS is and why the people in it like it, and how the people in the PRS have to take a course with exams to be an investigator. It also goes over "dead time," when the investigators turn off their electronic equipment and try to make contact with ghosts by saying the prayer to St. Michael.

Πηγή: UGO