I jumped a foot out of my seat in the first act of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY the terrifically entertaining theatrical production currently scaring the pants off Boston audiences– bring an extra pair. Now in a strictly limited PRE-BROADWAY run at the EMERSON COLONIAL THEATRE, this brilliantly calibrated thrill fest is so much better than the hit 2009 lump of a movie with the same title which promised more than it delivered. This delivers: thrills & chills, suspense & stagecraft, plus a plot and performances which flesh out secrets hidden in the shadows of what we knew was there all along…

Credit: Matthew Murphy

A sweet, young, recently-married couple from Chicago– perfectly played by James (Travis A. Knight) and Lou (Cher Álvarez)– have just moved into a dowdy London flat. From the get, the set (Tony winner Fly Davis), lighting (Anna Watson), and sound (Tony winner Gareth Fry) creeped me out, right down to the William Morris-esque wallpaper with its twisted gothic botanicals like a haunted Garden of Eden. The ambience is murky, occasionally lit up by daggers of light shooting across the stage each time a car drives down the street in the rain. No effect is wasted here.

Credit: Matthew Murphy

It’s a moody environment echoing Lou’s psychic state; we soon learn she’s on medication to control bouts of hysteria and hallucinations, causing her to “lose time” and her husband to lose his patience and his mind. He seems to be inordinately attached to his religiously-inclined mother Carolanne (Shannon Cochran) and Lou’s nightmare of a mother-in-law with whom James is on the phone in the first scene before his wife enters the scene. We get the picture.

Credit: Matthew Murphy

The original script written by Levi Holloway has laid out a landscape littered with physical and psychological landmines, buried deep, which James and Lou carefully tip-toe around. Knight and Álvarez are spot on as a wholly believable young couple testing their boundaries, lashing out then falling back into each other’s arms, unsure of each other and themselves. That emotional unease within the relationship is then amplified when it becomes increasingly clear that something may actually be wrong in the house, and that the house may be an extension of whatever may be wrong with them!

Credit: Matthew Murphy

Director Felix Barrett knows how to pace each beat of this multi–tiered haunted house as these two battle demons within and without. I thought the spell might be broken after intermission– but no! Back in our seats we sat dead quiet, nervously awaiting the next jump scare, every time a phone rang, or the lights went out, or the creeping fog curled in the dim light giving form to what might or might not be there… Yes, all the familiar tropes are employed including a psychic named Etheline Cotgrave (Eva Kaminsky)! But the illusions (Chris Fisher) and video/projections (Luke Halls) were executed with such sublime skill and split-second timing that suspending disbelief was easy. This ensemble-in front of and behind the scenes– had me at BOO.

But the key to this harrowing tale and the fear it accesses is beyond any supernatural effect. The fear is grounded in who we are. It turns out the scariest things of all are the ghosts we bury. SEE PARANORMAL ACTIVITY in Boston at the EMERSON COLONIAL THEATRE through July 30 before it goes to Broadway!