Paranormal Activity 8 Names Its Director And It’s a Smart Choice
Last week, we learned that Paranormal Activity 8 is officially creeping out of the shadows, with Paramount and Blumhouse preparing a brand new installment in the long running found footage franchise. Now comes the most important piece of the puzzle so far. We finally know who will be directing it.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the eighth Paranormal Activity film will be helmed by Canadian filmmaker Ian Tuason, a rising genre director whose recent work suggests this franchise might be in surprisingly good hands.
Tuason may be new to mainstream audiences, but his background makes him a logical and even inspired choice. Before making his feature debut, he built a reputation directing live action virtual reality horror shorts, many of which racked up millions of views online and were showcased at SXSW. Those projects relied heavily on sound, perspective, and psychological unease rather than traditional jump scares, which just so happens to be the exact language Paranormal Activity speaks best.
His feature debut, Undertone, premiered this year at the Fantasia International Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Best Canadian Film. The film follows a paranormal podcast host who moves into her dying mother’s house and becomes consumed by disturbing audio recordings tied to a supernatural mystery. It is a story driven by sound, suggestion, and creeping dread, and it recently caught the attention of A24, who acquired the film for release.
That combination of audio focused horror and slow burn psychological tension makes Tuason a particularly strong fit for Paranormal Activity, a franchise that has always been at its most effective when it trusted atmosphere over spectacle.
While plot details for Paranormal Activity 8 remain under wraps, Tuason joins a franchise with a very specific legacy. The original film, created by Oren Peli and released in 2007, became an unlikely cultural phenomenon thanks to its minimalist approach and relentless sense of unease. Made for a famously tiny budget, it went on to earn nearly two hundred million dollars worldwide and reshaped the found footage landscape almost overnight.
The sequels expanded that mythology with varying degrees of success. Paranormal Activity 2 and 3 deepened the demon lore surrounding Tobi, with the third film in particular often cited as one of the stronger entries. Later installments experimented with format and technology, including The Marked Ones and The Ghost Dimension, while 2021’s Paranormal Activity Next of Kin attempted a soft reset by moving away from the original characters entirely.
Now, with a new director at the helm, the franchise appears poised for another tonal recalibration. Rather than chasing scale or nostalgia, the choice of Tuason suggests a return to intimacy and unease. His experience crafting horror around sound and psychological deterioration feels closely aligned with what made Paranormal Activity frightening in the first place.
James Wan, who is producing the new film alongside Jason Blum and Oren Peli, has already made his admiration for the original film clear, praising its slow burn and its ability to make the unseen terrifying. Bringing in a director whose work thrives on those same principles suggests this next chapter may be more about tension than excess.
There is no release date yet and no confirmed story details, but the director announcement alone gives this sequel a clearer creative identity than the franchise has had in years. Paranormal Activity does not need to reinvent itself. It simply needs to remember how to be quiet, patient, and deeply uncomfortable.
With Ian Tuason now officially behind the camera, that feels like a very real possibility.
