I thoroughly enjoyed the first Paranormal Activity film. It genuinely creeped me out and that's not easy to do. I go into horror movies looking to get scared, challenging the film to make me jump or keep me up hours after the movie has ended in fear of what I just saw. The first one accomplished that. It was new and they did it on an $11,000 budget. So, naturally, there were going to be sequels. More money means more effects means more hands at work means better, right? Not exactly. The second one I didn't feel to be that scary, either. Where as the first movie had performances that seemed natural, like real people. The performances in the second one were much more manufactured and synthetic. The scares were scarce, mostly because the first one trained us when the scary bits were about to come (save for one scene in the kitchen in broad daylight that nearly made me shit my pants). It might've just been my love for the first film that hyped up my expectations for its sequel that let me down. So, as for the third one, which I did actually like, I think my sights were a little bit lower, allowing me to enjoy it better. Plus, I think the scares were there. It was creepy.
As for this latest installment of the Paranormal series... it basically fails where the rest have succeeded. Nice try. You gave it a good shot. I realize you only had less than a year to write it, cast it, shoot it, edit it and release it, but you missed the mark. I'm sure you'll get it next year (seeing as how you've set it up for yet another sequel). And that's the beauty of the series... there really doesn't have to be an end to them. It's not like it's one house that's haunted or one person... that demonic shit can follow you anywhere. So, until they literally make no more money, they're going to keep releasing them. Some will be terrifying where others (cough) like this one (cough) will bore the crap out of you.
This one follows Alex, a 15-year-old girl and her 6-year-old brother Wyatt in Nevada. A strange child has moved in across the street, Robbie, whose mom suffers some sort of accident that causes Alex's family to take the child in for a few days while his mother recuperates. That's when some freaky shizz starts to go down, ya know what I'm sayin? Of course you do! You've seen it three times now. The "twist" of it, you can see coming from a mile away because you've been waiting since the second one for answers. And yet, no new answers have arisen. In fact, new questions keep popping up. It's like the Paranormal Activity films are being secretly written by the writers of Lost. They keep writing confusing plot twists with each movie with no real answers in sight, but in the back of their minds-- "eh, we'll figure out answers eventually." By the time the movies finally come to an end, my guess is that there will be more questions left unanswered than there will be answered. Nothing new happens in this film other than some cool night-vision-Kinect-sensor-stuff. While Alex is very likable, no one else in the family really is. The parents don't care what she has to say and after meeting her mom you almost root for her to die. Alex's boyfriend is a douche-bucket of a moron, attempting to be the comic relief, but just comes off irritating. It's just a shoot-and-a-miss any way you look at it.
The biggest problem wasn't the unoriginality of the plot, it was the lack of scares. There were a few things that went bump in the night, but they were the expected scares in the exact places you knew they would be. There was nothing new to pop out at you. I tried so hard to be scared. I held my breath, let my heart start racing, but the scene would just fizzle out and after awhile it was too much effort trying to be scared. I had to face the fact that a franchise I could normally count on to give a few good jumps wasn't going to this year. But, that's okay, because there's always next year.
There will be a good that comes from this mess. This is the first Paranormal that hasn't met the sales numbers of the previous entries. This is the first one to get genuinely poor reviews from nearly everyone. They're going to know they've failed and the franchise will be placed in more capable (if not capable, at least different visionary) hands than the previous two. But, I'm telling you now... you can skip this one. Wait a few weeks, look up the ending online, watch the scene that is going to inevitably lead to the next sequel and look forward for next Halloween. I guess this year we will be devoid of scares. Do yourself a favor... go rent Drag Me To Hell again.
D
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