Happy Halloween everyone; and being the Halloween Season, it is once again time for another annual horror flick; however instead of it being another “Saw” addition, a new set of movies has taken its place; a movie that will undoubtedly be sticking around for a while longer. I speak of course about “Paranormal Activity” with its third installment “Paranormal Activity 3“. The third film has broken box office records by having one the best opening nights a horror film has seen in quite some time.
Before I jump into this review, let me just make one thing perfectly clear: I do not like this serious. I compliment the movies for their practical effects, but that is about it. Everything I have seen in these movies are not worthy of praise. So going into this film, I was a bit skeptical. So does this film deserve the praise it is receiving, or is it just another footage found film. Find out in this review of “Paranormal Activity 3“.
Once again, the film’s plot is another prequel to help explain and understand what happened in the first film, or just make more plot holes, at this rate, it is pretty much a shot in the dark. The film story takes place in the 1980’s where and shows the early lives of Katie and Kristi, the two girls haunted by the supernatural being throughout the course of the film. That might seem terrifying, unfortunately, it is nothing new. The plot follows the same structure as the previous two; and at the story goes on, it just leaves me in a state of confusion.
The movie follows four characters: the two girls, their mother and her boyfriend who mysteriously looks like Michah from the first film. As characters, they do nothing for me as the development has been playing the same song for years now and it is not interesting. However, when it comes to performances, I did not mind the two little girls. Sure, I did not care for their characters, but I will give them credit for their performances because I did believe them. Everyone, on the other hand, are just bland uninteresting.
I have no directing notes as every directorial decision has been the same since the previous two. It is like they just a have book for the basic to follow when making “Paranormal Activity“.
When it comes to the scares of the films, there are things I liked and there are things I disliked. I enjoyed the practical effects of the film. Some of the things they did were actually impressive and looked believable. However the same thing cannot be said about the scares. The problem is that scares take so long to get to their executions that it feels like seeing Sir Lancelot running towards the castle in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail“; and to make matter worse, this happens all time in the moviw. It comes to the point where the scares of “Paranormal Activity 3” are just not scary.
What can I say? The movie has its moments; unfortunately the scares are only startling and the plot is predictable as well as being full of plot holes. The movie left me disappointed as well as confused; to put it simply, it is “Paranormal Activity“. 2 out 5 hats