Paranormal Activity 3 review

Happy almost Halloween everybody! It's time for a review of the weekend's big box-office hit. The Paranormal Activity series or as I like to call it the "obsessive camera guy with absurd amounts of spare time and incredibly spacious haunted luxury home" series (maybe their name for it is better) has done quite well over the last few years, and I rather like the tonal shift away from the torture porn movies that reigned as king in the aughts. To paraphrase another review, I like the type of horror this series does, and I like the audiences that go to see it. That said, is this film any good? Let's find out.

Paranormal Activity 3 - This film is a prequel to the previous films. We have a short clip of Katie (of films one and two) and her sister Kristi pregnant with Hunter in 2005 (prior to either 2 movies) and then we jump back further in time to September 1988, a month after I was born. I'm wondering if Paranormal Activity 4 will feature Katie in utero development with haunted ultrasound photos. Her family seems to go through this debacle regularly. The movie reveals that she was not always plagued by a demon but perhaps inherited him from her sister...which PA2 already implied. There's not much else this movie sheds light on that doesn't verge into the kind of awkward, reminding me almost of The Last Exorcism.

In terms of plot, the film is rather light. So there's not much to do but sit back and play I Spy. If that's your thing (and if, like me you saw the past two movies, it is) great. If not, or you dislike horror movies altogether, than by all means stay away. The movie does not verge from the now well established formula of the prior movies, and that's rather disappointing. Worse yet, the movie forgets what was, for me, the scariest part of the first (and still reigning scare champ) film: the minimalist but still frightening sounds. You can explode all the kitchen chairs or move the furniture up to the ceiling, but an almost inaudible growl or roar leaves me cringing.

Familiarity builds contempt, and the filmmakers have all but exhausted their bag of tricks it seems. Two or three or six cameras does not a better film make. And while I love the subtle slow build over the jump scare any day of the week, I confess I'm rather tired of the found footage device. When a child is crying in a corner, would you not put the camera down to comfort them? When a menace is apparent, would you not grab say - a knife or blunt implement - rather than slowly advance with a camera? It's the "He's right behind you! Don't split up! Don't open that door! For gods sakes, get a clue from that creepy music!" of our generation.

I had some chills and there are some suspenseful moments, albeit nothing compared to the first movie which left me too scared to sleep for hours. The ending is kind of a letdown, and I guessed early what at least part of the source of the trouble is, and you will too. I just hope the filmmakers don't pull a "Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning" to try and further undermine the spookfactor of "Toby".

More of the same, Paranormal Activity 3 gets a
B-