PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3
The Paranormal Activity franchise continues with this third outing from Paramount Pictures. Oren Peli and Jason Blum return to produce the highly secretive feature, with Catfish's directing duo of Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman taking on the helming duties. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi
Director: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman
Cast: Chloe Csengery, Jessica Tyler Brown, Christopher Nicholas Smith
Release Date: Oct 21, 2011
Rated R for some violence, language, brief sexuality and drug use
Runtime: 1 hr. 25 min.
Genres: Horror
Review:
The fact that Paranormal Activity is a franchise is an achievement in of itself. From the humblest of beginnings it’s brought us some of the best scares of the last decade. The sequel was pretty impressive in that it expanded the mythos of the original story and upped the scares. This third entry follows the same general pattern as the previous films. We hear things, see things fly around and watch as terrified people try to figure what’s going on. This third entry goes back to Katie and Kristy’s childhood to show the start of the whole thing. Directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman are right at home, they directed the possibly real / fake Catfish, in this setting. They set up some interesting scares and while the film keeps with the previous film’s mantra of being subtle, they show more of what goes bump in the night. It’s all done well, even if it makes you wonder if along with demonic possession a need to document everything on film is a family trait. Sadly, something is missing here. There are a few jump scares but it lacks the pop of the first two. As a result it all feels very like you are going down a road well traveled and the scares all come at fairly obvious moments. The bigger sin is that the mythos isn’t expanded all that much, most of the plot has been mentioned in the previous films so there is no massive reveal to make the whole thing worthwhile.
C
ouch. i never really loved these films like others did but they're entertaining. i thought they generally were not consistently scary, which made me bored at times.
ReplyDeleteI did enjoy the first 2 but this one was kind of a mundane.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't really into the first one, but when I get around, I will watch it anyway. Good review.
ReplyDeleteIn other words the franchise has run out of ideas and showing the limitations of the premise. Just like Trollhunter exposed.
ReplyDeleteIt is a shame this one isn't so good because the trailers did look promising.
Thank ya Diana, it’s still a very watchable film.
ReplyDeleteBrent, I’m sure there are more creative ideas out there but this entry just felt a bit lazy, really didn’t expand on the story as much as I would have liked. They’ll be a 4th one because these flicks are extra cheap to make and rake in tons of cash, so maybe we’ll see a boost in creativity. That being said, this one is watchable and fun.
I thought PA2 was really disappointing but the trailers for PA3 looked strong so I had nervous hopes about the film!
ReplyDeleteA lot of the scares turned into unintentionally funny moments which is such a shame.
There is promise but it just hasn't amounted to anything yet.....but we can forget about it until next October and PA4 comes out!!
K :-)
I was right there with you K, thought it was going to be a strong follow up to the 2nd one, which I think I liked more than you did.
ReplyDeleteNothing really unsettled me either, I had more laughs than actual scares like you.
PA4 is a foregone conclusion along with other sequels as long as they keep racking in money.