Santa read my Christmas letter early this year, well, he read about 1% of it but still, he read it. Some of my biggest complaints about Paranormal Activity 1 and 2 were that the whole thing reeked of a bad YouTube video with amateur performances and a total lack of scares or excitement. Paranormal Activity 3 easily improves in categories, slamming the other two movies into the ground and easily earning the title of best Paranormal Activity movie of the three, for me.
What is this movie about? Paranormal Activity 3 starts off right before the first two movies begin. In 2005, Katie (Katie Featherston) gives her sister Kristi (Sprague Grayden) a box of old videotapes. A year later, someone has broken into Kristi’s house, stealing all of the tapes that Katie gave her sister. We then travel back to 1988, with the young Kristi (Jessica Tyler Brown ) and Katie (Chloe Csengery ) having their first ghostly experiences alongside their mother Julie (Lauren Bittner) and her boyfriend Dennis (Christopher Nicholas Smith).
The positives: As I mentioned before, Paranormal Activity 3 easily owns the other two movies in terms of scares. This is the first movie of the three where I didn’t feel like the only people who should be afraid of what’s occurring onscreen are those under ten; this one actually is pretty gnarly in terms of frights. One of the ways in which I feel the movie has improved in terms of frights is through the use of the cameras. In this movie, a camera is attached to a moving fan, so slowly but surely, it moves from room to room, making the viewer hold their breath the entire time as to what’s going to be onscreen in the next room. A scene using this trick, involving the babysitter, is so badass and creepy; this scene alone makes Paranormal Activity 3 superior to the other two movies in my opinion. And as for the ending…though I have to disagree with the slogan of, “It will change your life”, I have to admit it was pretty damn excruciating at times. You really don’t know what’s going to happen next and a fear of the unknown is one that a lot of people can admit to. Though, if you have seen the first two, you know what has to happen to a few of the characters, the way in which it occurs will make you jump. Or at least think twice before leaving all the lights on in your house….or visiting a relative. Just saying.
Excluding the scares, Paranormal Activity 3 is also improved because of the improved performances and writing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not expecting anyone in this movie to be receiving a knock on the door from Mr. Oscar anytime soon, but at least it’s not as cringe worthy as trying to watch the cast members in the first two pretend to act like humans. This one is actually pretty tolerable and I must say that the little girls who play Katie and Kristi do a damn fine job in this. I also liked how this movie played with a side of humor that the first two didn’t really explore at all. Paranormal Activity 3 is actually quite funny, most noteworthy being a scene with Dennis’s friend and a particularly risky game of Bloody Mary.
The negatives: Well, for one, if you’ve watched any of the trailers, you’re going to realize that a lot of scenes from them are not in the final movie. Which was kind of disappointing, especially considering some of the potential awesome thrills that could have been had from the Bloody Mary scenes and the scene where one of the girls (I think Kristi) jumped off the railing and ran up the stairs at a speed level that would make athletes eat their hearts out.
And though the ending is pretty terrifying, I think it could have been planned out a bit better. I don’t want to spoil too much, but the reasoning behind the ghostly force being present isn’t exactly the most satisfactory or original *CoughTheLastExorcismCough*. It moves a bit further away from the paranormal and more into evil cults which well…isn’t what Paranormal Activity isn’t about at all, so it felt kind of strange why the ending needed to take this odd route to the finish line.
Overall though, I was quite pleased with Paranormal Activity 3. Unlike the first two in the series, I actually felt like I was watching a quality horror movie as opposed to a YouTube video where something “unexpectedly” jumps out just as the video is ending. The performances are pretty solid, the writing has improved and brought a more entertaining and fresh perspective to the series, and there’s actually a lot of frightening scenes here which I’m definitely all for. Just please don’t do a part four. I’m dead serious. If I even hear of a part four being made, the idea alone will send a chill down my spine that will make the last 15 minutes of this movie seem like child’s play in terms of pure horror.
3/4
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