The Breakdown: When a man moves in with his partner and her daughters, he puts up cameras to record the bizarre things taking place around the young girls.
Watch If: You had any hope that there might be something redeemable in the Paranormal Activity Franchise.
Not If: You're of the opinion that found footage ghosts are so 2007.
SECONDARY FACTS
Overall Rating: 3.2/5
Length: 1:23
Country: USA
Language: English
Scare Factor: 2/5
Gore Factor: 0/5
REVIEW
THE QUICK AND DIRTY
So far, Paranormal Activity 3 has been, hands down, the best installment in the franchise, and the only film capable of standing on its own as a complete movie. If you watch any of the Paranormal Activity movies, it should be this one.
PREMISE: 3
By this point, I'm sure some of you are aware that I harbor no real love for spinoffs of any variety. Sequels are usually nothing more than sweaty-palmed money grabs picking away at the scabs of an overused idea, hoping to bleed out whatever Big Money can get. But this one felt like a film that deserved to be made. someone loved making this. Someone cared about it, and it shows. Not only does this installment show growth in the actual film quality, but it offers some interesting perspective on the previous films, which is something that Paranormal Activity 2 strives, but ultimately failed to achieve.
ACTING: 3
It's not as easy to look terrified as Hollywood likes to imply. it takes skill, and everyone in this film who is put into a scene where they need to be afraid, managed to be convincingly so. Characters perspectives and intentions are brilliantly projected. The kids did well for their age, and ultimately, while no one left me awestruck, no one ruined the experience of the film either.
VISUALS: 4
Fans of the aesthetic of the earlier installments, fret not. There are still plenty of subtle background scares that hold true to this films predecessors. This one just manages to add a bit of extra dread by giving context. There are several scenes that are so brilliantly done that the leave your teeth gritted just a bit too hard.
This film also rectified the primary issue of the second one, which relied so heavily on the background that it forgot to put anything of any interest in the foreground. The third one, though, plays with angles and perspective in a way that leaves you craning to see past the edge of the shot to see what the characters are looking at.
ATMOSPHERE: 3
While the "plot" is a bit ham-fisted into the end, at least it's entertaining to get there. The increase in intensity of the haunting itself and the concern that the film manages to provoke is well above what, by this point, I've come to expect from this franchise. But I actually enjoyed this one. It's tense and engaging, and it gives me an (albeit small) amount of hope for future installments in the franchise.
DELIVERY: 3
I actually liked this one, as opposed to the two previous installments which were... well, the first one was fine. This one felt like a movie that could stand entirely on its own, and offers perspective on the story that connects the rest of the films. All in all, it's an enjoyable flick, that's worth the time it takes to watch it.
Starring
Written By: Christopher Landon
Director: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman
Executive Producer: Akiva Goldsman
Affiliate Companies: Paramount Pictures, Blumhouse Productions, Solana Films, Room 101
Cinematography: Magdalena Górka
Make Up: Kymber Blake