Paranormal Activity 3 is a messy and unnecessary prequel for a franchise that didn't even need one sequel. I stated in my review of the second one that since it followed the original formula, it was better than The Blair Witch Project sequel, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2. At least Blair Witch knew it was not necessary to make a third film. Paranormal Activity still believes in itself, and will inevitably make more installments.
This is a prequel to the first films, like I mentioned. Something we all saw coming. The film takes place in the present for just a few minutes, then we see Kristi's (Grayden) house get vandalized from the second film and we see a bunch of old tapes her sister Katie (Featherson) dropped off had gone missing. The rest of the film is compiled of those VHS tapes from when Katie and Kristi were young.
It is 1988, a fairly modern version of it, and we see both Katie and Kristi growing up rather upper middle class with their mother Julie (Bittner) and her boyfriend Daniel (Boland). We learn Daniel is obsessed with taping everything, and one day catches what appears to be some "paranormal activity" on tape. He then sets up a camera in their bedroom, a camera in the girls' bedroom, and an oscillating camera on a fan in the living room/kitchen.
The rest of the film consists of ineffective jump scares, mild activity that sometimes goes unnoticed, and a lot of screaming. Not from the audience, but from the parents and the children. Not a lot of questions are answered, but the film feels like it should bring more into the picture. We never really find out the story of the baby Hunter from the second film, and many other points like the mysterious photograph are not revisited.
The trailer is misleading beyond belief. Very few, if any scenes from the trailer exist in the film which is either because (a) the film was victim to several rewrites and reshoots, or (b) they shot much of the footage for the trailer before the actual film and now went back to film around those shots and got sidetracked. Certain scenes like the "Bloody Mary" scene from the trailer exist, but in a very different and inferior manner.
Paranormal Activity 3 is supposed to be set in 1988, but looks absolutely nothing like it. The house is too modern, the clothes are from the present, very little references to famous things in the eighties, and not to mention the film being shot with a glorious, high definition camera - the most fatal flaw of all.
Lots of the activity is very subtle as well. We are provided with maybe one effective jump scare, two or three amusing scenes, and an interesting camera angle. The ending, in-which the last fifteen minutes are supposed to "scar you for life," are rather underwhelming and very unappealing. I dare not spoil them because, while I was disappointed, I was nonetheless surprised.
The franchise itself has ran its course dry, but more sequels are inevitably on the way. We have many more questions, and fewer and fewer answers per film. No doubt this will gross many, many millions at the box office, and be seen by many fans of the first two. If you are interested in creepy stories from an interesting perspective, directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, directors of this, did an extremely immersing documentary called Catfish. That had more jumps and way more intensity that lacks in Paranormal Activity 3.
Starring: Katie Featherston, Sprague Grayden, Chloe Csengery, Jessica Tyler Brown, Brian Boland, Lauren Bittner, Christopher Nicholas Smith, and Mark Fredrichs. Directed by: Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman.
This is a prequel to the first films, like I mentioned. Something we all saw coming. The film takes place in the present for just a few minutes, then we see Kristi's (Grayden) house get vandalized from the second film and we see a bunch of old tapes her sister Katie (Featherson) dropped off had gone missing. The rest of the film is compiled of those VHS tapes from when Katie and Kristi were young.
It is 1988, a fairly modern version of it, and we see both Katie and Kristi growing up rather upper middle class with their mother Julie (Bittner) and her boyfriend Daniel (Boland). We learn Daniel is obsessed with taping everything, and one day catches what appears to be some "paranormal activity" on tape. He then sets up a camera in their bedroom, a camera in the girls' bedroom, and an oscillating camera on a fan in the living room/kitchen.
The rest of the film consists of ineffective jump scares, mild activity that sometimes goes unnoticed, and a lot of screaming. Not from the audience, but from the parents and the children. Not a lot of questions are answered, but the film feels like it should bring more into the picture. We never really find out the story of the baby Hunter from the second film, and many other points like the mysterious photograph are not revisited.
The trailer is misleading beyond belief. Very few, if any scenes from the trailer exist in the film which is either because (a) the film was victim to several rewrites and reshoots, or (b) they shot much of the footage for the trailer before the actual film and now went back to film around those shots and got sidetracked. Certain scenes like the "Bloody Mary" scene from the trailer exist, but in a very different and inferior manner.
Paranormal Activity 3 is supposed to be set in 1988, but looks absolutely nothing like it. The house is too modern, the clothes are from the present, very little references to famous things in the eighties, and not to mention the film being shot with a glorious, high definition camera - the most fatal flaw of all.
Lots of the activity is very subtle as well. We are provided with maybe one effective jump scare, two or three amusing scenes, and an interesting camera angle. The ending, in-which the last fifteen minutes are supposed to "scar you for life," are rather underwhelming and very unappealing. I dare not spoil them because, while I was disappointed, I was nonetheless surprised.
The franchise itself has ran its course dry, but more sequels are inevitably on the way. We have many more questions, and fewer and fewer answers per film. No doubt this will gross many, many millions at the box office, and be seen by many fans of the first two. If you are interested in creepy stories from an interesting perspective, directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, directors of this, did an extremely immersing documentary called Catfish. That had more jumps and way more intensity that lacks in Paranormal Activity 3.
Starring: Katie Featherston, Sprague Grayden, Chloe Csengery, Jessica Tyler Brown, Brian Boland, Lauren Bittner, Christopher Nicholas Smith, and Mark Fredrichs. Directed by: Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman.