What made Paranormal Activity such an unexpected hit back in 2009 was that it offered a vastly different experience than the grisly horrors that were occupying theaters. It wasn't revelling in "torture" porn like the Saw franchise or the even more gory Hostel movies. Instead, PA reinvigorated the "found footage" genre which had been languishing ever since The Blair Witch Project, using natural effects and turning our own fears of what goes bump in the night against us. It was a truly remarkable psychological terror film, because everybody gets a little jumpy that something might be happening to us at our most vulnerable time, which is while we're sleeping.
While the first two movies have been undeniable hits, the years have seen the fuzzy screened handheld camera style used up like an old snot rag in the subsequent years. That means it's up to Paranormal Activity, in order to hold on to it's crown as the undisputed king of the horror realm, has to come up with something new and not just give us the same old slamming doors and falling kitchen appliances.
Besides the obvious that it might be smart to not piss off wayward spirits, the women in Paranormal Activity should be more concerned with their destructive tendency to date men obsessed with video cameras. The original film followed Katie, who along with her irritating boyfriend(with a camera plastered to his face at all times) were plagued by a passive aggressive poltergeist. The second film dealt with her married sister, Kristi, a mother who saw her entire family terrorized by what appeared to be the same entity. In passing we learn that the two have been haunted by this creature since childhood. The success of PA2 was in taking focus off the two older women and placing the potential harm on Kristi's infant child.
And that brings us to now, with Paranormal Activity 3 looking to perhaps capitalize on the one saving grace of the last film by going further back in time to Katie and Kristi as children. It's 1988, you can tell by the hot pink spandex the babysitter wears and the huge stack of VHS tapes used to shoot the various creakings and lurking shadows around the house. The girls live with their mother, shacked up with a good hearted loser of a boyfriend who fills his days video taping everything. Teddy Ruxpin never looked so evil as through the veil of somebody else's camera lens. Actually, the little robotic bear is the scariest thing you'll encounter, as too much of the film feels way too similar to the previous.
The duo of Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, who made waves last year with that other Facebook movie, Catfish, have come aboard to direct, but thinking their previous skill with the shaky cam would be a boon this time would be a mistake. Their greatest addition to the franchise is the inclusion of a roving camera, built atop a common household fan. As nightfall hits, and the audience starts eyeballing for the tiniest sign of movement, the slow pan of the camera can be tense and nerve racking. Unfortunately when the payoffs come they're the same old stuff we've seen twice before. And those who've bothered to pay attention to the Paranormal Activity storyline will find little that connects or makes sense.
Most of this won't matter. Paranormal Activity isn't a film you watch at home so it can be analyzed. It's to be enjoyed in a large group, late at night at the local movie theater, where everybody can wear their fear on their sleeves and not be self conscious about it. Those who are easily sucked into such flicks will find a way to have fun with Paranormal Activity 3, but those made of sterner stuff might walk away a little bit bored.
