Kids and old people are scary. The Paranormal Activity series is back with yet another prequel. While Paranormal Activity 2 was a parallel prequel beginning two months before and encapsulating the original, the third movie is set 18 years before the first two. Same family. Same video footage approach. Same formula. The film makers know what works and they’re sticking to it. The script was written by one of the guys who wrote the 2nd movie and directed by two new guys to the series but not new to mockumentaries (directors Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost are the ones who directed Catfish). The creator of the whole Paranormal Activity phenomena, Oren Peli, is attached as a producer.
I love how all of the Paranormal Activities interlock with one another. The 2nd movie did an amazing job with that, this one…not so much. The movie opens up in March 2005 at Dan (Brian Boland) and Kristi’s (Sprague Grayden) house in Carlsbad, California. Kristi’s sister Katie (Katie Featherston) is dropping off Grandma’s old junk including some VHS tapes. Then, after the house is “burglarized,” we see Dan checking if anything was taken from the basement…remember, from the beginning of the 2nd movie? Everything’s there…except the tapes. Roll the tapes! Now we’re in 1988 watching old VHS recordings from one of those huge video cameras that were a pain to hold. It’s the young versions of Kristi (Jessica Tyler Brown) and Katie (Chloe Cserngey) with their mom and dad, Zooey Deschanel look-alike Julie (Lauren Bittner) and Dennis (Christopher Nicholas Smith).
Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary
Dennis videotapes weddings for a living so he loves recording stuff…you get the idea. Once something weird goes down, he sets up cameras around the house to capture…you guessed it, paranormal activity. The same kind of stuff happens just like they did in the past two movies. Bumps in the night, things swaying back and forth, someone staring at the bedside, etc. etc. You don’t have to keep such a keen watch at the screen this time because the activity isn’t as subtle as before. This time around, the film likes to play around with you a lot more and get a few more jumps and scares out of you. This one isn’t as gory but is just as tense and frightening. You will be scared and you will want to look away. If you’re annoyed of playing the “what’s going to happen” game staring at a scene where nothing is happening, well then you should’ve learned your lesson from the first two movies – it’s not changing in this one.
she's so cute...in a creepy ghouly kind of way
Jessica Tyler Brown, the little girl who plays Kristi, is the one who sells this movie. She is fantastic as the little believer who can see her imaginary friend. With a tiny soft voice, she’s both spooky and cute at the same time. Lauren Bittner as Julie also delivers a great performance as the non-believing mom. Randy, Dennis’s friend and fellow videotape-enthusiast is the comic relief and keeps the audience smiling between the scares…reminding us to breathe every now and then. “Come on, Randy!” Other than those three characters, everything else is mediocre. The story was just enough to continue the series and the scare tactics were nothing new. There were really only one or two slightly modified tricks to keep the movie idea fresh.
I don't think any of these stills were in the actual movie which means...plenty of bonus features!!
The movie definitely gets the job done. It scared me, made me look off to the side a few times and exhale heavily. You know what’s coming but you can’t help it! I thought the second film had a much more cohesive story and things that would keep you up at night. This one is more cheesy and just makes you want to watch the first two movies again to see if all the dots connect. I didn’t get the same feeling of being scared of my house or silent places like the first two movies. Instead, this one takes you deeper into the paranoia. So in that respect, it was less of a Paranormal Activity movie and more of a general supernatural scary movie. I’d totally recommend to see this in theaters because this kind of movie is great to see with a crowd.
This is one of those festival films which got a lot of buzz, got picked up by a distributor, and then baffled the suits on how to market the film to anybody. Catfish premiered at Sundance last year by virtually unknown filmmakers with little fanfare but gained a lot of attention as it screened. The logo and trailer being show to the general public have almost nothing to do with the actual movie. And neither will this review…This film is very hard to review because once you get into what the film is really about, you ruin the movie. So I’ll try not to spoil it and talk around the plot as much as possible.
