Reviews of “Paranormal Activity 3” blabbed about its last 15 minutes “messing you up for life.” It’ll have to be your call. As for the rest of the film, however, it will definitely stand out as one of the more seriously unsettling films of the year.
For those who have lived under a rock since 2009, “Paranormal Activity” emerged as an instant hit, despite its status as a low budget horror film completely filmed with a handheld video camera.
The first film focused on a young woman and her husband dealing with the unknown occurrences transpiring within their home; the second focused on the woman’s sister and her related home hauntings — but this time around, the latest film delves slightly deeper into the plot as it details the origin of the paranormal activities surrounding the sisters, as children.
Once films the likes of “Paranormal Activity” reach their third outing, more often than not, they become redundant, predictable and generally not worth the time. “PA3” serves as a welcomed exception.
Newcomer Christopher Nicholas Smith, in his first lead role, plays the spooked amateur filmmaker boyfriend of young Katie (Chloe Csengery) and Kristi Rey’s (Jessica Tyler Brown) mother Julie (Lauren Bittner).
As usual within the “Paranormal” franchise, once a camera begins rolling, it captures some pretty creepy things — dust slightly outlines an invisible figure watching the couple in bed; random knocking; items inexplicably moving on their own. But it goes much further than the common scare tactics overly used in most horror films. Exposition is provided — finally — and the white-knuckled scares continue throughout the film, directly leading to a conclusion you may not have seen coming.
If you’ve seen the second installment of “Paranormal,” you most likely remember the kitchen scene as Kristi Rey (as an adult) sits sipping coffee at a table. There’s silence, no movement, then suddenly every cabinet and drawer blow open at once. It definitely startled the audience wisely, and obtains the scares with relatively no sound effects or sudden music.
You can expect a similar frightening scene in “PA3,” and it’s also set in the kitchen, but takes the scare intensity to a new level, as does most of the film.
Directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman were selected to direct the third installment, coming off the buzz from their 2010 “true story” thriller “Catfish.” The two are young and eager to thrill, startle and completely toy with audiences. And they too succeed.
What works best with “PA3” is the acting doesn’t seem forced so the family dynamic begins to reveal itself. The more you can relate with the family members, the more effective the scares are.
Just in time for Halloween, “Paranormal Activity 3” is already a box-office blowout for the season — showing low budget films can truly hit the high millions in gross — and the ending leaves audiences desiring much more in the future.
I’m sure they’re already working on “Paranormal Activity 4.” But let the filmmakers take a lesson from the “Saw” franchise: don’t let greed overshadow film quality by making dozens of sequels that overplay an effective horror story.
