OK. First things first — this is not a review. When introducing the screening of Paranormal Activity 3, directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman (who had previously brought audiences the documentary Catfish) told the crowd gathered that what they were about to watch was an unfinished film. Tweaks were still being made. So, theoretically, the version of Paranormal Activity 3 I saw last night could be a slightly different film than the version that is released in theaters at the end of October.
That said, here are some impressions of the film in lieu of an actual review. I’ll do my best to keep spoilers to a minimum but if you want to go into the film without knowing anything about the plot, here’s a one-line summary of the film’s quality: The movie is a steep drop-off from the quality of the first two films.
Paranormal Activity 3 continues the series’ tradition of delving deeper and deeper into the background of Katie, the young woman besieged by a ghostly demon in the first film. While the second movie served as a prequel/sequel to the original — detailing how Katie’s sister Kristi unknowingly caused her sister’s haunting, the third film takes the story back to 1988 when the two sisters first encountered the malevolent demon.
After a brief prologue set in the years leading up to the events of the first film, Paranormal Activity 3 cuts to footage from a box of VHS tapes from the sisters’ youth. It seems that the sisters grew up in a 1988 of an alternate reality — one where clunky video recorders captured widescreen, high definition footage. Handling the cameraman duties of Paranormal Activity 3 is the boyfriend of Katie and Kristi’s mother — a genuinely likable man whose day job filming weddings gives him plenty of free time to full around with cameras.
While shooting a sex video with his girlfriend — the young girls’ mother — the boyfriend (and I apologize for not remembering the names of the film’s new characters or the actors who play them, the IMDB listing for the film has not been updated as of this writing) captures proof that there is an invisible force living in the house. As he begins to chronicle the strange happenings occurring in his new family’s home, it becomes apparent that the ghost the boyfriend is chasing is the same entity as Kristie’s new invisible friend Toby.
Toby (the series finally gives its demon/ghost a name!) is still as gropy and hands on with the girls in this film — made slightly creepier by their young age. In fact, the film could almost be seen as an allegory for sexual abuse of children — with Toby being keen on getting close and personal with the young girls.
Don’t expect too much nuance and subtext, though. The film’s chief purpose is creating a handful of very effective scares sparsely paced out between some tension-building padding. The end result is one that works to varying degrees.
Paranormal Activity 3 features a lot slower of a build than the first two films in the series. It’s also much more implausible — and I’m not just talking about the abnormally crisp footage for a film supposedly shot in the ‘80s. The demon at play in the Paranormal Activity series wastes no time letting his presence become known — he’s not afraid of showing his face (so to speak) early into the film. With so much proof of supernatural shenanigans going on, the movie really pushes the boundaries of logic by having the girls’ mom willfully ignore the proof of paranormal activity being shoved in her face.
One of the biggest wildcards in Paranormal Activity 3 was the fact that the film marked the first feature narrative effort from the filmmakers behind Catfish. Directing a Paranormal Activity is not a flashy job. There’s little room for a filmmaker to show off their personal style but the filmmakers of Paranormal Activity 3 do an admirable job balancing humor and tension while remaining rigidly close to the series’ formula.
The film has a very tense climax and some really good scares — including a memorable oscillating camera set-up that really helps to ratchet up the film’s tension in a reasonably innovative way. Unfortunately, besides the oscillating camera, the movie offers almost nothing new to the proceedings and the film quickly begins to feel like leftovers from the first two far scarier films.
Hopefully in the next month the studio plays around with the film’s editing and tightens things up to give the movie a slightly quicker pace and spookier proceedings. A little bit of tinkering between now and the end of the month might make all the difference in ensuring this new entry in what is shaping up to be an annual tradition doesn’t stall out with its third entry.
Director: Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman
Notable Cast: Katie Featherston, Sprague Grayden and Mark Fredrichs
Writer: Christopher B. Landon
