Paranormal Activity 3 User Reviews

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This year - much like the other patrons filling the theater - I traded in my costume party adventuring for a night filled with the smell of popcorn, the cold tease of suspense, and an atmosphere of teamed screams and "Oh, Hell no!"s that can be expected from a late night viewing of Paranormal Activity Three.

This year's addition to the series brought no real surprises in terms of pacing: the timing, location and victims of events were in line with expectation. However, the film did provide an unexpected treat in its higher caliber of acting. The Paranormal Activity series has, over all, achieved a wonderful precedent of having genuine,relatable banter between its cast members; sadly, it has never felt quite as natural as they have intended. As the film series places so much weight on feeling genuine to audiences, a lack of authenticity can be near crippling; so, with the increase in acting standard that Paranormal Activity Three demonstrates, it can be easilyextrapolated how aspects of the film - such as the banter and character chemistry - were graced with a much needed boost in quality.

The rise in acting caliber seems to have allowed the film to overcome the hurdle that annual releases present, as well. In any genre of film, annual release runs the risk of turning sour; but, that risk is far higher for Horror and Suspense films, due to their reliance on the "shock" factor. Paranormal Activity Three does demonstrate some of the side effects of annual releases, such as predictability and a stale tinge in the atmosphere - simply put, the same scare can only work so many times. Paranormal Activity Three manages to avoid a large amount of the staleness that last year's release was plagued with by introducing a more talented cast, and avoiding from the all-too-easily-sprung trap of attempting to make the scares "bigger". While the film is not as minimalistic as the first edition of the series, it manages to carry its weight with much more ease than Paranormal Activity Two. However, raising the standard of acting and containing the majority of the frights to a minimalistic state can not protect the film from the greatest side effect ofannualization: an attenuate thinness. The atmosphere of the film is, simply put, skin deep and can be easily broken - not just by audiences, but by the atmosphere itself. Any horror series bears the risk of becoming predictable and, at one point in its lifespan, all series succumb to that dreadful ailment. Not to say that predictability is an insurmountable element to multi-shot horror, but it is certainly apersistent one. Paranormal Activity Three, follows a formula so exact to the other films - right down to the large "family alert" scare's time and location - that theatmospheric edge is torn right from its control.

When it comes to event films, a downward spiral is fairly easy to expect - take the Saw and Final Destination franchises for example. Understanding the recoil that is attached to annual releases can be decide the fate of a film; Paranormal Activity has managed to avoid many of the detrimental side effects thus far, and I wish them luck in doing so in the future. The film falls far short of the standard set by the original release, but certainly makes for a wonderful Halloween film experience.