Thursday, October 27, 2011

Paranormal Activity 3

(2011)***1/2

We begin at the start of PA2. While the couple from PA2 is moving into their house, the sister from PA1 brings over some boxes to store, including a bunch of old VHS tapes from the '80s. When the house is ransacked (a scene covered in PA2), nothing is stolen, Except the videos. PA3 is a collection of the greatest hits of these videos.

Given that a lot of what's cool about the Paranormal Activity movies is the surprise element, I won't move past those first 90 seconds in terms of plot. Let's just say that lots of weird stuff happened to these two sisters while they were children. I liked this movie a lot, but I was still disappointed in it - I expected to like it more. The second movie's strongest point was its ability to flesh out the mythology of the PA world while still providing fresh characters. This film adds a little bit to the PA storyline, but frankly, it felt more like an episode in a TV series where just one small bit is added, rather than a chapter in a movie series, which explains a lot. Still a good movie, but it left me wanting to see PA4 right away so that I could learn more about the story (which is exactly what those blood-sucking studio makers want!)

Anyway, worth seeing. better than PA1, not as good as PA2.

Oh, and none of these scenes made it into the actual movie... I'm thinking the blu-ray of this film may end up being very different from the theatrical.













6 comments:

JPX said...

Nothing freaks me out more than reflective surfaces in movies. That picture of the little girl looking away while her refelction remains unchanged just freaks me the hell out! I'm sad to hear that the film falls short but I must see it post haste. You will be happy to know that they have already announced part 4!

Catfreeek said...

I'm glad to hear that the film is good overall, not sure when i'll get to it but it's good to know.

Johnny Sweatpants said...

Nice review Trevor! I think I'm gonna wait until they're finished churning them all out and then have a giant marathon. But then I said the same thing about the SAW movies..

Trevor said...

And please don't get me wrong - the film is well worth seeing, but, well, it's just such a damn tease!

Octopunk said...

Hmm, I just commented on your PA2 review that I was going to rush to see these, but now I think I'll follow JSP's example. Another well-executed review, Trevor, you've been nailing it this year.

DKC said...

Man, I want to see this. I'm trying to avoid reading the review and comments...it's hard!

Malevolent

 2018  ***1/2 It's 1986 for some reason, and a team of paranormal investigators are making a big name for themselves all over Scotland. ...