PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 – Henry Joost & Ariel Schulman

When it comes to horror films, I have a 3 Step Rule. It’s simple: SCARE ME! There’s Step 1: the quick “jump” scare which means they just made a loud sound to cheaply scare you, Step 2: the “jump back in your seat scare” which means they flash something out of nowhere & get you that way, or Step 3: A scene or scare SO scary you actually say “something” out loud. Well, PA3 did ALL of these. However, I wasn’t 100% satisfied and let me tell you why.

PA3 is not a sequel to the mega-hit of the 1st two PA films, but a “Prequel”. If you aren’t familiar with these films, here’s the short version to bring you up to speed: These are horror films filmed on a low budget and with video cameras to give you the “realistic feel” to them. It’s about scary spirits that haunt a young couple and they film the strange happenings. Part 2 was about the sister of the 1st film & her expericence with these evil spirits. The two sisters are “somehow” connected to these strange happenings but we don’t know why…yet. Now, Part 3 is a Prequel that goes back and tries to explain all this.

In PA3, it is about sisters Katie (played again by Katie Featherston), and her sister, Kristi (played by Sprague Grayden), who find some old VHS tapes that have been packed away. Flashback to 1988, young Katie (played by Chloe Csengery) and young Kristi (played by Jessica Tyler Brown), live with their mom, Julie (played by Lauren Bittman), and her boyfriend, Dennis (played by Christopher Nicholas Smith). When one of the little girls befriends an imaginary friend named, Toby, things begin to “happen”. While Dennis sets up the video cameras to record these things, scares go from bumps in the night to full on frightfest! The second film left us hanging and with my NO SPOILERS RULE I can’t say how, but in this film they “explain” it ..a little. I did jump quite a few times and I felt this was better than the last, but I still enjoy the first one for it’s originality. I think if you enjoyed the first two, you won’t be disappointed. I recommend PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3.

There is one thing I didn’t like. The ending. In the commericals on T.V., they said, “The last 15 minutes will change your life”, well, I left the theater & my life is the same. It was really scary towards the end, yet they made it a bit..confusing and now they HAVE to make a Part 4 not just for the money, but to explain what happens to the two little sisters. We already know from parts 1 & 2 how they end up as adults, but there’s now a gap there that needs to be filled. I never felt these were great horror films, not by any means, but they are original, scary at times, but I still feel there’s something either missing or maybe too much of (the SAME camera shots over & over do get a bit tiresome). However, it’s October and this is a good way to enjoy it. I clearly see this is going to be the next big on-going horror franchise.

RANK: 8/10

Director: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman
Cast: Katie Featherston, Sprague Grayden, Lauren Bittner, Chloe Csengery, Christopher Nicholas Smith, Brian Boland, Dustin Ingram, Mark Fredrichs, Jessica Tyler Brown