Paranormal Activity 3

2007 and 2010 saw the creation of Paranormal Activity 1 and 2, the third instalment has much to live up to. Being a firm believer in films failing to beat the first release I was proved wrong with the sequel. Lets test the theory for the third time, will the directors prove to scare the life out of the audience…I really hope so as very little fails to do so anymore.

The third chapter acts as a prequel, winding back through time to when the two sisters discover their ability of interacting with the supernatural. Not a skill one takes lightly or favours. Children are anything but ordinary, with susceptibility to things ‘other worldly’ and having fantastically creative imaginations their behaviour can be moulded by so many outside influences. The film takes the audience back to the two freaky sisters childhood home, living with their mother and boyfriend in 1980s California. As with the previous two films, the partner seems to have a fascination with camera’s and filming, think American Beauty but less morose and more abnormal. The use of static cameras are the common denominator of all three films, but still add the tension the films need. 

As Katie and Kristi Rey grow up together Kristi discovers an invisible friend, something many children create for a variety of reasons, loneliness, boredom or over active minds. Toby the ‘friend’ gradually becomes a permanent residence in their family home, slowly developing from an entity Kristi can only visualize to a force of reckoning upon everyone in the household. As Dennis sets up camera’s around the house, realising that something is a miss, things begin to slip out of control. Lights start to flick on and off, Kristi begins to wake at times children should be wrapped up in bed dreaming of Ballet and Barbies. Doors start slamming and noises are heard throughout the house, something is happening and only Dennis and Kristi know it. 

Sitting with fingers digging into the arm of the cinema chair, the directors play havoc with the audiences tension threshold. Figures appear then vanish, in one memorable moment there is some child’s play with hair pulling, only taken to the extreme. The film features the game ‘Bloody Mary’ horror lovers may know, the directors pull influence from films like Urban Legend and Poltergeist but take the viewing experience into modern Hollywood. When the paranormal activity becomes too much and Julie, the mother, finally believes what her family are experiencing they break away. Space should cure all evil, surely.

The children Jessica Brown (Kristi Rey) and Chloe Csengery (Katie) excel and make the film shocking in parts. Adding children into a plot will always make others feel uncomfortable, it’s no longer 1930 with The Hays Code to abide by, children being involved in horrible situations add extra terrifying factors. Although being main protagonists, both adults Lauren Bittner (Julie) and Christopher Nicholas Smith (Dennis) fail to deliver. They act with little believability and rise to the task merely because they need to. Perhaps they don’t believe in Paranormal Activity, but millions pay to see the film because they do, whether they admit it or not.

Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman delivered an acceptable piece of cinematography however it didn’t meet the expectations that Paranormal Activity 1 and 2 set. That’s not to say the twists in the storyline didn’t surprise, maybe they can reign it back with a sequel to the prequel and totally melt the audiences mind. 

How much more can you take?