In case you were thinking this movie franchise fell into the pattern of redundancy — you were wrong. Dead wrong.
For those of you living underground, the “Paranormal Activity” series revolves around the unfortunate lives of Katie (Chloe Csengery) and her younger sister Kristi (Jessica Tyler Brown), who have been tormented by a demon for, practically, their entire lives.
I was super excited to watch this movie but I was hesitant because of the usual slow-paced story line that plagued movies one and two. Gimme some action, please! It seems as though the directors of “Paranormal Activity” heard our pleas because Part 3 had non-stop excitement from the start.
Oh, by the way, the previews you see on TV are bogus and are not actually shown in the theatrical movie (I smell multiple DVD alternate endings).
After a brief recap, the film starts in 1988 when Katie and Kristi were kids. Their mother, Julie (Lauren Bittner) and her boyfriend, Dennis (Christopher Nicholas Smith) had recently moved into a new home and, low-and-behold, some paranormal action goes down.
Dennis (like every other man in the series) decides it’s time to pull out the old video camera and investigate, setting up cameras in his bedroom, the kitchen and the girls’ room. It seems that videotaping will be a never-ending trend in their lives.
What makes this movie significantly better than its predecessors is the pace in which the scary stuff occurs. Seriously, they threw in crazy amounts of unexpected “jump-out-at-you” moments that made me thank the gods of Hollywood that this wasn’t made in 3D.
You know what’s creepier than being taken by surprise by demons on the warpath? I’d say, demented little girls in dresses talking to their invisible demon buddy over tea.
Kristi, adorable and naïve to the point of tears, has been BFF with her “imaginary” friend Toby since their arrival into the new home and, of course, her mother thinks it’s a childish “phase” and ignores her rather than assume Toby is going to murder them all in cold blood.
In the footage captured by Dennis, we witness accounts of Toby’s shadowy presence pacing through the rooms. Kristi running through the house in the dead of night speaking to empty corners of the house. The totally 80s babysitter getting stalked by the unknown entity, and a game of Bloody Mary that “shockingly” takes a turn for the worse.
The best part of this movie is the unexpected twist towards the end. I was literally screaming and doing that “peek-through-the-fingers-until-it’s-safe” bit for practically the whole last half of the film (along with the rest of the movie-goers). I won’t divulge the details. You’ll have to watch and see. Muahahaha.
