Paranormal Activity 3

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Myself

I've never seen that trailer before. But the same as the one that's been playing in our local cinema for the past 3 months before practically every movie, about 80% of that footage is not in the finished film. False advertising maybe, but it does mean that you get all the surprises in the cinema and no doubt the deleted and alternate stuff will make for some fun extras on the dvd, like the first 2.

So this time we have the two guys that made the "is it real or fake" documentary Catfish earlier in the year. There's no indication from that that the'd be any good at doing a horror but they do make a pretty convincing reality with that.

Here, it's much harder to believe the conceit that in 80's someone was documenting their entire life on some magical VHS camera that could record widescreen high definition. It also has the usual prequel problem of showing events that would definitely impact the characters later on but that they don't seem to recall in the earlier movies. True they vaguely mention something about their childhood, but there's stuff in this one that I find it hard to believe you could easily forget.

It really is just a repeat of the exact same formula used in the last two. It has a very Poltergeist feel, what with the spooky girl talking to invisible friends, the tv static magically coming on and even the parents smoking pot in bed. I notice they even mention Carol Anne in a scene from that trailer that isn't to be found in the finished film.

They manage to add to the mythology, give hints at possible explanations as to where this all started, but again nothing concrete. There must always be room for sequels I guess.

But is it scary? Well it really is almost exactly the same as the last two, so if that spooks you, chances are this one will too. The best addition to the jump scare tactic is the panning camera they mount to a fan. A great conceit that is easily exploitable and done so quite well. Things get pretty nuts in the climax of this one. Probably more so than the previous two films, which could be its saving grace. Yet still I'm going to feel slightly unsatisfied when they refuse to tie up loose ends like that.

I'm all for this franchise ending the Saw films halloween horror rein once and for all, I just don't want to see it take its place and overstay its welcome. Some say it already has. If they do ever make another it had better be something drastically different, they've milked this found footage conceit enough.