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Boo! Paramount is at it again; third straight year and third straight sequel to their and America’s seemingly favorite paranormal phenomenon. While the creep factor is still solidly in place for the patient viewer, the answers provided by Paranormal Activity 3 to the questions built up over the course of the previous two movies seem to deflate the series’ overall impact. Directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman (Catfish), the third outing maintains the look and found footage feel of the original, shares the same spooks as the sequel, and tries to provide the ending to make sense of all three. For the most part, they do, yet not without sacrificing the singular setting and the logic that grounded the first two films in its modern day era.
The year is 1988. The setting is San Jose, California. Young sisters Katie (Chloe Csengery) and Kristi (Jessica Tyler Brown) are already plagued by a spirit. Kristi calls him Toby. Katie tries to ignore him. After her birthday party, Toby takes the proverbial gloves off and steps up his midnight assault against the house; he wants attention. Kristi and Katie’s mother, Julie (Lauren Bittner), mainly ignores and dismisses the little girls’ claims as a child’s limitless imagination. Inspired by a challenge to prove that thought wrong, their step-dad, Dennis (Christopher Nicholas Smith), decides to document their claims by equipping their house with three VHS camcorders from his business; one in the kids’ bedroom, one in his and Julie’s bedroom, and the final one on a rotating fan’s base in the kitchen.
Toby doesn’t disappoint; a babysitter is pushed, Katie’s hair is pulled, the house shakes, the kitchen is virtually levitated, various sounds are heard throughout the house, and the cameras record it all…on VHS. They say seeing is believing, but for Julie experiencing is believing and, when she finally witnesses something that cannot be explained, the family vacates its San Jose residence for a respite in her mother’s house which, as it turns out, is exactly what Toby – working through Kristi – wants.
The relatable reality that marked the first two films is somewhat traded for its 1988 surroundings. Natural light, dated conversations about the title of a hit movie, and Teddy Ruxpin dolls mark the film with curious moments, yet the small-screen acting from Smith and Bittner never proves convincing. Still, some moments scream for our attention. When a babysitter actually sits at the table to do her homework instead of playing with her iPhone or surfing the internet the difference of the times is heard loud and clear; once upon a time we were a focused nation. Ironic that it is the makers of Catfish that point this out to us…
The film isn’t happy with just being a bumps-in-the-night flick. It now wants to explain and justify the chills and scares of the first two movies. Writer Christopher Landon doesn’t let the horror happen without a purpose; there is now a mythology that must be served so that a lifelong connection with this ghost who watches over the two sisters - clear into their adulthood – can be justified. While believable enough, the forced narrative doesn’t exactly do enough disturbing along the way to make you want to come back for more. Simply put, the film is more aware of itself than the others. Too much, including the performances, feels forced to be genuine.
That’s not saying the film doesn’t have its moments. When it goes back to the basics and gives its audience the nighttime scenes of ghostly bumps and wall-rattling, Paranormal Activity 3 fires up again. There are hair-raising moments that are better than the wicked sequel, a bit more disturbing than the original, but nothing that speaks of true identity. All you have are the answers that occur when the momentum dips after traveling some distance for a fifteen-minute finale that isn’t as shocking as it thinks it is.
Oren Peli has created a series that is a virtual cash machine for Paramount and they are understandably slow to let it go. The first one was great. The second was even better, but the third one begins to suffer in its welcome; the mileage in the voyeur-esque nocturnal hauntings is beginning to show.
How long until the Paranormal Activity completely runs out of steam? This new narrative hints at a 1930s beginning.
That’s a ghost story I hope to never see.
MPAA Rating: R for some violence, language, brief sexuality and drug use
