Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)

 In 1988, young sisters Katie and Kristi befriend an invisible entity who resides in their home.

Another year, another installment in the ghostly “realistic” franchise. It’s strange because unlike a lot of folks, I thought the first was terrible and the second was awesome. There was something about the second installments audio that scared the shit out of me; so when the third entry leaned more towards the second than the first, I was somewhat excited to see what kind of scares they had in store for its audience this time around.

They went into prequel territory again, but this one feels a little too much for the audience to believe in. The entire setup of getting the camera involved is came about in a very absurd way and really hampers any type of thought that this is reality, but it’s a necessary component because it’s the key selling point for the franchise. If you can get past that, you get a much more complex plot, filled with twists, annoying characters, and daresay witchcraft. This idea to bring in witchcraft helps prolong the franchise, but for me personally, I immediately get turned off with this type of shit. I bet others are in the same boat as me. Then to make matters worse, these choices the parents of these children make are downright awful to the point that you want to go through the screen and give them a nice slap in the back of the head.

As far as the scares come, the film does a few things right. The audio is fantastic once again that only a theater or a great home theater system can provide. The vibrations cause more scares then what’s on the screen itself. It’s about the only improvement each film has made. The on-screen material is very creative and relies less on CGI this time around, but a lot of the characters reactions quickly cause you to react much differently. You may have a decent time with Paranormal Activity 3, but it’s not very good. It’s probably the worst entry and makes the franchises original appeal feel stale and repetitive now. Unless something drastically changes for the next one, the upcoming sequels can be in real trouble. If you’re in the mood for a few jumps and a pretty quick watch, give the third installment a go.

Overall Score: 3/10