Paranormal Acitivity 3 movie poster

Tried and true, this third installment of Paranormal Activity lives up to the hype to scare the hell out of you. Exactly like its predecessors, Paranormal Activity 3 delivers a purposefully, creepily slow sense of dread and tension that will definitely get you hanging on the edge of your seat. In the first movie, we are introduced to the hauntings of Katie’s household. The sequel follows up on that by tracking the hauntings of Katie’s sister, Kristi and her family. In this latest episode of the franchise, the adult Katie and Kristi do make a quick comeback, but preteen newcomers take over their roles as the plot now focuses on explaining how it all began.

Paranormal Activity 3 is a prequel to the first two films. Like the other films, the story opens up in modern day Carlsbad, California, where Kristi’s husband is wandering around again with a camcorder. This being a prequel, they discover ancient 80′s-era VHS tapes lying around from Katie & Kristi’s recently deceased grandmother’s house which contain the horrific events of their childhood past. As the old VHS tapes start playing, we are taken way back to 1988 where it all begins.

The story revolves around Dennis (Chris Smith) playing the young Katie & Kristi’s videographer who has moved in to live with them and their mother. He becomes obsessed with discovering the source of all the late night noises that have invaded his family’s large suburban home, and ultimately, discovers that his children’s imaginary playmate isn’t so imaginary after all. As in the first Paranormal Activity, husband and wife (Katie & Kristi’s parents) bicker over the supernatural haunting in their home. (Spoiler alert: Skip this if you don’t want to know more.) In turns out, that Katie and Kristi’s grandmother was a part of a witch coven that made a sort of a deal with the devil – wealth for the sacrifice of her first-born grandson. But, since Julie only had girls (Katie & Kristi), the deal followed into the next generation. Thus, explaining the hauntings of the first two Paranormal Activities.

The cinematography of these films has always been their “killer” feature. Because of the constrained points of view of either a handheld camcorder or a stationary security camera, we never really get to see what we anxiously want to see. That’s where our imaginations take over and we imagine that the worst is yet to come. That same formula is used in Paranormal Activity 3, and is freshened up a little bit with a fan cam. A camera is rigged on top of an oscillating fan, and when something seems unusually creepy, the camera pans away only to pan back into something shockingly scary. Paranormal Activity 3 justly follows along the well-worn path of its predecessors. While offering nothing new, this third installment ups the ante and is sure to scare you more this third time around.
Poster Pic courtesy of: Paranormal Activity

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