'Paranormal Activity 3' Review (2011)
A return to ghostly form
Photo: Paramount Pictures
Whether it was intentional or not, the fact the first 30 or so minutes of Paranormal Activity 3 are comprised of tedious and generic jump scares actually works in the film's favor. Tedium soon leads to an effective final 30 minutes as the origin story to this supernatural franchise gets down to its most gnarliest. Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman created some effective and tense moments in their faux documentary Catfish in 2010 and as a result prove to be a solid duo to take over the Paranormal franchise following 2010's lackluster second installment.
The cast includes Christopher Nicholas Smith, Lauren Bittner, Jessica Tyler Brown, Chloe Csengery, Dustin Ingram, Katie Featherston, Sprague Grayden, Brian Boland and Mark Fredrichs. For more information on this film including pictures, trailers and a detailed synopsis choose from the following menu.
Review
"Paranormal Activity 3" is a Paramount Pictures release, directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman and is rated R for some violence, language, brief sexuality and drug use. The running time is 1 hour 21 minutes.
You can shut the areas of your imagination down that would otherwise allow you to accept the situation, but if you let your imagination run free you're going to have a lot of fun and once again, I feel Paranormal Activity 3 is a film that must be seen in theaters.
Showing only brief glimpses from the first two films, Paranormal Activity 3 opens without any title screens, no "directed by" and not even a Paramount logo as we quickly move from 2005 to 2006 to all the way back to 1988 where we meet Julie (Lauren Bittner), the biological mother to Katie and Kristi Rey, the haunted sisters from the first two films. Here they are still quite young and Julie's boyfriend Dennis (Chris Smith) has moved in and is a hit with the kids.
Dennis is also a wedding videographer and he's obsessed with recording life around him. That said, with very little time wasted, what was going to be Dennis and Julie's first sex tape ends up capturing an earthquake followed by a mysterious image on the overturned camera. Dennis begins hearing bumps in the girls' room, one of them is talking to an imaginary figure she calls Toby prompting Dennis to begin documenting, setting up cameras all around the house.
Night after night weird things begin to happen, ramping up the tension and increasing in intensity leading up to a final act that really seals the deal. And if you think many of the scares have been ruined by the trailers, don't worry; several of them aren't even in the film. In fact, the entire scene from the first trailer isn't in the film and the majority of the second trailer isn't either.
The performances by the lead actors are standard based on what we've seen from the first two installments, Smith is a bit dry and Bittner appears to be reading her lines more often than not, but it works. The two young girls played by Chloe Csengery and Jessica Tyler Brown are quite good, but the added bonus is Dennis' assistant Randy played by Dustin Ingram. Randy serves as something of a comic relief character, but not in a punch line delivery way, but more in a "this shit is getting real, but I'm going to stay cool so I can get out of here alive" kind of way. Just wait for the "Bloody Mary" scene and you'll see what I mean.
The film, however, isn't without its problems. As with all films of this sort you do begin to wonder why anyone would continue filming their own personal nightmare and not concern themselves more with the safety of their family. Considering it's set in the '80s, one thing that's fortunately absent from Paranormal Activity 3 is the use any kind of built-in night vision settings on the camera, but then again that gives them one less reason to use the camera at all. I also grew extremely bored with the use of a makeshift oscillating camera that simply took too long to get to the point. Yet, the fact many of the scares in this film happen in the light makes me ignore most of these issues.
Paranormal Activity 3 also runs into the situation where you begin to think to yourself, "Just get out of the house!" I found it equally frustrating when one of the characters refuses to watch the videos. I'm sorry, but if you're loved one is freaked out of their mind, saying the kids are in danger and suggesting you watch a video that proves it, you are going to watch that video. Granted, the way the rules are developed in this story, it wouldn't matter if they left the house or watched the tape, considering this little ghost isn't concerned with what you know or where you are.
For me, I've found the moments in this franchise when the characters see what has happened on the tapes just as freaky as when we see it firsthand. It's a shared scare, something this franchise has done well. The Paranormal Activity films feed on the fact they are creating shared scares not only among the audience, but also with the characters. Any opportunity to continue that should be taken in my opinion.
Overall, this is a much better film than Paranormal Activity 2. It uses jump scares to set you at ease, believing that's all you're going to deal with and setting you up for legitimately creepy moments in the latter third. I'm not sure where they could take things from here, but I can only assume Paranormal Activity 4 is already in the outlining stages of production.
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I liked it, much better than "2" indeed, but I think it's impossible for any sequel to surpass the effect the first one had. Ever.
But, as far as scares goes, this was a great fun!!
I loved that big scare at the kitchen near the end (I hope this isn't a spoiler since I'm giving a very generic description of the scene). I laughed after it because the timing of it was fantastic.
i guess i needa go see this
I actually didn't especially care for the original film. I thought it relied on lackluster, over-used scares (doors slamming and wind blowing to create tension is not a new technique, nor is it the least bit effective if you ask me), the acting was sub-par, I didn't find anything to like about the characters, thus forbidding me from caring about their fates, and the attempt at convincing the audience it was real did not work for a moment. I thought it was just an over-hyped movie that generated buzz solely because it used a technique that, when it was released, we hadn't seen used in a long time. The only genuinely creepy moments came in the last 10 minutes of the film.
Then again, I also think "The Blair Witch Project" is absolutely terrible (much more so than Paranormal Activity), and probably the most overrated film of all time. So, I guess these kinda films just aren't for me.
That being said, I was a fan Joost and Shulman's "Catfish", so I'm interested to see what they bring to the table with this film. Maybe I'll check it out on cheap night.
Is it necessary to see the first Paranormal Activity in order to properly enjoy the third one?
I don't think so, no. Of course, it helps.
Hey I ended up seeing the third one tonight…very spooky film. Didn't really matter, I just didn't get the cues from the first two films and that the two little girls were from the first two films. Thanks for the recommendation!
I like PA1 wayyyy better than part 2. But i would rather watch the movie The Ridges because atleast I know it is real and it is very scary!!! I wish they would stop trying to ban its release so everyone in Ohio and everywhere else can watch what really happen in the video…Anyhow Im getting ready for the midnight premiere 2nite!!!
So the Bloody Mary scene is in the movie? Is it remotely similar to the trailer? Because I've seen a thousand horror movie trailers, and I've only been freaked out by that particular scene
It is not similar to the one in the trailer
It's similar, but a much better scene in the movie, actually. The concept is the same, but the execution is diferent.
One of the best scenes of the whole movie, in my opinion.
Is it the Bloody Mary scene that they showed everyone Tuesday night during the Scream Awards? That was a bit scary — and left me wanting to see the rest of that scene!
Anyway, thx for the review Brad, I'm glad to hear it's better than the 2nd one. I thought the 1st one was really good — and scary, which is why I want to see any of them. I love a good scare, especially in October!
And thanks Eric R. — I'm off to google The Ridges. I've never heard of it.
Anyone see Lake Mungo (Australia)? I thought that was worth a pretty good scare, something I hadn't seen before.
Early word on Deadline is an $8 million midnight take…………….ahead of the midnight take of PA2.
PA3 was a good scary movie and it was much better than the second one. I do think that it will be hard to have that same effect that the first Paranormal Activity had whenever it was released into theaters for the midnight shows that were only in certain cities(Does anyone remember those screenings?). The scares in this one were good. Especially the last 15 minutes of the movie. Crazy, crazy stuff happens. Anyone whom likes a good horror movie I would advise to go check it out.
This installment works in some ways, but, eventually, given that we know what the ending will be from the previous films, the actions are anti climactic and the slow pacing that worked well in other two films grows tedious in this one. Worth seeing if you are a PA fan.