PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 (2011)

Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman
Cast:
RunTime: 1 hr 24 mins
Released By: UIP
Rating: NC-16 (Disturbing Scenes)
Official Website: http://www.paranormalmovie.com/

Opening Day: 20 October 2011

Synopsis: Supernatural geeks will be delighted by a haunting third installment of the well-received thriller series, Paranormal Activity.

A follow-up horror flick directed by Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost, Paranormal Activity 3 brings us back to 1988, 18 years before the actual events of Paranormal Activity and Paranormal Activity 2 where Katie and Kristi were still young girls.

The pair of young sisters encounters an unknown being haunting their home in 1988. While the being appears friendly initially, the girls and their family are soon tormented by it when it turns aggressive.

Movie Review:

By now, you already know what to expect from a ‘Paranormal Activity’ film, so newcomer directors to the franchise Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman don’t have the luxury of novelty that the first’s Oren Peli had. But even though we knew to expect the same tricks- doors opening and slamming shut, thuds on the floorboards, kitchen utensils falling to a crash by themselves, and most of all, bed covers pulled away- this latest instalment proved to be even more terrifying than the first two, and quite possibly one of the scariest things you’ll see this year.

Those who have seen the first two films will recall that both sisters Katie (Katie Featherstone) and Kristi (Sprague Grayden) were spooked at some point in their childhood before their documented hauntings as adults. A preamble sees Katie and Sprague reprising their roles, with the added hint that their childhood experiences were also recorded on tapes. Then returning series writer Christopher Landon takes us back to 1988, when they had just moved into a suburban California home with their mom Julie (Laurie Bittner) and her boyfriend Dennis (Chris Smith). 

Little time is wasted watching them settling in, as Joost and Schulman bring on the supernatural encounters almost immediately. Because Dennis happens to run his own home studio shooting wedding videos, he insists on setting up three cameras in the house to investigate the mysterious sounds they’ve been hearing- one of them he places in the girls’ room up in the attic, another in his and Julie’s bedroom, and the last in the living room. Of course this being 1988, the footage is recorded on tapes, and look grainier than the digital recordings in the earlier films. 

But as with the last two, what follows is an exercise in anticipation as we are forced to watch and wait for the signs that some other presence is in that very room. The familiarity of ‘Paranormal’s’ approach however does not diminish the suspense one bit, and indeed, it remains a tense, nail-biting experience definitely not for the faint-hearted. Joost and Schulman also come up with ingenious ways of escalating dread- one of their best ideas to jerry-rig a camera on an oscillating fan so that it pans back and forth between the living room and the kitchen, the tactic working brilliantly for a petrifying sequence that has the babysitter spooked. 

Another standout sequence has Katie playing ‘Bloody Mary’ with Dennis’ assistant Randy (Dustin Ingram) in the bathroom, provoking some serious shit that will have you grabbing the hand-rests of your seats. Whereas the horror previously was more insidious, it is more tangible and therefore even more startling this time round- the said spirit assuming physical though still invisible form that literally stops Katie in her tracks. It is also certainly more menacing, and isn’t quite as subtle in announcing its presence as before. 

Besides Joost and Schulman’s deft hand at engineering the shocks, Langdon also steps up his game with a tighter narrative that cleverly ensures the continuity of the ‘Paranormal Activity’ legacy. Rest assured that we won’t spoil the surprise for anyone- suffice to say that the final half hour that sees the whole family retreating to Julie’s mother’s place goes deeper than ever before into the reason for the hauntings. Clearly more assured than before, Langdon also brings an unexpected touch of levity to the nerve-wracking proceedings through Randy’s wisecracks, and let’s just say you’ll be glad Ingram plays the part with zing to lighten the mood. 

Despite this being the third time round, we are glad to say that the ‘Paranormal Activity’ franchise is getting better and better with every instalment. Thanks to new blood in the form of faux-documentary ‘Catfish’ directors Joost and Schulman, ‘PA3’ isn’t just content to revisit the same scares of its predecessors, but ups the ante in suspense and sheer terror. Sure it’s timed to get the maximum mileage of the Halloween season, but this isn’t some blatant cash-grab attempt at horror-starved audiences. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again- this is the best ‘Paranormal Activity’ yet, and one of the most terrifying horror movies you’ll see this year. 

Movie Rating: 

(A exercise par excellence in dread and terror, this is the best Paranormal Activity yet and easily one of the scariest movies you'll see this year)

Review by Gabriel Chong