Paranormal Activity 3
"This time the date on the camera is 1988, so we also know that the camera they are using will only have enough battery for an hour’s recording..."
The third film of the series is upon us, and its plot is shrouded in mystery. Well, that’s what they would have us believe, but considering that this is a prequel, I think we can safely say that the two girls grow into the sort of people who sometime later (and conveniently caught on film) stare at beds all night, smash their partners repeatedly into walls until dead, then scream malevolently at cameras and steal babies. So we already know that the girls don’t die, what else do we know? This time the date on the camera is 1988, so we also know that the camera they are using will only have enough battery for an hour’s recording, will need at least a day to re-charge and will require a poltergeist to hold the damn thing up. Perhaps that’s how it started, two girls want to make a film, but, faced with the technological difficulties of being in 1988, say “Bloody Mary” three times in the bathroom mirror to raise a demon cameraman. Unfortunately, after failing to agree on basic union conditions, the whole agreement falls apart and it decides it will have their first born son instead.
So this film then, is basically revealing the origins of the aforementioned activity, and then presumably comes up with a stupid reason why they never remember this until twenty years later it returns. I think they couldn’t believe their luck when after the success of the first Paranormal Activity, they realised that they could quite cleverly work in a sequel that fitted in with the events and timing of the first film to show what was happening to the sister at the same time. It was good because you could tell that they had really, really tried hard, and that sort of thing is to be commended - like a fat kid on sports day who charges full pelt at a high jump bar set at one metre, even though we all know it’s only going to end one way.
Sadly though, even though this film might be fun if you want to watch easily scared people throw popcorn in the air and shriek, like my fictitious fat kid, you can tell from the start that this film has the bar set way too high to work. Directed this time by Henry Joost, it thankfully retains original, shrieking cast member, Katie Featherstone, as the film attempts to prove that paranormality runs in the family.
