I figured I'd throw a quick review up here for Paranormal 4, even though I'm sure you all know where I'm going with this. Unlike a lot of my other more critical horror friends, I enjoyed the first Paranormal Activity. I think a lot may have to do with the atmosphere, but watching that movie late at night in a pitch dark movie theater with other like minded movie goers (aka: no laughing, talking, or otherwise obnoxious behavior) was really a treat. Found footage films are nothing new, but I thought the original film did a great job setting up a creepy atmosphere. Every time that screen flashed to the 3:00AM time, my heart raced a little faster and I was excited. Who hasn't been home and heard weird noises before and wondered if it could be some kind of ghost? I'm sure its crossed everyone's mind at least once, even if you aren't a believer in the paranormal. Of course the first movie was a hit, and Paramount bought the rights to make a bunch of crappy sequels. Now I'm starting to feel like we're all trapped in some kind of purgatory where we'll be forced to deal with these kind of movies every year for the rest of our lives because these films are so cheap to make, that there is pretty much a guaranteed profit regardless of quality. Hollywood sure knows how to ruin a good thing.
My memory of Paranormal 3 is a bit fuzzy, but Paranormal 4 picks up after the 3rd. We meet a family, whose story is told mostly through the eyes of 15 year old Alex and her boyfriend Ben, who spend a lot of time talking via Skype or something and filming other aspects of family life with a camcorder (Why are these people still filming?!). The new neighbors move in, a single mom and her creepy little son named Robbie who walks around the neighborhood late at night and likes to hang out in Alex's yard. When Robbie's mom falls ill, the family decides to take Robbie in for a few days until she gets out of the hospital because he has no other family. Robbie starts acting weird of course, getting up in the middle of the night and talking to walls. We know all of this because Alex's weirdo boyfriend accidentally taped her sleeping one night, and he saw Robbie getting into Alex's bed early in the morning and then leaving. The couple decides they will then leave cameras up at all times to look for any more moments of the little boy doing strange things. The family also has a son named Wyatt, whom befriends Robbie and starts acting strange as well.
I don't have to spoil any more of the film to tell you how badly it sucks. There were absolutely no answers revealed from the earlier entries in the franchise, no progress to the story at all. One of the main reasons I went to see the movie was to see if it at least answered some questions from the last films. The jump scares, which is about all this film had as a leg to stand on, were horrible and practically non existent. I am not a fan of jump scares to begin with, but at least if you are going to include them do something that will make me jump and not something so lame and predictable that I could have easily fallen asleep and dreamed of something more horrifying. At the time I was watching it, that option actually seemed preferable. Yet, I toughed it out for the sake of trying to write a fair review, for the hope that maybe at the end of this mess there will be some redeeming quality that could give me hope that not all of my money was wasted. Nope. The ending was just as lame as the rest. Like I said before, my memory of Paranormal 3 is a little hazy but I do remember quite a similar ending to the last film. We get zero information about the demon, zero information about this "cult" that appears to worship him. All we get is a terribly ominous feeling that "Paranormal Activity 5" will soon be upon us, devoid of any new story progress or anything remotely scary.
I think this series is a testament to the fact that a bigger budget does not necessarily mean a better movie. The first Paranormal Activity had a budget of $15,000 and made close to $200,000,000 worldwide. And that movie was scary. As these sequels continue to get churned out year after year like clockwork just in time for Halloween, I have to ask myself at what point do we moviegoers say "enough"? Look at the Saw series. That was another good film ruined by Hollywood sequels. Shouldn't we as an audience demand more than these awful sequels and remakes of other good films? It's a depressing time to be a horror fan, since these movies continue to go on and reach #1 at the box office year after year. I guess I am part of the problem, because I admit to having gone and seen the others as well. I want more Cabin In The Wood's, hell even more movies like Sinister would be more enjoyable than waiting for nonsense like this every year, hoping that maybe there will be at least once good scene in the whole movie. Maybe it's that hope that keeps pulling people in the theaters every year, but even that's starting to wear thin. Do yourself a huge favor and skip this. Go on Netflix, read a little on the Internet, and find yourself a really good horror movie. You certainly won't find one here.
0.5 OUT OF 5 STARS
0.5 out of *****
My memory of Paranormal 3 is a bit fuzzy, but Paranormal 4 picks up after the 3rd. We meet a family, whose story is told mostly through the eyes of 15 year old Alex and her boyfriend Ben, who spend a lot of time talking via Skype or something and filming other aspects of family life with a camcorder (Why are these people still filming?!). The new neighbors move in, a single mom and her creepy little son named Robbie who walks around the neighborhood late at night and likes to hang out in Alex's yard. When Robbie's mom falls ill, the family decides to take Robbie in for a few days until she gets out of the hospital because he has no other family. Robbie starts acting weird of course, getting up in the middle of the night and talking to walls. We know all of this because Alex's weirdo boyfriend accidentally taped her sleeping one night, and he saw Robbie getting into Alex's bed early in the morning and then leaving. The couple decides they will then leave cameras up at all times to look for any more moments of the little boy doing strange things. The family also has a son named Wyatt, whom befriends Robbie and starts acting strange as well.
I don't have to spoil any more of the film to tell you how badly it sucks. There were absolutely no answers revealed from the earlier entries in the franchise, no progress to the story at all. One of the main reasons I went to see the movie was to see if it at least answered some questions from the last films. The jump scares, which is about all this film had as a leg to stand on, were horrible and practically non existent. I am not a fan of jump scares to begin with, but at least if you are going to include them do something that will make me jump and not something so lame and predictable that I could have easily fallen asleep and dreamed of something more horrifying. At the time I was watching it, that option actually seemed preferable. Yet, I toughed it out for the sake of trying to write a fair review, for the hope that maybe at the end of this mess there will be some redeeming quality that could give me hope that not all of my money was wasted. Nope. The ending was just as lame as the rest. Like I said before, my memory of Paranormal 3 is a little hazy but I do remember quite a similar ending to the last film. We get zero information about the demon, zero information about this "cult" that appears to worship him. All we get is a terribly ominous feeling that "Paranormal Activity 5" will soon be upon us, devoid of any new story progress or anything remotely scary.
I think this series is a testament to the fact that a bigger budget does not necessarily mean a better movie. The first Paranormal Activity had a budget of $15,000 and made close to $200,000,000 worldwide. And that movie was scary. As these sequels continue to get churned out year after year like clockwork just in time for Halloween, I have to ask myself at what point do we moviegoers say "enough"? Look at the Saw series. That was another good film ruined by Hollywood sequels. Shouldn't we as an audience demand more than these awful sequels and remakes of other good films? It's a depressing time to be a horror fan, since these movies continue to go on and reach #1 at the box office year after year. I guess I am part of the problem, because I admit to having gone and seen the others as well. I want more Cabin In The Wood's, hell even more movies like Sinister would be more enjoyable than waiting for nonsense like this every year, hoping that maybe there will be at least once good scene in the whole movie. Maybe it's that hope that keeps pulling people in the theaters every year, but even that's starting to wear thin. Do yourself a huge favor and skip this. Go on Netflix, read a little on the Internet, and find yourself a really good horror movie. You certainly won't find one here.
0.5 OUT OF 5 STARS
0.5 out of *****