Miramichi A&E: The Wright Stuff Reviews "Paranormal Activity 3"

Miramichi A&E: "PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3"

Directed by Henry Joost, Ariel Schuman

Starring Lauren Bittner, Chloe Csengery, Christopher Nicholas Smith and Jessica Tyler Brown

If the goal of any good horror movie is to scare the living be-jeezus out of you, then PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 more than delivers. It follows the tried and true formula of long, drawn out silences followed by a few seconds of abject terror. You know what I mean. Its kind of like...wait for it.....waaaaiiiit for it......WAAAAAAIIIIIIIT FOOOOOR IT....aaaaaaaand........BANG!!!!! Evereyone screams and spends the next 3 minutes laughing about it. A nice recipe for a heart attack if there ever was one.

Now if your interested at all in seeing this movie you clearly know the just of the plot going in, which is hinted at in the previous two instalments. In PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 1 and 2 we saw the horrifying trials and tribulations of sisters Katie and Kristi and the terrors visited upon them by some unseen, possibly demonic force. In each film while dealing with these nightmarish events, we would hear snippets of their childhood hinting at some strange, supernatural past. Well, in the latest addition to this trilogy of terror we finally get to see what they were reminiscing about.

Ahh, childhood....what sweet memories.

To explain the plot in any real detail would seem pretty pointless since it follows the same general thrust of the first two. Weird things start to happen and the man of the house goes about setting up an army of video cameras to catch the all of the...well.....activity. And damned if it ain't paranormal!!!!

Much like the 2nd film, this one takes a little time to get going, kind of like a rusty old train grinding to life. But once the insanity begins, it comes fast and furious hardly leaving you time to catch your breath until the next big blow to the nervous system strikes. The scares and big and cheap, but effective as hell.

Now having said all of that, I will also say that it is my least favourite of the three. The actors don't leave much of an impression, and a lot of the dialogue seems improvised and a little forced. Of the cast the only one that made an impression was little Jessica Tyler Brown, who plays the young Kristi. She is completely real and totally unaffected. Its a great performance and the most memorable in the movie.

And then there is the ending. It's a tad out of character with the rest of the series and kind of took me out of the movie, but it does make sense in terms of whats been touched on in the first two films. But even amidst a weak finale it still delivers up some blood chilling jolts.

Now all of these criticisms are minor and don't really hurt the enjoyment of watching the movie, but since I'm being asked to be a MOVIE CRITIC here, I feel like I should say something critical, right?

So if you love movies about things that go bump in the night, or in this case go BANG, BOOM and CRASH!!! in the night, then this is right up your alley. If your sensitive however, you may want to bring adult diapers.

Don't be embarrassed...its just a precaution.

2 1/2 stars out of 4. But 4 out of 4 for the shocks!!