Movie: Paranormal Activity III
Year: 2011
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Directors: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman
Stars: Chloe Csengery, Jessica Tyler Brown and Christopher Nicholas Smith

Snapshot of Movie:
The movie is a continuation of the popular Paranormal series that produced a sensation in its simple story telling with it’s original version which was done on a very small budget. The movie is about a family and the evil spirit inside of their house as they record the events through a home movie camera.

Storyline:
The hugely successful original Paranormal in 2007 was created by independent filmmakers on a low budget but attracted a worldwide audience in much the same manner as the Blair Witch Project. Unfortunately, the two successive movies did not quite live up to the mark with the third helping being somewhat of a disappointment.
Dennis who is a wedding movie/photographer lives with his recently wed wife Julie and two girls from Julies first marriage. Having all the equipment for movie making, he finds unusual events occurring around the house which he records on his camera positioned around the home. The setting of the movie is in the 80’s and one can reminisce with some of the objects of the movie such as the car, movie camera, furniture and even their clothings. The director has gone to great lengths to create the 80s theme although I am not quite sure if this was necessary since the storyline itself does not require a time era to make it believable.
When Dennis discovers unusual happenings he has a hard time convincing his wife of the paranormal behavior occurring around their house. At one point he places the camera on a fan so it sweeps the whole dining, living and kitchen area at the same time. We see a figure that is wrapped up in a sheet in one corner of the room and as the camera pans to the right we again see the figure moving further towards Julie. This effect was deftly created to portray a sense of danger and keep the viewers excited.
When happenings around the home get too much, the family takes off to Julies mums house but evil awaits them in her house too.

Final Thoughts:
The movie does well to recreate the sensation of realism and ghostly happenings in a simple household. There are clever scenes such as the panning of the camera that keeps the audience’s excitement heightened. However, the confusing events towards the end of the movie was not well executed despite the frantic pace that it was delivered. Unfortunately, the Paranormal series may have come to the end of the line with this third helping since there were not much originality from the first two movies and was let down with a confusing end. Perhaps a new setting other than a house maybe required to keep the audience engaged with the highs and lows that they have come to appreciate in the Paranormal series.

Rating:
6.5/10