Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)

I’m sorry, but no. Paranormal Activity 3 is another one those films I really wanted to like, and I did want learn more about the story, but I just saw the same old routine here.

When it comes to the scare tactics in this film, they did make some minor changes again, and the little tweaks did feel refreshing at times, but for the most part, they stuck to the same formula they used in the previous films, when trying to provide spook moments. Yeah, this film did provide some nice jump scares here and there, but most of the time, I felt like I was watching the same old film again. And I wasn’t a fan of the ending here. The ending just left me with this “That’s it??? Really!” feeling, and I couldn’t believe the mind boggling finale.

This film featured some more new characters, and I thought this film would provide a lot more details about the story. I did see some revealing home movies that featured Katie and Kristi, and I did see the early stages of the invisible demon’s terrorizing rampages, but I still didn’t feel like I learned anything here. They do introduce more characters here, and they do show you how it all began, but I still had to imagine a lot of major details in this film. I still had to guess what could’ve or might’ve happened. I still had to figure out things for myself, and this prequel didn’t provide any kind of satisfying payoff for me.

In one of the commercial advertisements for this film, a certain quote or message (I’m not sure which one it was) warns the audience about the final fifteen minutes of this film: “The last fifteen minutes of this film will mess you up for life.” They used this as hype material for this film, but they should’ve changed it to “The last fifteen minutes will save this film.” Yes. There is some nice suspense towards the end of this film, the spook moments fly at you non-stop, and there is some nice tension towards the very end, but the final fifteen minutes didn’t ruin my life. The final fifteen minutes woke me up (because I did feel bored at times), but the final moments of this film didn’t traumatize me, or scare me to the point, where I pissed in my pants.

You‘ll probably enjoy this, if you love the Paranormal Activity franchise and found-footage horror films, but Paranormal Activity 3 didn’t do anything for me. The acting is still pretty mediocre, the ending was a HUGE disappointment for me, they pretty much stuck to the same formula, when trying to provide scares, and the Paranormal Activity franchise is starting to give me the runaround. Yeah, I was introduced to some new characters here, and I did get to see some freaky events in Katie and Kristi’s childhoods, but I still didn’t learn too much here. They do give the audience some new material, but I just some new home movies that featured different people here.

Final Rating: 4/10