It’s funny to think that three short years ago, I actually loved the first film and now I really dislike this series.
“Paranormal Activity 4” picks up five years after the end of the first film. The movie follows a new family who appears to have no connection to the previous movies. However when the character Katie from the previous movies comes and moves in next door and hidden facts begin to be revealed. I won’t go much more into the plot just because of spoilers.
With the first “Paranormal Activity,” I really enjoyed it mainly for its simplicity in so many sections. The budget was small but they used it well and did many things that were crafty, the story was also very simple, there was no major back story or major mythology, it was just a simple haunting, I enjoyed that. I didn’t know much about what was going on, and that worked. This made the film such a lightning in a bottle project, and probably should have stayed just one movie.
Now that the franchise has gotten to a fourth one, it has really lost the fun that the first one had. There has been so much exposition and so much added story that it has taken some of the mystery away.
Also, what they did in the first movie has now been done so many times that at this point nothing feels fresh. Everyone knows when something is going to happen in these movies now, and all they utilize is jump scares, there’s not even any build up.
I really think that had this franchise gone in a different route, it might have been better. Maybe have a different case of paranormal activity every year to make a movie about? Then they could have had new fresh stories and maybe do different things and have new scares.
Instead this franchise has gone the way of the “Friday the 13th” or “Halloween.” The problem is this franchise isn’t as fun, in fact this franchise is just getting downright annoying at this point. There is nothing new here, the acting is of course nothing special and the only thing that might scare a person is a jump. This is a worthless movie. 1 out of 5.
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Matthew Liedke on Film Blog at WordPress.com.
