(Long Island, N.Y.) It’s amazing how something so fresh and new can get so stale so quickly. In 2007, independent filmmaker Oren Peli blew moviegoers worldwide away when he released Paranormal Activity, a cheap yet shockingly original and effective horror movie about demons terrorizing a young couple that he filmed in his own home with a simple camcorder. Taking the form of a “found footage” feature ala The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity trumped it by sporting an atmosphere of absolute dread along with some truly horrifying visuals and a constantly escalating feeling of tension.
Paramount Pictures acquired the film, but, as with anything different and unusual, they chickened out, refusing to get behind Paranormal Activity by only giving it a small limited release. Crowds started freaking out, calling it the scariest movie ever, and the studio reacted to positive audience word-of-mouth and expanded it into full release. The rest is history.
Unfortunately, on those incredibly rare instances when Hollywood takes a chance on something unexpected and new and it DOES work, they bleed the concept dry for every cent they can possibly get, killing it in the process; it’s 2011 and here I am, reviewing Paranormal Activity 3. And that’s the problem…Hollywood never thinks long-term, but how to turn a quick buck in the here-and-now. Yes, they pad their bank accounts, but as a result, the future viability of the Paranormal Activity franchise is flushed down the toilet as a result.
I could tell you that, after Paranormal Activity 2 examined the events of the first film from a different perspective (and also served as a sequel of sorts); part 3 is a prequel that shows how the evil demon that keeps causing all these shenanigans first popped up on the scene.
The problem is, the strength of the first Paranormal Activity was in its uniqueness; nothing quite like that was ever attempted before within a storytelling context. The tale would unfold day by day, night by night, and the passage of time ushered in freakier and freakier events, until the tension had reached an unbearable zenith by the film’s climax. Audiences seemed to be touched by this approach quite strongly, perhaps because the film tapped into many primal fears that we all share; after all, who doesn’t get a bit unnerved by things that go bump in the night right in the supposed safety of our own home? Who doesn’t feel just a tad bit more at ease with our magically invulnerable bed sheets pulled up over our heads?
Audiences got into the first movie in a way I’ve rarely seen, screaming and crying and yelling whenever something even as simple as a high thread-count cotton sheet moved on its own accord. The live experience of Paranormal Activity was actually exhilarating.
But, we’ve got two sequels now in as many years, both taking the exact same approach, and the concept is dead, as far as I’m concerned. What was new is now old and tired; the strange little independent feature that you heard internet rumors about has now become the mainstream standard. It’s a shame, but as far as horror movies go, Paranormal Activity 3 is a solid entry, as was part 2. It’s just lacking the “oomph” that the original so totally delivered in spades.
You’ll notice that I’m not mentioning the actors, the effects, the story, options or anything like that. The Paranormal Activity series isn’t about that. The story is secondary to the creepy stuff that it serves to set up; the actors are just unknowns whose job it is to act stupid, act scared, or die.
Paranormal Activity remains a triumph of ingenuity and fear. Paranormal Activity 3 does what it sets out to do- make as much bank off an established franchise as possible until it’s time to move on to the next big thing. Like I said, part 3 of this series delivers solid horror thrills, but it remains a pale copy of the truly great original.
