Paranormal Activity 4 Review

Adam: Hello, again! To be honest, I've been dying to review Paranormal Activity 4 ever since the idea for a film blog came to Riley and me. Well, I went to an early IMAX showing of the latest in the found footage horror series (with a pretty fun crowd), came home, and pounded out a quick review. I tried my best to cater to both fans of the series, as well as the people who "laughed through the whole thing because ohmygod it's just so stupid hahahaha!!" so I hope you can get something out of it, regardless of your stance on the franchise. Okay, here is my review of Paranormal Activity 4. 

(And don't worry, I'll try to review something that isn't in the horror genre next time!)

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PrettyNormal Activity

viewed, like, two hours ago and written about shortly after by Adam Stutsman

As I mentioned in my Sinister review, I am a huge Paranormal Activity fan. Ever since I saw the first film in a sold out theater, I’ve been hooked on following the handheld horrors that befall Katie and Kristie and their loved ones. Now, I could write a post about the series as a whole, but I won’t do that. This is a review of the fourth film in the series, and I will try to keep it as such.

But the problem is: the fourth film is more or less worthless without the first three. And even then, the most recent entry in the series is still pretty pointless in the grand scheme of things. I hate to say it, but this is by far the safest, and therefore most bland, film in the Paranormal Activity series. There aren’t a whole lot of fresh terrifying moments, though there are a few memorable ones, and the whole thing feels like an album put out by a band whose last albums have done well, so they didn’t change their sound or try new things. The fans will love it, but the fanbase will not increase in size.

The (very little) plot progression we get is great, and I’ve been dying to know what happened to Katie and Hunter after the second film, but this only gives us a taste. Yes, a taste. In an hour and a half, we get to know another new family, interact with a mysterious boy from across the street, and watch some stuff move around the house (as per usual).  That’s pretty much it until the end, which is normal for the PA series, but the problem here, though, is that the payoff doesn’t make the wait especially worth it. I left with just as many questions as I did going in, and I don’t feel satisfied. I don’t feel cheated necessarily, because I did have a lot of jaw-dropping moments, but I certainly feel like this was far too light on the answers.

All of this backhanded talk aside, I need to mention the real positives, because there are certainly some to discuss. One of the newer aspects is that the “protagonist” of this film is a teenager, whereas all of the other films were filtered through the eyes of adults. This leads to a lot of candid moments between Alex (the girl in the trailer and aforementioned protagonist) and her boyfriend, as well as moments between Alex and her little brother. All of this time away from adults gave the film a sort of “little fish, big pond” feeling, as well as the overused and always relevant “parents just don’t understand” conflict. Another positive is the year being 2011; they do some cool things with laptops, Skype, and Kinect that I really enjoyed, and the whole thing feels relevant in that regard. The little boy across the street is straight up creepy, and obviously the return of Katie (watch the first three films…) leads to some of the scariest parts in the whole movie. This film dishes up exactly what the fans of the series have come to know and love from the franchise, and in that regard, I loved this one. I jumped, whispered profanities, breathed heavily into my hands, and all of that over-the-top, horror-movie-in-a-theater dance; I had a very good time watching this, and I don’t regret seeing it for a second. PA4 fits nicely alongside the first three in feel, tone, structure, etc. The “universe” of the franchise is growing into something far bigger than the found footage style can contain, and that explains the amount of almost watered-down answers I mentioned before. I just wish the answers we did get were a little more pivotal to the plot. I am curious, however, to see how the people working on the films will continue the story, as they simply have to be running out of reasons for people to be filming some of this stuff. I suppose only time will tell.

Ultimately, whether or not I recommend seeing Paranormal Activity 4 comes down to this: if you’re a fan of the first three films, you will enjoy this one. If you’re a huge fan of the series and you’re really curious about where the story will go, even if it takes twenty films (like me), you will definitely enjoy this one. But if you aren’t that interested in the series, or you’ve never seen a Paranormal Activity movie before, don’t bother. Go rent the first one, turn off the lights, and give yourself a reason to stay awake all night. If you like it, keep going.

As for me, I’ll probably see this one again, buy the DVD, and eagerly await the Latino spin-off sequel people have been buzzing about. Despite PA4 being the weakest in the series, I still enjoyed this one immensely, I’m still a loyal fan, and I look forward to the future of the franchise.

Oh, and if you do go see Paranormal Activity 4, stay through the credits for a creepy treat.

Sinister Reviews

Riley: These are the very first reviews published to our blog. It's the time of year when kids dress up as spooky hoodlums and parents begrudgingly pass out apples and fancy, so fittingly our first joint-reviewed movie is Sinister, arriving a bit early for the Halloween season.

Adam: Also, please pardon the appearance of this blog as we are still "under construction" and continuing work on the look and feel. However, it was high time we kicked this thing off with some reviews, so without further ado, here are our reviews of Sinister.

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Sinister, seen and written about by Riley Noonan
The month of October has been dominated by horror movie franchises for years. First, it was a geriatric with a thirst for puppets, tricycles and turning human bodies into applesauce in Saw and its predecessors, and now it is the strange goings-on of white suburbanite households and their ghostly inhabitants in I Don't Know How She Does It. I mean the Paranormal Activity series. The troubling thing about these horror franchises is that they give the genre itself a very mediocre reputation. They often slam the door in the faces of smaller, creative solo efforts.

Sinister is probably going to be just that smaller creative solo effort that is ushered out of memory once Paranormal Activity 4 comes out in a couple of weeks, but I'm already certain it's scarier. It might just change your mind about messing around with demonic entities, a fair warning to all of the adventurous youth out there who take Halloween as an excuse to bust out the Ouija boards or investigate abandoned houses on the edge of town.

The film makes great effort at establishing a relatively likable cast of characters, ranging from the washed-up true crime writer to the daffy deputy with a good heart, and the suspense is strong, as most of the story takes place inside the main character's new home. In fact, the entire movie takes place in this one house (save for the final fifteen minutes). The mood is a spooky one, and once the main character discovers a box of snuff films the mood evolves into something much more chilling and relentless.

My gripes with Sinister were born out of a bitter experience I had in the movie theater. I saw the film in a theater full of raucous seat-shifters who texted and laughed inappropriately and Shh'ed me when I Shh'ed them. But they did scream at the jump-scares, so I assumed none of them had seen the trailer, because almost every jump-scare in Sinister is in the trailer, unfortunately. Also, the film relied heavily on the creepiness of children, and I personally believe horror movies should stop doing that. Children are not scary. Especially if the child actors aren't the greatest at line-delivery.

But don't let my grumbles about the 'scary child-contrivance' trick you from treating yourself to this film. Gripes aside, Sinister frequents a heavily unsettling atmosphere thanks to its strong lead performance in Ethan Hawke, its off-kilter side-characters, its genuinely creepy soundtrack and the intelligent decision to not show much of the evil Bughuul (aka Mr. Boogie), the gothic, clown-faced deity whose presence is the definition of the film's title. Many modern horror movies that deal with demons and creatures sabotage themselves by showing far too much and relying on a modest make-up job to frighten audiences. It's still makeup. The unknown will always be more terrifying than the known and the shown, and for the most part, Sinister gets it right by only revealing periodic flashes of Mr. Boogie.

A horror flick that is worth the admission price, Sinister scores with disturbing sequences and a refreshing sense of humor. However, I pray there will never be a sequel, and that some day the horror movie genre will be restored back to a reputation of originality, and not continue its truly unfortunate public downfall with sequels, prequels and remakes, oh my. This film certainly makes a case for the former, and if it performs better than the new Paranormal, we might just be on our way.

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Sinister? More Like WINister!

viewed, reviewed, and horribly titled by Adam Stutsman

For horror movie fans, the window of opportunity to see a scary film in a movie theater is very small. There are maybe a few releases early in the year (2012 had January’s god-awful The Devil Inside, Febuary’s chilling The Woman in Black, and April’s brilliant The Cabin in the Woods), but apart from that, the main killing time for horror movies is in August, September, and October (who knew?). So when October came around and the best horror movie I’d seen this Autumn was ParaNorman, I had a lot riding on Sinister (despite my being a huge Paranormal Activity fan). It was time for another solid original horror film, and Sinister definitely delivered.

Sinister is about a true-crime writer and his family, whom he often uproots to move to different locations, where the crime he is writing about actually happened. He fears he has hit his stride with his hit novel Kentucky Blood that was released ten years previous, and he attempts tirelessly to return to the limelight with no success. However, he has a good feeling about this case of a missing girl, and decides to move his family into the actual home of the murder victims…and only the writer, Ellison, knows this fact. Needless to say, tensions are high from the beginning. But things only get worse when Ellison finds a box of film in his attic, and on this 8mm collection is a series of murders caught on film by an unseen killer. Seeing this as a potential return to stardom rather than something to bother the police with, he tries to uncover the truth behind the films and the missing little girl.

Now, before I write a love letter to this movie, I need to say a few things. Firstly, I’m disappointed to say that a lot of the scary jump moments are revealed in the trailer. Luckily the story and the more gruesome scenes make up for this. Secondly, this movie isn’t without its faults. There are some cheap scares and a plot hole or two, but overall this is a solid horror film. And with how scarce a solid horror film has been in the past decade, that is saying a lot. Thirdly, a complaint I’ve been hearing is that people were surprised and disappointed that there are supernatural elements to this movie. However, if these people had watched the trailer even once, they would know that a major part of this movie includes a fake Pagan deity. I mean, that’s in the trailer. It’d be like me getting mad because I didn’t know The Exorcist was about demon possession. But I digress.

The strengths of this movie begin the moment the static is heard during the production company logos, and the opening scene had me say aloud “now that is how you start a horror movie.” (Don’t worry, I was alone in the theater with one of my co-workers. I’m not one of those people that poor Riley had to deal with.) Then, without bombarding you with fictional mythology or silly noises from the get-go, we get to know the family. As a writer, I very much felt for Ellison, but definitely saw the wife and children’s side of not wanting to relocate as well. The whole thing was very balanced in the sense that neither side was overwhelmingly sympathetic or ostracizing. However, since Ellison is the protagonist, we got to see the development of his obsession with the box of film, as well as his desire to regain fame through his writing. This was more a film about obsession than a silly Pagan deity, and it worked. But don’t write off said spirit. Since the film doesn’t over-show the villain, his presence is always terrifying whenever he is shown. He’s the kind of guy you expect to look in your rearview mirror and see when you’re driving home from the theater. And I’m happy to report, the cinematography was interesting and effective, and the score helped rather than hurt the movie (more or less). The music was hauntingly glitchy, and always kept me guessing without being distracting. Overall, I was beyond impressed with Sinister and I definitely plan on seeing it again before Halloween happens and we brace ourselves for a new batch of awful Christmas movies.

I highly recommend this movie to anyone wanting a legitimately good horror film this Halloween season, especially if you’re tired of the Paranormal Activity series (which I personally am not). It has sinister scares, solid story, and leaves you with a feeling of dread on the drive home; what more could you ask from a horror movie?