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.
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