I’m a big fan of the Paranormal Activity films.  I don’t know what it is — actually I do know what it is.  They speak to suburban folks like me perfectly.  They took the old haunted house film and set them in a modern era in a brand new house.  I also LOVE the fact that they completely shattered the rules of composition.  When making a film, your job is to frame the shot so the audience knows exactly where to look.  But in all three Paranormal Activity films, you have no clue where to look at all times, and that’s exactly the plan.  Things are a lot scarier when your eyes are darting around the entire frame. 

But with all that said, I think Paranormal Activity 3 is a strong film, better than the second, but still not as good as the first.  The sequels seem to be more about cheap tricks instead of legit scares.  There’s a great sequence in this film involving the babysitter and something standing beside her and it’s the most spooky scare in the film.  The best part is, there isn’t a huge BAM!!!! to punch you in the stomach when you aren’t looking.  Every time it went to night in the first film, you had this feeling of dread and doom.  Now, whenever a night scene comes, you hold up your fists like a boxer waiting to get punched.  That’s not scary.  That’s annoying.

But I still enjoyed this film.  I love the mythology and this is one of the only horror series where I’m really excited to see where they take it.  Will the next film be another prequel?  Will we be watching some more tapes?  Who was watching the tapes from this film?  I’m sure there will be three or four other Paranormal Activities and I’ll be at all of them opening night just like I was the first one.

(NOTE: I once wrote an epic blog post questioning the future of ghost movies. Read it HERE)