Review of Paranormal Activity 3 (2011) by Filipeneto — 11 Feb 2020

This film followed the success of the first two and works as a prequel to both. However, I felt it was much weaker, as the recipe that made success at first is already worn out.

The script takes up the story of sisters Katie and Kristi but goes back to their childhood to give us an understanding of the source of the problem they both had with evil entities. Child actresses are good enough for what they are asked to do. Katie Featherston is just as good as in the first two films, but only enters in the initial scenes. Lauren Bittner is never as good or convincing as she was and Christopher Smith never shows talent because he plays an idiot, who acts in a seemingly random way. Interestingly, both he and his daughters' future husbands share the same strange fetish for home camcorders.

As in the first film, there are no initial credits and the final credits have been reduced to what is required by law. There is also no soundtrack and most of the filming was done with a handheld camera or amateur cameras on tripods. The focus on making the film seemingly genuine remains and works. However, there is little new or different in this film, other than explaining the first two. Special effects are much more imaginative and lose some credibility, creating situations of illogic. The film is very slow and there are a lot of dead moments that seemed unnecessary. The first half of the film, in particular, is slow, tiring and has little to give us that is interesting. The ending is a little imaginative.

After two good films, the third film in this franchise turned out to be much weaker, in part by betting on giving us more of the same and by abandoning improvisation in favor of more elaborate scenes and scares and, therefore, much less credible. . It is a pity.