Review of Paranormal Activity 3 (2011) by Jonny 9 — 28 Dec 2012

Evidence of a flagging sub-genre. While not a good movie, "The Blair Witch Project" was an original movie (other than the deservedly forgotten "Cannibal Holocaust") which accounts for its undeserved success.

The sub-genre of found footage films blossomed in its wake although none of the films so far (e.g., "The Fourth Kind"). "Paranormal 3" suffers from the problems plaguing these types of movies.

Most importantly, how to have found enough "found" footage to advance the narrative without making the existence of the footage seem ludicrous. Characters run from the ghostly coven that infest their middle market suburban contemporary while holding a camera relatively steady.

They peer through closet doors where they are hiding and around corners when being stalked through the lens of what, given the movie is set in 1988, must have been bulky magnetic-tape carrying video-camera with bulky batteries.

Generally speaking people don't run for the lives from supernatural creatures with 15 pounds of whirring glass, plastic and nylon covering one eye. OK, say you suspend your disbelief, do you get a compelling film? While it does carry some legitimate frights, too much time is spent watching stationary cameras scanning back and forth from room to room watching children sleep and babysitters getting breathed on by demons (if you were hit with a puff of air in the kids' room, wouldn't you assume it was faulty air-conditioning instead of undead witches or whatever?) In short, the found footage horror sub-genre has mostly played itself out although maybe someone will make a decent found footage comedy or drama in order to liven things up?