Review of Paranormal Activity 4 (2012) by Pixcelation — 09 Aug 2013

This review was published on www.Pixcelation.com by Andrew Korkmas.

So as part of deal of sorts I made with a friend, I already watched and subsequently reviewed “R.I.P.D.” and thought it was horrible. This got me thinking I might actually like “Paranormal Activity 4,” the latest in the long running “stupid as hell shaky cam horror movie series that continually refuses to die because people are foolish enough to keep throwing their money at it….thing.” If future me could give my past me three words of advice, they would be as follows: “Don’t kid yourself.”.

The story is the same as every other freaking “Paranormal Activity” movie and will likely be the same as every one that will ever come out till the sun implodes and kills us all in a fiery blast. A family is slowly tormented by, oh, I don’t know, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY and then in the end people die and nothing significant get’s resolved (spoilers I guess…). The only new story item thrown into the mix are the two main characters, a teenage girl and her teenage boyfriend. This might sound gimmicky but this may be the best thing about the movie. Both characters are likable and coupled with both teenage actors giving good performances…as…teenagers works. I found myself actually caring about protagonists in this despicable little series for the first time in ever. Thus it was quite the disappointment to see the boyfriend just kinda stop showing up until near the end for seemingly no apparent reason and then have the focus fall on the mother and father who are completely boring.

I’m not even going to go into detail about the acting because besides the two leads none of the actors give a remotely interesting performance. So let’s talk instead about the directing, it’s very basic. That might sound like an insult but it’s actually a roundabout compliment. Unlike every other movie in the series, I could tell what the hell was going on even if the onscreen action was pretty bland, and that sadly elevates it far and above many movies I’ve seen in the last few years.

Whether or not you find this movie scary will depend on whether you found any of the other “Paranormal Activity” movies to be frightening. I say this because it does everything the others do. Seriously, did you expect anything else? I usually have nothing against sequels but when a studio pops out this many sequels this quickly, how can anyone expect something of quality? None of the previous three felt the need to change up the formula so why would this one?

Aside from the two likable leads, the only other thing “Paranormal Activity 4” does differently than it’s predecessors is it’s use of technology, which I did enjoy. They use their macs as a sort of spy camera to see what goes on at night and they do some cool stuff with a Kinect as well. But in the end, I realized it was all just a gimmick. It does little to distract you from its multitude of flaws.

Breaking the movie down into the three-act structure, it only gets worse as time goes on. I’ll admit, I surprisingly liked the first act. The two leads were characterized and likable, a few fake scares (some of which weren’t half bad) but mostly just the calm before the storm. The second act was boring if only because the pacing was sluggish and felt mostly like filler. Then the third act, which was supposed to be the movie’s saving grace, was a train wreck. The ending in particular has to be one of the worst endings I’ve ever seen to a horror movie. Without spoiling it, it felt like everything was sloppily thrown together as if the film crew realized they only had till midnight to complete it.

Every so often, I think I’ve seen all the bad movies out there. As someone who writes scripts in their spare time, I can’t help but marvel whenever I see a movie start off with potential and then completely screw up everything good about it shortly thereafter. At this point, I’ve learned that the worst movies are those that give you hope and then smash your face in about an hour later. But I’ve spent enough time talking about this abomination so I’ll just conclude by saying that if you have hope for mankind, you will lose it after watching this movie.

“Paranormal Activity 4” gets a 2/10.