Review of Paranormal Activity 4 (2012) by Ryan L — 23 Oct 2013

I don't know why I even bother watching horror movies anymore. They are so bad but nothing is worse than Paranormal Activity 4. This movie was beyond cliché with the demons and the creepy kid and worst of all the jump scares. The Paranormal series has had its ups and downs. The first was great, the second was good, the third was awful, and now we have this cash grab. This series should have died after two but Hollywood has to milk all the money possible out of everything. Let's pray the Paranormal series does not turn into the Saw series with like eight movies, even though I enjoyed all eight. Yeah I said it, cry about it.

The story behind this series is one I am still interested in. I entered the third movie asking questions most people were asking, what happened to the baby? The third movie does absolutely nothing to answer this question and when the 4th starts with the ending to the 2nd I was hopeful. Then the story jumps five years to 2011 at a soccer game and in one of the first shots we see a creepy kid in the distance all alone. Duh, this kid is a creepy demonic kid with a sketchy side. The generic story of a fighting mom and dad, a kid who has secrets nobody really believes, a cheesy romance with the teen girl, and pathetic scares resume.

I somehow find myself still invested in these movies and I really don't know why. A major problem is the loss of what made the original so great. That was the realism behind the scares and it brought real terror. The gradual scares after scare was believable even though we knew it was fake I found myself questioning it. This movie does none of that. First off, it tried to scare you during the day. That's impossible for a horror movie. Everybody knows the daytime and hiding under your sheet is the only thing that can protect you from a demon or monster.

The characters in this movie were really weak. The daughter was alright, the kid was a standard horror kid. The mom and dad were completely irrelevant, and the friend of Alex was ok to. The story and characters are all over the place and in the end I didn't care when somebody died. There was no emotional connection that was there in the other films. There were a few moments where I was interested to see what would happen but it usually ended with a laugh, which is never good.

I was hoping this movie would progress the original story, but it doesn't. This movie was a real waste of time and sure there was the one twist I did not see coming. I saw the other one coming a mile away and obviously knew who would live and who would die. I left this movie really angry because none of my questions were answered and now I have to sit through another terrible movie hoping I get some closure. These movies feel the need to drag on a story I shouldn't care about and continue to throw in characters that are garage and are used for a cheap death.

The scares themselves are few. There are a few holy crap moments but nothing I haven't seen before. There is a scene with the girl levitating but nothing is done with it. There are a few jump scares but they didn't even make me jump. Everybody knows how I feel about jump scares but this is probably the worst horror movie I have seen in terms of the scare.

There are also plot holes or something I have to call shenanigans on with a reality check. The girl sets up cameras to see what is going on during the night. She watches them or goes through them one or two times and sees nothing. It progressively gets worse and worse, sort of, and she stops watching. She experiences stuff during the day and doesn't think to watch the stuff that happens at night to give proof to her claims. So what was the point of the cameras if she wasn't going to use them, oh right so the audience can see what is happening?

Overall, this movie is an embarrassment. The fact that these movies still make so much money is pathetic. These movies need to wrap up and move on. The story was awful. The scares were awful. The characters and acting were awful. The effects were awful. Everything about this movie was awful. I will never watch this movie again and if you haven't seen it than God bless you, don't. I watch these things so you don't have to. Paranormal Activity 4 easily gets the Horrible Horror Movie Monstrosity and the WillyT Seal of DISapproval.