Film review: Paranormal Activity 3 - lights, camera, screams!

I’d like to apologise to the couple seated next to me for my shrill, girlish screams while watching this movie in the cinema. However, in my defence, the entire hall resounded with the screams of people watching Paranormal Activity 3.

The two psychological tools the film uses most to deliver its frights are ‘anticipation’ and, its close mate, ‘dread’. The movie starts with long and absorbing sequences where little happens in way of action, aside from the subtle scares, but later progresses to full blown frights, some of which are good enough to leave audiences grabbing their seats till their knuckles turn a shade lighter.

Directed by newcomers Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, who previously worked together on the thrilling documentary Catfish in 2010, this movie thrives on old-school psychological horror. Smart camcorder work, quite similar to its previous installments, followed by some very good editing, make the movie a good watch. The cast, despite some of them bearing the tag of newcomers, do justice to their roles as well.

The plot is standard fare; a haunted house with the usual eerie happenings and its unsuspecting inhabitants. Wedding video maker Dennis (Chris Smith), who lives with his girlfriend Julie (Lauren Bittner) and her two little girls Katie (Katie Featherston) and Kristi Ray (Sprague Grayden), after suspecting a supernatural presence, has his cameras capture strange happenings in the house. Elaborate setups, including a clever oscillating fan contraption manages to capture some of the scenes quite well.

Aside from the ‘found camcorder’ footage, unlike other horror films of today, Paranormal Activity 3 presents little gore, until absolutely necessary. By avoiding excessive carnage, a cliché that plagues the horror genre today, the movie is quite grounded.  Although the film is very good at what it does, its narrative and character development is merely serviceable. Unlike a great thriller, like say The Sixth Sense, the film doesn’t have a lasting effect on the minds of audiences. That being said, when it comes to horror films that instantly boost your heartbeat, Paranormal Activity 3 is pretty much the defibrillator of the horror genre.

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, November 13^th,  2011.