Paranormal Activity 3

It's no secret that we here at DCN are not fans of Paranormal Activity (check out my review of the first film HERE, and Mr G's review of the second film HERE). Lots of younger folk who know not what they are talking about go on about how the first film was the scariest film they've ever seen.

They're wrong. It's not. It's boring, slow and non eventful, full of doors opening and closing slightly everynow and then and annoying characters that you just wished would be bumped off a lot earlier to save us some of the precious little time we have left until the world blows up this December. The second film was even worse, and the characters even more frustrating and unlikable.

Yet, somehow despite my intense dislike of the first two, last night I found myself sitting down to watch the third installment of the horror series, the imaginitively titled 'Paranormal Activity 3'. I was pleasantly surprised.

Once again, this is a prequel, set 20 years before the previous two films. It delves a bit deeper into the 'mythology' of the series (which seems kind of unnecessary) and tells the story of the 2 sisters when they were young girls. There are plotholes ridden throughout the film which completely contradict the overall story, as with the second, but this time you can kind of overlook them.

Other than the girls, which you already know will survive, the main characters are their parents. The biggest difference with the two leads in this film is that they are genuinely likable people. You actually want to see them get through this ordeal unscathed, which is quite the contrast to the leads from the first 2.

So when the scares (albeit sometimes cheap) start happening, it really does get quite tense. The spook has more of a presence this time around and, although there is still the odd door opening and closing slightly, there are moments which made me jump and then laugh at myself for being such a wimp. I was watching the film lying in bed, but the final 20 minutes I was sat upright and was pretty engaged in the action.

This film is better paced, better acted and, perhaps most importantly, genuinely quite scary. It's still no masterpiece but it did something I was not expecting, it's made me want to see the inevitable 4th chapter, due this October. If they can make sense of all the hideous plotholes (how on earth the 2 girls don't remember any of these events in the first 2 films is beyond me) then they have a chance to redeem the series yet.