THE PLOT THUS FAR
In 1988, young sisters Katie and Kristi befriend an invisible entity who resides in their home.
WHAT WE THOUGHT
In 1988, young Katie and Kristi live with their mother, Julie, and her boyfriend, Dennis. Kristi begins interacting with an invisible friend named Toby. Dennis notices that since Kristi’s friend appeared, strange things have been happening in the house. While reviewing some footage later, Dennis notices a strange incident with presence being shown on camera. He invites his friend Randy over to view the footage, who suggests that Dennis place cameras throughout the house to capture any other incidents. After more disturbed nights and strange occurrences, Dennis discovers a strange symbol in the girls’ closet. He finds the same symbol on a picture of women in a book about mysticism. Dennis explains to Julie that the symbol belonged to a witches coven that brainwashed young girls into having sons. Thus explaining more about the two previous films.
The single most brilliant technical addition to the Paranormal Activity repertoire is the oscillating camera. Panning ominously between kitchen and living room, the simple mechanic works like a suspense machine. Joost and Schulman certainly get their money’s worth out of the gimmick, milking it for some of their whitest white-knuckle moments. Fashioned from a tabletop fan, the device is a perfect metaphor for the franchise itself: cheap, homemade, effective. But for ingenuity and inventiveness, the original is still tops. For all its merciless suspense, Paranormal Activity 3 falls back on a few too many false alarms and bad payoffs, and offers no real innovations in imagery
The Blu-Ray comes with both cuts of the film. Plus, you get deleted scenes, a scare montage and a fake commercial for Dennis’s company. There’s also a DVD and Digital Copy to complete your entertainment trifecta. The 1080p transfer is really strong for a movie that was supposed to replicate 1980s home video standards. The DTS-HD 5.1 master audio track works well enough for the scares. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase for fans.
RELEASE DATE: 01/24/2012
