PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3

My review about the movie:

Going into this I had heard that this would be the film to answer all the questions created by the occurrences of the first two films. This was absolutely not the case. I walked away with more questions than I had before. Not to mention there are several inconsistencies. I realize that at the time the original was created, the writers probably didn't plan on having the good fortune to have to continue the franchise through two more installments, so a lot of the story line had to be added as an afterthought. Therefore I'm more lenient on the plot holes than I would be otherwise. Still the execution of this film is not on par with the previous two.

One - It's a lot less scary. The "jumpy" moments are not as organic as in the first two. They somehow seem cheap and contrived.

Two - The "found footage" gimmick was excellent in the first PA, good in the second, but now it's no longer credible. There are quick editing cuts that don't jive with the homemade footage idea; particularly with footage that is supposed to have been created over 20 years ago. It's explained that the boyfriend in this film is a wedding videographer but it still seems strange that he would film his entire household everyday all day for no reason at all; even prior to the hauntings.

Three - The screenplay is choppy and just plain bad. There is a lot less dialogue in this film, and when the characters do speak, it's not natural conversation like in the first two. Their actors lines are elementary and basic; and they're not helped by the bad acting. The two little girls outshone the adults by far in acting skills.

Four - It left me a little confused in regards to issues that I wasn't confused about before I saw the film. Not a good sign.

All in all, it was nowhere near as effective as the first two. Too contrived to be in the PA franchise, whose strong point was always the natural unfolding of what was happening to the characters; the way in which it made it seem that these events could and did happen to real people. PA 3 missed the mark entirely. Too contrived, too staged, too showy. And it was for nothing because it wasn't even scary.

A big disappointment! 4.5/10

EDIT - Just finished watching the first trailer that's listed on the IMDb page, and over half the scenes were omitted from the film! Seems like this film may be suffering from bad editing if nothing else. It lacks a flow and cohesive that some of these missing scenes might have brought to the film.