I admit, I thought the second film was dry as bone. It felt like it was hollow, it didn’t build very well and the ending was, to be quite frank, goofy. Unlike the first film where the movie just keeps building and building until the demon goes nuts, the second didn’t even touch it. So, going into the third film, I didn’t have much faith in where the story could possibly go.
Boy was I wrong.
Directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman used innocence to bring out the most terrifying moments in Paranormal Activity 3. They focused the film on the two girls (who are grown-up in the previous two movies), Katie and Kristi, and put them through the ropes to create this environment where an innocent mind is being horribly manipulated by an evil presence. For example, there’s a scene in the film where Katie is climbing up on tables in the middle of the night and standing on her bed. You’re not sure why she is doing this, but around the third night she starts climbing on the edge of the second story railing. As a parent, I nearly had a heart attack watching this go on. No lights, she’s talking to an unknown entity and she is being convinced to jump off the ledge. Talk about tense, that’s every parent’s worst nightmare. There are scattered moments like that through the film, that end up building to a very confusing, yet frightening conclusion. The use of kids makes it all more real and terrifying.
Using innocent kids, who don’t know any better, to interact with your main unknown, unseen antagonist in the film is a perfect way to create the worst imagined environment for a horror film. The first film was about the demon. The second film, no idea. The third film was solely focused on these kids and how they came to be with this demon entity. Again, the kids make this film work and their interaction with the beast makes it even more intense. This reminds me a lot of Poltergeist, which has one of the creepiest scenes in a horror film to this day. Carol Anne is sitting in front of a static television talking to an unknown entity that is asking her questions about her. It’s jarring to watch, even in 2012.
Anyway, the flow of Paranormal Activity 3 is much better than the second. It builds on the presence of the demon and how it’s affecting the children. It starts light and then ends with a bang. Speaking of the ending, it was a bit confusing. I’m not sure what happened or why, but I’ll google it later when someone comes up with a great explanation.
Overall, the film is better than the second, but not as good as the first. The use of kids makes this unique in the series, and the directors did a good job with handling that. It’s certainly worth your time, especially if you enjoyed the first film.
The quality of the Blu-ray was pretty good. Directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman were trying to go for that home video feel, much like the previous two, and the quality has to be brought down to a certain level to achieve that style. So, you get that shaky, rough video look that brings a bit more reality to the situation. Now, that’s not to say that the picture doesn’t look sharp. You get some high-quality HD with this one, but don’t go into it expecting Real Steel type of quality where the colors look balanced and the isn’t any blur. Go into it expecting a clear picture that will allow your eyes to wander and find ‘things’ that are going on. Having this in HD helps with that, and it helps with the scare factor. If you had to compare it to other Blu-rays then it wouldn’t compete; but if you look at it as an upgrade that intensifies your emotional participation then you’re in for a treat. So, in short, expect some graininess here and there, but expect to be scared just a little bit more thanks to the HD transfer.
Now, in terms of what you get with the audio and aspect ratio, it’s perfect on both accounts. The audio comes to you in 5.1 DTS-HD. If you have a sweet set-up in place, then you’re going to absolutely love (and hate — because it gets freaky in some areas) how the movie sounds. The audio really plays a huge role in this horror film. Of course, the aspect ratio will help out on all fronts, as you get a fullscreen view of the movie (no bars). Enjoy that and try not to pee yourself.
As for features, you’re not getting much, but that’s okay.
Here’s what you should expect:
– Theatrical version
– Unrated Version
– Lost Tapes
I’ll give a pass to the features because the films have built up this very real illusion that this incident actually happened. You don’t want commentary on this, you don’t want interviews or featurettes on ‘how they did it’. You just want the illusion of terror to continue well after the movie is over. Therefore, there is no benefit to having anything else than Lost Tapes. The Lost Tapes are exactly what they sound like, and it’s the only compliment you can add to the feature. It’s damn good, too.