Mikes Film Talk

This 2011 sequel in the franchise, Paranormal Activity 3 proves once and for all why sex tapes are bad. Why you ask? Read on.

Like many other folks, I saw  Paranormal Activity and liked it. Granted I did not see it at the cinema, I waited until it was on sale for five pounds. Because of the price, a fiver is not a lot, I was surprised to find that liked it. Then they came out with Paranormal Activity 2 which in my humble opinion was even better than the first one. I also thought that was the end of the films.

Wrong!

Of course PA3 as with all the subsequent PA films was directed by a different person. Oren Peli, who wrote and directed the first in the trilogy, is back on board as a co-writer. Paranormal Activity 3 is directed by no less than two people, Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman. They immediately negate the old saying of too many cooks. This latest offering in the Paranormal series kicks ass.

The story of Paranormal Activity 3

At the beginning of the film we see a box of video tapes being delivered by Katie. Remember her? She is the soon to be deceased protagonist from Paranormal Activity. She give the tapes to her pregnant sister Kristi. Yes, the sister who is soon to be deceased protagonist from PA2. The box of tapes is put in the basement. A bit later in the film the tapes go missing after a “break-in.”

The tapes are from 1988. In that year Katie and Kristi are living with their mother Julie and her boyfriend Dennis. Dennis has his own business. He uses the ‘new’ videotape craze to his advantage by taping weddings and other special events. One such event, he decides, should be a sex tape with his girlfriend Julie.

While they begin to tape their “sex-capade” an earthquake strikes. They immediately stop to check on the girls. The video recorder still running. We see  a place where the dust falling from the ceiling causes a shape to appear.

When Dennis reviews the tape the next day, he shows Julie. All Julie notices it how fat she looks in the video. After the girls moved in with Mom Julie,  Kristi started talking to an invisible friend  called Toby. Toby starts getting more active as time goes by and does a few disturbing things.

Dennis decides to start filming around the house to try and catch whoever is doing these things. He enlists the help of his assistant Randy. As events begin to escalate the doubtful Julie becomes a believer. She has never really believed in Toby or the things he has been doing. One Julie realizes that something is going on it’s off to Grandmother’s house they go.

Chills and Thrills

The film delivers some first class chills, thrills, and jumpy scares. Towards the beginning of the film, I almost had a heart attack. A scene that featured Julie, Dennis and a fright mask scared the heck out me. It had nothing to do with “paranormal activity” at all. The film had me so cranked up, though, it still scared me. Later in the film things are escalating. Things are starting to get a bit dangerous. A scene with the babysitter once again scared the crap out of me.

The Paranormal Activity Verdict

This is a worthy addition to the previous two films. The Box Office did wo well that the studio has announced that they are working on a Paranormal Activity 4. I hope they realize that going to the well too often can result in a dry bucket.

Still they will have to stop sometime. Before video tapes it was 8 mil and 16 mil and before that, well you catch my drift.

This is a solid 4 .5 star film. It is delightfully scary. The film is streaming on Paramount + right now.

*Fun Fact. The babysitter was played by personal fave Johanna Braddy. She worked on Quantico. I was delighted to find her “younger self” here.*

The Trailer