Paranormal Activity started out as this small budget movie that was packed with jump scares and was quite literally an hour and a half of pure suspense. It took the found footage genre to a completely new level because it didn't rely on any creepy music or over the top special effects. It was purely based on the building of a simple ghost story into one that would haunt your sleep for the next month.
Then Paranormal Activity 2 and 3 came, both pretty solid entries into the franchise, but things became a bit repetitious. And then, we hit the 4th film and audiences were bored out of their minds. The plot was beginning to not advance at all and things just seemed to have hit a rock. And now we are given a spin-off that is completely a different style than all the previous 4 films. It's based in a town with completely new characters, yet somehow ties together a lot of the mythology from the first 4 films.
In the sense of plot building, this 5th entry (though don't confuse it for Paranormal Activity 5, which comes out this October) is refreshing and gives us a lot of background on why certain things happened in the previous installments. However, this movie also raises more questions than answers, and that's the problem with this franchise. No film has solidly answered questions yet but more and more questions rise. It's fun, mindless entertainment but hardcore fans like me want answers instead of being treated like an unintelligent audience.
The acting was off and on. Often in horror movies the acting is either very generic or way over the top. In this case we get a solid offering of both. And when these actors try to act serious, it just seems so contrived and almost comical. If these movies are to get any better, the actors need to step up their game.
All that being said, I loved this entry simply because it was very entertaining and mindless fun for an hour and a half. But if this series is to continue, I want to begin having my questions answered and for the actors to begin immersing their selves into this world. These flicks are great for loud noises and huge jump scares, but they haven't actually scared me since the third movie. But it's always a good time. B-
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