Quick Look: Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)

A prequel to a prequel, Paranormal Activity 3 begins with Katie bringing a box of VHS tapes over to her sister, Kristi's house to store. On the next camera shot, the basement is ransacked and the tapes are missing. Then we see what is on the tapes. The tapes were made in 1988 when Kristi and Katie were children. Their mother's live-in boyfriend is a videographer who, like in the previous two movies, sets up video cameras around the house to investigate a series of strange occurrences, and his cameras pick up more than he bargained for.

*Spoiler Alert* There really isn't much in this film that hasn't been seen in either of the other two films. There's creepy/possesed sleepwalking, loud noises through the surround system, a girl getting pulled off camera, and the male lead becoming obsessed over the process while his girlfriend becomes exceedingly agitated. There were a couple of cool effects such as the sheet that appears behind the babysitter in the form of a classic ghost them collapsing, but other than that, nothing really new. What is new is the story of the film which tries to explain the origins of the demon that has been stalking the family since 1988. Throughout the film, Kristi speaks to an "imaginary" friend named Toby who we are led to believe is the beast. The family flees to grandma's house where the origin comes to a head. I know I warned of spoilers, but I'm not giving this one away. Sorry. You know what you're going to get with this movie, but I would still recommend catching it in the theaters if you enjoy pov horror flicks. Just like the first two installments, the film does a good job using the surround sound system to create atmosphere. And, if you haven't seen the first two movies, no problem, it does just fine as a stand alone. If you have seen the other two movies, don't expect anything new.