The fifth installment of the popular POV horror franchise breaks away from story arc of the previous four; focusing on a group of teenagers and their brush with occult forces.
Jesse’s future looks bright when he graduates high school and he and his friends take to video taping their final summer of freedom. But the murder of one of Jesse’s neighbors changes everything, as the murderer was a classmate of the trio of friends. Soon after, Jesse notices a supernatural presence in his life, as he seems to be empowered by an unseen force that communicates with him through the use of an Simon Says game. A summer of fun becomes a struggle for Jesse’s soul, which could cost the friends their very lives.
*Spoiler Alert* The setting of the franchise has now moved from the suburbs to lower-middle class Oxnard, California, with the main characters being urban youth rather than an upper-middle class family. But other than that, not much has changed. There is a supernatural presence invading the main characters’ environments, it means to do evil, it starts with bumps and noises and escalates through electronic communication to various forms of physical manifestations before main character succumbs to demon possession, all at the hands of a secret black magic coven. While this movie steers away from the “family” from the previous entries of the franchise, it may or may not be a part of the “larger story.”
Just like in the previous installments, the plot takes a little time to get going, but once the plot thickens, the pace quickens, with the scares becoming more and more “intense” the closer you get to the end. There are some decent low-budget effects here with the crawling on Jesse’s skin, the Simon Says communications, and the quick demon effects. The story of three friends trying to solve a mystery which turns into saving the soul of one of their own is pretty interesting, if not slightly cliché at this point.
While this movie is entertaining, there is nothing “new” here to set it apart from any other POV title, which in and of itself, is beginning to become a little stale. Like the other Paranormal Activity films, this movie is best viewed in the theater, or on a good surround system to get the most of the film’s use of ambiance. If this film is part of a “larger picture,” then those who are invested in the series will want to catch it to get the next installment. But, the only real link to the rest of the story arc comes literally at the last minute.
I would recommend this film to fans of POV horror, and as stated, those invested in the franchise to this point.
