Cast: Christopher Nicholas Smith, Jessica Tyler Brown, Lauren Bittner
Directed by: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman
Written by: Christopher B. Landon
Genre: Horror

September 1988; a world before digital technology was readily available for consumers; a world where VHS ruled the camcorder market and home video systems; a world where with a little tampering of the tracking on your television set, you might witness captured video footage of an entity inside of your home. Such was the case for a young family in a Southern California home – a family of a mother, her videographer boyfriend, and two young daughters, Kristi and Katie – who begin to experience strange and scary physical manipulations from the youngest daughter’s invisible friend.

Paranormal Activity 3 is the prequel to 2010’s Paranormal Activity 2 prequel to 2009’s Paranormal Activity; the third film in a growing franchise of compelling supernatural storytelling. As per the previous films, this utilizes a “found footage” style of handheld camerawork and intermittent editing to unveil its mysteries, and while that will be the most vexing behest of most critics and anti-hype-ites, it is still a profoundly effective technique to deliver scares. The handicam is inextricably linked with the series, and though it does harken a certain suspension of disbelief that every member of this family is obsessed with recording their house, without it it wouldn’t be a Paranormal Activity movie.

The third installment is entirely worthy of the rest of the franchise, but also works as a stand alone film. Granted it’s not as shocking as the original film, and doesn’t contain as clever storytelling as the second, it still has very potent scares that will please any ticket buyer. What Three does, in a bold move, is it begins to cement the mythos surrounding the series (left with a lot of openness for even more prequels and sequels), and taking the terror out of the bedroom of the everyman and creating a more specific horror tailored to its protagonists. This will no doubt cause less lights to be left on at night by audience members terrified of being dragged out of their bed in the middle of the night, but it’s essential to the future and growth of the series.

These films, more than any other films in recent memory, represent the primitive art form of eliciting a reaction through trickery. Unlike its horror constituents, it doesn’t rely on disgust to mangle the audience into submission. No, the Paranormal Activity series is truly a conjurer of magic tricks, showing us something truly unbelievable and making us wonder how they pulled it off. Paranormal Activity 3 is just as crafty at its sleight-of-hand as its predecessors with enough jolts to satisfy any fan of the series.

USA. 85 minutes. Rated R.

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