Thoughts on the Paranormal Activity Franchise and a Review of the Final Film

I'm a big fan of paranormal and supernatural horror films, even if they're of a poor quality (just not too poor). Demonic possession, hauntings, poltergeists, ghosts, whatever. I'm usually in. I even endured a few seasons of the A&E show Paranormal State despite knowing many of the cases were falsified and the personalities were a bunch of fakes. So, when Paranormal Activity came around in 2009, I couldn't get enough of it. There are so many things that movie got right, from writing all the way down to marketing. I didn't know about its release until it carried through word-of-mouth, which is a really fun way to discover things in the age of the internet and constant information. The film was made independently, but when Paramount picked it up audiences had to "Demand It" in order to see it in their local theatres. It hyped up the movie and gained help from ad campaigns displaying frightened audiences in night-vision reaction videos. It was a genuinely exciting and scary movie and reintroduced the found-footage fad. Now people are tired of the gimmick and often groan through the screenings.

Paranormal Activity was great because you didn't know what was out there. You couldn't see anything, and when you did it was a strange image or trace of the entity that haunted Katie and Micah in their home. Many things were left to the imagination and it never held your hand. The second film opened up the wider story, allows viewers to get a glimpse into the family's connection to the entity, all while furthering the plot. The third took us back to the 80s to explain why the family was impacted by the demonic presence. The fourth (no, it wasn't very good either, but still) focuses on the neighbours of a new family across the street who are possessed by the demonic entity. The fifth, however a spinoff, is an interesting take on the demon and its abilities while keeping the story fresh and new. But off the deep end we go.

The sixth and final film in the franchise, Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension, is bad. I said it. Many have said it about the other movies, and yes they are not cinematic marvels but at least they maintain the rules established in the first couple entries. With each new instalment, a new camera gimmick was added to the mix to keep things new. The Ghost Dimension's way of improving the experience tore away at the very core of the franchise. The tagline reads: "For the first time you will see the activity." That is exactly what I do not want to see. Darkness, loud sounds and possession are what I want, not amateurish Adobe After Effects CGI tricks that look better on a kid's YouTube video than in weak 3D at the theatre. Seeing a large cheaply produced shadowy figure isn't scary and you can't survive on repetitive jump scares brought on by a black entity shooting across the screen. The only redeeming quality in the film is the link to Katie and Kristi from the third movie, and even still, where are the older versions? Where is Hunter? I get that they want to show new and unsuspecting characters watch as crazy demon worshippers open bloody time portals in their kid's wall, but it just doesn't cut it. There is no soul left in this franchise, if there was one to begin with. At least the original films didn't resort on spooky 3D spots, bubbles and waves in the air.

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension folds on the franchise like a cheap suit or a really dumb tent in a kid's bedroom. It relates to the rest of the movies in the same way V/H/S: Viral did to the previous two films in that series. For those who don't know, the third in that franchise veered so far off course from the theme and intentions of the originals that it resembled them in name only. There have been some independent films made since 2009 that used relatively weak but suitable effects like REC, The Devil Inside (I had such high hopes for that one), The Tunnel and many more, but I have come to expect more from Paranormal Activity. It still blows my mind that a film as good as Paranormal Activity could have a $15,000 budget and one as bad as Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension a whopping $10 million.

Some may say they aren't surprised Paranormal Activity has ended in a bad note, but I am disappointed. I enjoyed the previous films, the fourth notwithstanding, and I wish Oren Peli had stuck to the original formula rather than farming it out Paramount's executives and its many writers and directors. But such is the life of horror film franchises.