Paranormal Activity 4 Serves Up Enough Spooks for a Satisfying Sequel
Paranormal Activity 2 was a parallel prequel to the original film, where we learned of the attachment of the male son to the demonic activity, and Paranormal Activity 3 was a prequel to both, where we saw why Katie was possessed and the activity’s tie to a coven.
The first and the third movies have the best overall ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, with the latest release opening much lower than its predecessors.
But for fans of the series, it’s not a complete dud.
The fourth installment begins in a nice big suburban house in Henderson, Nev., which adds some extra fun to the possession angle as this is the city where President Obama prepped for that debate. Creepy kid Robbie, in a ranch house across the street hidden behind an iron gate, keeps wandering over to the nice suburban house and its backyard treehouse.
After pulling a few crisis strings, Robbie manages to get a bed at the nice big suburban house, which is occupied by one of those couples who sit across from each other at Denny’s and don’t speak (to lift the immortal line from Singles), their teenage daughter Alex, and 6-year-old son Wyatt.
Creepy little Robbie, complete with socks-and-Birkenstocks, unpacks his 100-year-old toys and a “special fork” — which should’ve been the first clue for the family to get the newcomer a babysitter and a hotel room. Enter the same invisible friend from the third installment, and weird things start happening in the house.
It’s not so much handycam this time around but more webcam. And the setting up of the cams, including tinkering with an infrared device, is a plausible scenario for teen Alex and her boyfriend Ben considering all of the ghost-hunting cable shows in the present day, when the movie is set.
The good news for filmgoers is that all of the spooky moments aren’t blown by the previews or trailer. And pieces fit together a little bit more, just as in the other sequels. I enjoyed it, and not just because I was the only person in the theater at a 9:45 a.m. showing. It’s not especially original and won’t pack the initial Peli punch, but the series still manages to be entertaining without the frills employed in many modern horror flicks.
The bad news for Paramount, which has learned new things about profit margins from this series, is that a fifth installment may be a bridge too far. But if you sat through and enjoyed the first four, you’d probably go see a fifth one, too. And Peli will be banking on that next Halloween as well.
****
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The scariest movie I have ever seen is “The Fourth Kind”.
Obama ain’t a kid…even if he is creepy and he constantly acts like he’s thirteen.
Obama ain’t a kid…even if he is creepy and he constantly acts like he’s thirteen.
Does the director know that what I assume is supposed to be a mysterious hex sign (that circle triangle above) is the logo of Alcoholics Anonymous, used to denote “Meeting this way” in church basements around the world?
An inside joke maybe. Cuz they CAN get pretty scary.
Talk about a movie figure of speech playing before our eyes in USA. My beloved New england Patriots may have the best team ever in foot ball yet they become miracle loser to my great delight to the great birds of Egypt , The Red Cardinal the Great Raven and the Majestic Sea hawk showing something is in the air we have not seen in a very very long time.
What a Demonic Movie this is and yet the beauty cheer leaders are still beauty out their with no demon disturbing them as they reaming beauty air heads but the greatest event is how all the erudite big boys and girls are the by far largest air heads the world have ever seen promised by God’s word the Bible on how the so called wise are made to look stupid and foolish
More as I watch the beloved Patriots play the hated Jets- and the demons have their business and have their fun on the playing fields
“There is nothing new under the sun.” It’s just repackaged. That movie is just the repackaged parts of previous movies presented in a new format, with slick promotion, to an unaware and uninformed public. Kinda like the candidate that that most of them voted for President four years ago. It’s Halloween and it’s scary season and people expect to be frightened by movie monsters when,in fact, the real monsters are among them and,in some cases,leading them.
To me the best creepy Kid flic is “Village of the Damned”. It was based on a book the “Mid-Witch Cuckoos” and is a very subtle horror as there are almost no special effects. Just an atmosphere of doom.