Paranormal Activity 4 (2012) Review

Very mild spoilers throughout the review.

image captured from IMDB.com

If there's anyone who would defend the Paranormal Activity franchise, it would be me. Over the years, PA has become a guilty pleasure of mine because I treated it as cinematic experience rather than a film. The caramel popcorn, the jumpy audience, the occasional laughter; it's a fun experience but hey, I understand if this isn't your cup of tea.

Now, on to PA 4. Unfortunately, this was the first in the series to feel redundant. I may be the slowpoke here but I really felt like the creators overused their forumla this time. Once again, the beginning scares are always fake outs, the parents are assholes who never listen, and the demon doesn't do anything until it feels like the movie has reached the climax. But what really made everything stale the fourth time around were the less effective scares. Enduring the slow build up did not really pay off.

In PA 3, the creators used what they referred to as a "fan cam", where the camera panned from left to right. This technique created a lot of suspense and had a great pay off in a near climactic scene. In PA 4, we were introduced to infrared tracking dots and this, according to the creators, was supposed to equal the fan cam. Unfortunately, the tracking dots only achieved occasional "what the hell was that?" moments but never a real frightening scare.

The creators actually built a better scene involving a kitchen knife that could've been used to kill off one of the characters. Instead, the knife was forgotten about for a few minutes and then used for a pointless scene. The actual death scenes were pretty cheap. One character, an annoying one I might add, gets killed partially off screen. Another one gets killed in an oh-so-familiar way that we all hate: yes, by getting his neck broken.

The PA movies are quite infamous for intense finales. Despite not having the best time, I wanted this movie to be longer. The ending was just premature and abrupt. There was an intense chase scene that got me saying, "Run, run, run!" but it only lasted about 30 seconds. If that suspense had been kept up for at least 5 more minutes, I would've been more satisfied.

Finally, I'd like to add a short comment on the Dad character. The actor who played him sucked. Every line he uttered felt scripted; I know from experience what a script relaying actor sounds like and he definitely was one.

Overall, this year's Paranormal Activity was a major disappointment and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone besides the tradition followers who watch one every year. This is coming from a big fan of the series.