Paranormal Activity. These two words often raise goose bumps when uttered. The phenomenon this series of films has created is quite astounding, bringing horror films back into the mainstream and rejuvenating the film making technique of “found footage” made famous by “The Blair Witch Project.” If you were to poll, say, 10 people, I would guess at least eight would say that one of the films has had them sleeping with the lights on for a night or two. I, however, think the films are rather boring and lack any terror. But the horror genre is my favorite, so I decided to view the latest entry in the series, “Paranormal Activity 4.”
The film, while lacking in actual scares, was an enjoyable entry in the series, and is my favorite so far.
Alex (Kathryn Newton) and her family began to experience supernatural events in their home when they decide to take in Robbie (Brady Allen), the new boy next door, after his mother Katie (Katie Featherston from “Paranormal Activity 1 and 2”) is taken to the hospital with a mysterious illness. Alex decides to record the house all day and night to gather evidence of the oddities happening. The film quite literally picks up from the end of “Paranormal Activity 2,” using the end scene of that film as the introduction to the fourth film.
The setup of why the characters in this series decide to start recording the occurrences in the house is probably the most crucial element to the storyline. It has to be believable; it cannot be characters jumping to conclusions in assuming their house is haunted. Alex (Newton) has odd enough experiences that began only when Robbie (Allen) stays at the house to warrant her paranoia. She catches Robbie talking to himself in the living room at three in the morning, he sneaks back into his house across the street with her brother, Wyatt (Aiden Lovekamp) and Robbie is very creepy whenever he speaks, or refuses to speak. The creepiness that Robbie exudes increases the longer he stays with Alex and her family, allowing for actual concern on Alex’s part to be reasonable. So the setup, while fairly basic, was acceptable enough.
The cameras used were unique, which is another tool that this series relies heavily on. This time it was computer cameras that used the recording device in the Facetime application (essentially Skype, but with Mac computers), along with a creative technique where the projection dots sent off by an Xbox Kinect camera were recorded using night vision. The Kinect camera footage created the most intense moments in the film by far, because of the haunting green glow that picked up any movement in the room, including the specter/demon that terrorizes the family.
The setup worked fine for me, but it was the interactions between the protagonist Alex and her boyfriend, Ben (played beautifully by newcomer Matt Shively), that carried the film. Their relationship was very believable, and definitely overshadowed the scares throughout the movie. Ben in particular was very funny and witty, which made the buildups to the scares much more enjoyable than the other films. You actually cared about those two characters, aided by the fact that they are the only characters the film established. The father and mother, and at times the two boys who the film falsely established as the protagonists, were peripheral. Had it not been for Alex and Ben, the movie would have fallen very flat.
Now, onto the scares. They were pretty much tame and predictable. The film had a lot of mislead scares, and the same mislead (a cat jumping in front of the camera) was used multiple times. This horror movie trope drives me crazy. It might make you jump from surprise, but it is a cheap trick to get a reaction from the audience, not a true scare. The actual scares with the demon were decent, particularly those caught on the Kinect camera I described, but almost all of them were in the trailer, which is typical of these types of movies, but disappointing nonetheless.
Another reason the scares were not effective is because of the tone of the film when the paranormal activities were not happening. The tonal shifts from normalcy to uncanny were too drastic to have any continuity, and they occasionally came off as just plain funny. Also, the more interesting scenes were the ones where nothing scary was happening, because of Ben and Alex’s relationship. I think I would rather watch an hour and a half film of just those two. That relationship ended up being the majority of the movie, so I enjoyed the overall film more because of that, but that is not why someone goes to see a horror movie, especially one as hyped as “Paranormal Activity 4.” So this was a major shortcoming.
The climax at the end of the movie was fun, but way too open-ended to give the audience any context for the inevitable fifth film—which has already been given the green light— in the franchise. I will not reveal anything, but certain characters lacked any motivation for their actions. The deaths (this is not a spoiler) were pretty basic, but they were shot well which helped provide tension. The imagery in the last 15 minutes was good, but not overly scary again.
I give “Paranormal Activity 4” a 4/10, which is two to three rating numbers higher than the other three films in the franchise. These films never scared me as much as most people, so that is probably my biggest qualm with the series as a whole. But the space in-between the scares was much more enjoyable in this film, so it received higher marks. I will say the fifth film has a lot of work to do to keep any coherence to the films, but I do not see the ‘Paranormal Phenomenon’ going away anytime soon.
