Ah, the “Paranormal Activity” series, the current
popular horror franchise that almost every year craps out another sequel. Yeah,
it was only a matter of time before this series would go downhill and become a
worn out fad that people grew to hate, but still want to know how it ends. But
then again, that’s with just about EVERY franchise that just doesn’t know when
to just stop.
The first film, while nothing special, did leave a
lasting impact with audiences, and also brought the found footage style of film
making back into popularity after “Cloverfield.” After that, the series became
more and more repetitive, with the same formula of a family being haunted by an
entity, just with a different filming technique. Second film: multiple cameras.
Third film: VHS cameras. Fourth film: iPhone and Kinect. Fifth film: modern
regular recording cameras. And this film? Regular cameras and a 3D VHS camera…that
last part wasn’t a joke. Oh, and this film is terrible.
In this film, the demon Toby is now haunting a family
that lives in a rebuilt house from the third film, and is trying to lead the
daughter into acquiring a new body. And much like the previous films, we have a
guy who is obsessed with filming, a mother who doesn’t believe, a friendly
sister, and a douchebag comic relief. Jump scares happen bit by bit, by the
third act shit hits the fan, we come close to the climax, and then jump scare
ends the film. They recycle these tropes in almost every one of these films,
that you could practically make a bingo game out of it.
The characters in this film have either two modes:
boring as wood or annoying as hell. I really couldn’t give a shit about who
this family was or if I should worry about what happens to them, because they’re
written and performed so terribly that it feels like even the film makers gave
up on this series too. The aunt in the film, she was pointless, and could have
easily been cut out of the film. The uncle, he’s an annoying twat that tries to
lighten up the mood, but fails miserably, and thankfully dies in the film…but
it’s not satisfying. The parents in this film are pretty much cardboard cutouts
of Micah and Katie from the first film, except that’s disrespecting cardboard.
And the daughter…yeah, who cares about her?
As for the demon, Toby, his design is so uninspired. His
oozing appearance makes him look like the symbiote, and with him now being
visible through the 3D camera, it takes away any kind of tension the series
had. I’m the kind of person that believes what you don’t see is scarier than
what you do see, which is why the first three films worked. You never saw Toby,
so when someone is being breathed on or pulled by the ankle out of nowhere, it
was scary. Thank you, Ghost Dimension, for ruining one of the series trademarks…you
must feel really proud on kicking this series in the balls, don’t ya?
The 3D was also a major turn off here. The only times
you do see the 3D work is when you’re looking through the 3D camera, meaning the
other cameras in this film, which is about half of the movie, you’re seeing 2D.
If you’re not going to keep the 3D on the whole time, why even bother having
it? All it does is just make the film look darker than it already is. This is
just as pointless as when “The Phantom Menace” was in 3D, and THAT is saying a
lot! Granted, it’s not as bad, as there are some moments when the pop-out 3D,
mostly at the end, does work fine, but that just means you’re seeing shitty
special effects in an already shitty movie.
With this being the supposed last film in the series,
you think they would answer all the questions that have been popping up since
day one. Well, guess what? They answer the origins of the demon that was hinted
at in the third film, but it also completely ignores “Paranormal Activity 4”
and “The Marked Ones.” And I don’t mean just the questions we had, I mean the
films in general are completely ignored. We never know what happened to Hunter
and Katie, we don’t know where that possessed army is at the end of 4, we never
get an explanation for why “The Marked Ones” connected back to the first film
at the end, and we never get an answer as to why we should care about these
people.
Also for a film subtitled “The Ghost Dimension,” we
never really see the so called “Ghost Dimension.” That portal that’s advertised
in the film that is above the daughter’s bed is just a time portal back to the
third film, which took place in the 80’s. Yes, they use time travel again in
these movies. I’m sorry, I thought this was a horror
franchise, not “The Twilight Zone.” Learn what you
are, damn it!
Overall,
“Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension” is just awful. The characters are
unlikable, the scares and effects were terrible, and the story is more of the
same recycled bull that we've seen from the other films. It fails to answer any
questions left unanswered and just raises more questions, leading us to believe
that there's another one on the way. This is easily the worst film in this
series, and I hope like “Saw 3D,” it stays the last.
Rating:
1/10
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