The first Paranormal Activity was a great film, a simple, well executed idea that contained some genuinely scary moments. It also proved that the found footage movie was a viable option for film makers, something the first and greatest example of the genre, The Blair Witch Project, never did. But like all great horror movies it spawned a series of lacklustre sequels, though they did build an impressive mythology for the series. So now we come to the fourth installment, and while it has flashes of brilliance, it just proves to be more of the same.
Starting with a recap of the events of Paranormal Activity 2, the film jumps forward five years to 2011, and follows Alex (Kathryn Newton), who begins to notice strange things happening in her house after Robbie, a strange kid who moved in next door, befriends her brother.
I can't really say much about this installment that hasn't been said about the previous three films. There is a nice sense of dread hanging over proceedings, and the addition of Robbie adds an Omen-esque vibe, that sadly gives way to the same formula we've seen before a bit too soon. It moves at a steady pace for the first act, then seems to thread water up until the finale, drip feeding us the story, but succeeding in creeping us out. It mainly relies on cheap scares, while every so often giving us some truly unnerving moments, most of them saved for the scenes using the X-Box Kinect's tracking dot function, and the films final moments, which packs the majority of the plot advancement into ten minutes. The movie starts to get convoluted when it brings in elements from the previous films (if this is your first Paranormal Activity movie, you are going to be lost), and is riddled with plot holes so big, you could fit an articulated truck through them.
If you're not a fan of the series, or found footage movies, knock a star off my final score (two if you're feeling especially mean). Otherwise, this isn't a patch on the original, but still not the worst of the series.
