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Monday, October 24, 2011
MOVIE REVIEW
Paranormal Activity 3
Videotaping In California, Circa 1988, At Your Own Risk
Jessica Tyler Brown as Kristi (left) and Chloe Csengery as Katie, in 1988 in
"Paranormal Activity 3".
Paramount Pictures
by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
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Monday,
October 24, 2011
Where would California have been in 1991 and 1992 without videotape?
Thanks to George Holliday we were able to see first hand the L.A.P.D. brutality
against Rodney King in 1991. We saw the havoc by angry mobs in the wake of
the acquittal of Mr. King's assailants in 1992. It turns out however, that
we missed an earlier signature moment in California's storied history four years
prior in 1988, but fortunately (or not) "Paranormal Activity 3", which opened
last Friday in the U.S. and Canada and other countries, has evidence of the
supernatural on display.
Directed by "Catfish" helmers Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, "Paranormal
Activity 3" shuffles through its assortment of players in what is basically a
spoof of the
original and best film of the series.
Katie (Katie Featherston) returns briefly, as does her younger sister Kristi
(Sprague Grayden from
"Paranormal 2".) "Paranormal 3", a
prequel, bounces from 2006 to 2005 to 2000 to 1988 and around California before
settling on the city of Calabasas and the home of Julie, the mother of young
Katie and Kristi, and her live-in boyfriend Dennis, who, surprise, surprise,
just can't put down his video camera, which he tests out after observing
something in the house that doesn't look or feel right. A friend who
believes in the supernatural supports the cause for solidarity's sake. [An
aside: Calabasas, by the way, has been dubbed the porn capital (apparently many
such films are made there), but this film avoids any kind of "torture porn" in
its horror.]
"Paranormal Activity 3" follows the formula of the prior two films. Night
by night we glimpse the bedroom of Julie (Lauren Bittner) and Dennis
(Christopher Nicholas Smith.) On some nights there's nothing to see there.
On other nights the adult bedroom gets busy, though not by those lying in it.
Young Katie and Kristi's room has a sweet, idyllic ambiance but that poster of
what looks like Bette Midler in "The Rose" sits too comfortably on the wall
above Kristi's bed. The kids' bedroom looks too perfect.
Time to rearrange it just a little.
The new film has its red herrings and Poltergeist ways but nothing beats an
old-fashioned scare. While staying away from gore, Mr. Joost and Mr.
Schulman use deft yet more overt scares consonant with the typical horror film,
but the sleight of hand and the imperceptible remain almost throughout.
Almost.
The script by Christopher Landon, based on Oren Peli's frightfully good original
2009 film, has holes as wide as cheese and characters with secrets to perhaps
die for but young Kristi's imaginary friend Toby is an invisible secret that is
more than some can handle. We know little of why demons have chosen this
otherwise sunny, carefree family of characters, but we also know that children
should be believed. If they say there's something in that closet, there's
something in there.
At least in this third edition people can be something other than scared or
voyeurs. There's brief foreplay on view, which if nothing else adds
dimension to the activities of otherwise mundane adult characters. Aside
from perhaps a swimming date or a birthday party we rarely see this family
outdoors. Still, "Paranormal Activity 3" is more playful and scares better
than its dreadful forerunner of 2010, with its extended looks into dark closets
and pan and scan techniques associated not just with cameras but with the VHS
editions of too many movies, editions that were all the rage 20-plus years ago.
The film's effect however, is ephemeral, lasting only until the familiar credits
roll, and not getting under the skin for days after like Mr. Peli's film did.
[With Hollywood not too far away from Calabasas, I'm thinking that young Katie
and Kristi had more than enough material to work with to make a scary movie of
their own, scarier than the one made by the kids in
"Super 8".]
The directors here have fun with self-parody, gimmickry and the kind of tomfoolery with
fate that makes some jaded viewers gleefully welcome the demise of nonsensical
characters who beg for their end with their own stupidity. Yes, it's a movie, but in "Paranormal Activity 3" suspension of
disbelief is sometimes put to a severe test.
What's clear throughout this successful franchise is that men, specifically
dark-haired white men, are the sole targets of the wrath of the demon(s) that
haunt and kill. (Blonde-haired young white women can for once take a
breather. And there's no black character around to be early horror film
fodder.) Are the women of "Paranormal Activity 3" rebelling against
California housewifery and lazy men and their toys? Have they decided that
a refreshingly different lease on life is the way to get a man's attention?
There's little doubt that technology is the enemy of the unseen marauding forces
in "Paranormal Activity 3". If "video killed the radio star" a few years
before 1988, that same video is under siege by the paranormal in California.
Trying to see the unseen on video or what happened before the unseen gets seen
-- which sounds a little like a defense position the L.A.P.D. attorneys argued
in Mr. King's beating -- is quite a task. This film makes this much clear:
if you're ever in the Golden State and a member of the fairer sex advises you to
put down that video camera you're playing with, you'd better listen.
With: Jessica Tyler Brown and Chloe Csengery.
"Paranormal Activity 3" is rated R by the Motion Picture Association Of America for
some violence, language brief sexuality and drug use. The film's running time is
one hour and 25 minutes.
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