Horror franchise loses spook factor with fourth film installment; unoriginal compared to first movie
To get straight to the point, “Paranormal Activity 4” is no doubt the worst film of its franchise, but what can we expect from a series that has found such success in the box office?
The 2007 original actually broke the boundary between low-budget horror and something bankable by using “The Blair Witch Project” technique: the found-footage style of filmmaking. But slowly afterward, it’s become less of a gimmick than a money-making idea.
But that’s not the biggest problem with this franchise. The issue here is that “Paranormal Activity” is becoming needlessly complex, continuing the story about the couple with the haunted house from the first film. The wife, seemingly possessed, ends up murdering her husband and disappearing, while the sequel follows similar events that happen to her sister around the same time.
With “Paranormal Activity 4,” the franchise’s box office success demands another sequel be made, even though there’s really nowhere for the story to go from here.
The movie features the same basic formula that made the original unique: a first-person account of a family in jeopardy because of the presence of supernatural beings. But this time, it’s an entirely different family haunted by disturbances related to the past three films for the sole purpose of keeping the story rolling.
This story centers on 15-year-old Alex (Kathryn Newton), and the majority of the film is told through the lens of open laptop webcams, but that doesn’t prevent from carrying her own computer around for some reason. She has a boyfriend, mother, father and younger brother, all of whom are about as underdeveloped as expected for this type of movie.
Creepy finds its way into Alex’s life in the form of Robbie (Brady Allen), the neighbor’s child. He has scary eyes, talks to an invisible friend and spends his time at Alex’s house after his mother is admitted to the hospital for some unknown reason.
For the first 30 minutes, the movie is an absolute snore-fest. Nothing terrifying happens, so we are stuck with seeing Alex constantly Web chat like she’s making a series of home movies. What follows is a sequence of things-go-bump-in-the-night moments, but nothing scary. We see doors mysteriously open while people are sleeping and Alex lifts from her bed in midair, but they’re mostly shots of empty rooms. That’s it.
The truly terrifying stuff doesn’t actually happen until the final 10 minutes, but the movie doesn’t deliver the necessary amount of anticipation that gives shocking “boo” moments such a punch. After those 10 minutes, I recalled an advertisement where a night-cam records an audience members viewing the film and they give absolutely implausible reactions to the shock moments. Talk about false advertising.
“Paranormal Activity 4” not only recycles gags and brings returning characters from the previous films into the picture, but it even displays homages to “The Shining” and the most generic aspects of modern-day horror films. We see a kitchen knife that foreshadows upcoming events, and little Wyatt (Alden Lovekamp), Alex’s younger brother, rides his Big Wheel around only for chairs to strangely block his way.
There is really nothing to be scared of here since jump scares are delivered in the cheapest fashion, and the suspense is less than absent since the mystery is blatantly solved. Take, for instance, the moment when a cat jumps at the camera.
It’s hard to see how Newton or Matt Shively (who plays Ben, Alex’s boyfriend) will find success after this installment, since horror films really aren’t the best way for young newbies to jump-start their careers. These kinds of films just require young leads to act generic and reflexive in the face of the supernatural. It’s a simple formula where they sit back and act shocked when bad things happen.
Because of the popularity of the franchise, a “Paranormal Activity 5” will probably find its way into our lives next year. Just don’t expect anything new.