In 1988, young sisters Katie and Kristi befriend an invisible entity who resides in their home.
And so the franchise rolls on…
With this entry in the series we once again get the prequel treatment, to get two prequels in a row like this is a rarity, in fact I can’t think of any other franchise that has done their series this way. I’ve always considered this a strange move as we were given an ending first then 2 to get 2 prequels in a row to tell us how all this happened, such a strange move.
The studio obviously didn’t learn their lesson from last time as once again most of the scenes in the trailers are not in the actual movie, once again we were tricked. This really aggravated me as I thought that after the backlash they received for it the first time they did it, this just showed that they took no notice of what the fans thought of this and went ahead and did it again anyway.
The film carries on with the same style, same scare tactics, problem now is that as this is film number three it’s all starting to become a little stale. Fans we’re starting to get, well a little bored and it’s understandable why, there’s only so much you can do with it’s format and the jump scares that became all too predictable. What was once fresh and original became old and stale very quickly.
I also found the films reveal to be quite bland, I found the idea to be nothing new and felt that it was more of a cop-out than anything. I don’t think this whole backstory was thought through and this lack of thought is a real letdown, it’s a shame really. In all honest though I liked not knowing why, we all love a bit of mystery and even though this left some questions unanswered it answered the wrong ones.
“Paranormal Activity 3” was weak but it has to be watched to understand the story. Also I’d like to know how this family got HD cameras in the 80’s?!
Miscellaneous facts about the film:
Towards the beginning of the film, Julie takes a picture of young Katie standing in the driveway shortly before a group picture is taken. The photo being taken appears in both Paranormal Activity and Paranormal Activity 2 as an indication that the demon has started haunting them.
The highest grossing film in the Paranormal Activity series.
The symbols that appear behind the pictures in Grandma Lois’s house are simplified versions of the Pentagram of Solomon (inverted) and the Triangle of Solomon, symbols depicted in the “Lesser Key of Solomon” and used to summon and constrain demons in classical Goethic Theurgy.
Mark Fredrichs previous played the Psychic in the first Paranormal Activity (2007), which took place nearly two decades after the events in this film.
Produced under the name “Sports Camp”.
As with Paranormal Activity (2007) and Paranormal Activity 2 (2010), Paramount Studios once again utilized paranormal investigator/researcher, Christopher Chacon, who is recognized as one of the world’s foremost authorities on paranormal phenomena, to internationally promote and publicize this third installment. Chacon also works in the entertainment industry as a writer, director and producer.
This is the 2 time Johanna Braddy plays a role named Lisa in a horror film. The 1 one was The Grudge 3 (2009)
In the static at the end of the movie, there is a frame that shows Dennis’ and Julie’s bed on fire. This is presumably the start of the house fire that is referred to in both Paranormal Activity (2007) and Paranormal Activity 2 (2010).
The scene with Kristi’s loose tooth was real. “Little girl shows up on set and says that she’s got a loose tooth,” Schulman said. “We say, ‘Film it, work it into the scene.’ Can’t fake that.”
The film takes place in September 1988, with certain dates highlighted graphically. One highlighted date is 9/10/88, but then the events skip ahead past 9/11, a storytelling decision that was very important to the filmmakers. “Out of respect,” Joost said. “Never gonna do that.”
The camera seen on screen during most of the film is actually a tiny Hi-Def camera hidden inside the body of a VHS camcorder; for the first few weeks of shooting Smith did not have a viewfinder to see what his footage would look like.
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