One must give kudos to the “Paranormal Activity” franchise for successfully stretching out its relatively simple premise (spooky entity haunts family; family tries to catch it on tape) for a full three installments – most peter out by the second. Sadly, this does not to extend to the fourth, aptly titled “Paranormal Activity 4.”
Five years after the events of “Paranormal Activity 2,” a family in Henderson, Nev. is forced to look after one of their new neighbors, a six-year-old boy whose mother has been involved in some sort of accident and is rushed to the hospital. Teenager Alex points out that the kid is acting strange, but her parents and younger brother Wyatt don’t seem to notice.
Unsurprisingly, things begin to go bump in the night prompting Alex and her boyfriend Ben to set up cameras around the house to catch the titular “activity.” What follows is the standard formula for the series: a bunch of fake jump scares and little oddities here and there that soon escalate into full-blown chaos.
The “Paranormal Activity” films as a whole aren’t particularly groundbreaking, but for better or worse, each one managed to up the ante while adding a little more to the ongoing mythology. “P.A. 4” does neither. Instead, it drops the suspense altogether and goes for the obvious jump scares and horror clichés. Dumb parents that don’t listen to their child no matter how terrified they are? Check. Creepy kid? Check. Lurking cat? Check.
Perhaps most offensive of all are the “homages” to horror classics like “The Shining” and “The Exorcist.” Scenes paying tribute to the respective films only further emphasize the overall lack of creativity (a startling revelation, considering the directing team here also handled the last installment).
Likewise disheartening is the fact that there’s little attempt to tie this chapter in with the rest of the series; rather than delve further into the ideas brought up in “3,” the film throws in a random and confusing plot twist and hopes that’ll suffice.
However, that’s not to say the film doesn’t have merit. Alex is one of the more likable protagonists to appear in this franchise; we see most of the action from her point of view until a strange editing choice forces her out of the movie for a solid 10-15 minutes. The film also has a couple of gripping scenes, one involving a kitchen knife and the other a bathtub.
“P.A. 4” is better than most recent fright-fests, but that’s not saying much. As a movie that promised us more answers and more of the genuine scares we’ve come to expect, it’s an utter disappointment.
2 out of 5 Dolphins
