Star Rating: 3 stars
(for Star Rating key: https://madtimemama.wordpress.com/mama-and-papa-movie-reviews/)
Has the shine of the “unknown” in the Paranormal Activity (P.A.) world finally diminished? After watching the latest in the franchise, I believe so. Look, I totally believe in spirits, I totally believe in paranormal activity.. I even believe in aliens! We are not alone fo’ sho’! Naturally, I gravitate towards these kinds of movies. I ESPECIALLY love exorcism movies but I love a good ghost/horror/thriller flick.
This movie is the third movie in this franchise and it takes you back to the beginning where the sisters first experience the paranormal activity. They live with their mother and stepfather. Right from the start, Katie is seen talking to an invisible friend, Toby. (presumably a demon entity attached to the kiddos) Toby is at first playful and friendly with the girls and then turns aggressive and harasses the girls. The ending was weird and confusing to say the least. I won’t give it away—make your own opinions when you see it.
This movie was slow from the get go. It took FOREVER to get to the good parts. I will say this, about the last 30 minutes was pretty cool and thrilling. The white sheet part was f’n CREEEEEEEPY!!!! I’ll hand it to the P.A. peeps, they really know how to draw out the suspense. However, with all “found footage” movies, it’s hard to keep the interest because everything is SOOOO drawn out if it doesn’t move quick enough. I won’t lie though, it’s creepy, and it’s way better than Haywire, or Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol! If you like this kind of movie, it’s worth renting — you might get a tingle out of it.
I hear they are making a Paranormal Activity 4. I’m not sure how much further they can go with this story. Hopefully, they can bring the shine back with much more creepy instances sooner in the movie to hold the attention of the viewers. One can hope!
Quote from me: “Eh, it’s good flick. Not the best, but certainly not the worst.”
Mad Time Mama! 
I, too, am a huge fan of horror movies — not so much the gory ones but the suspenseful ones that have you on the edge of your seat. I totally agree with your review! There were definitely some spooky parts, but it seemed like there was less suspense than the previous movies. Movies 1-2 relied more on what you didn’t see while 3 showed more. I’m not sure if it would’ve worked, but at that point they may as well have thrown in all the Hollywood bells and whistles and make it into a traditional style movie instead of “found footage.” I think they’ve prettymuch run the story into the ground. Not sure where else they could go from here — maybe a futuristic paranormal activity centered around some descendents of the family. Or maybe the paranormal spirits have taken over the world and it’s up to the descendents to stop it once and for all! Like scifi stuff! (Maybe I’m kidding).
I agree! I don’t know how they are going to keep dragging out these movies. The first two were great-i enjoyed them. The “found footage” part wasn’t old. This movie it got old. I don’t like the gory ones that much– I like the real suspenseful “the imagination is more scary than what you see” aspect.