Hello, hello. Welcome to the newest section of the Random Blog: "Rolling Out the Red Carpet". For these posts, I'll be reviewing movies, whether they be ones that I watch in the theater, or ones that I just watch on TV. They will be movies that I have never seen before, though I will probably break that rule sometime during the posting of these. I've been wanting to do more movie reviews, especially seeing as I only do comic reviews (with a few TV ones thrown in here or there). However, I've never really had the focus to do movie reviews, which is a shame because I am a pretty big movie buff. So, I'm going to try to post a lot more movie reviews now, starting with the horror film Paranormal Activity 4.
Let me start off by saying this: I love the Paranormal Activity film series. I saw the first one with a bunch of friends my senior year of high school and I loved it. I never felt so afraid watching a film than when I was watching the first Paranormal Activity, mostly because of the reaction of my friends sitting around me (two girls who were freaking out the entire movie) and the fact that I really believe in ghosts and demons. Ever since I've seen that movie, I will not and have not slept with my legs outside my covers (silly, I know, but it's the truth). When the second one came out, I was really pumped. However, I was really disappointed when I watched it. Sure, it was a decent sequel, but it was no where near as good as the first one. Last fall, I went and saw the third one with my family in the theater. I went in with low expectations, as the second film really left a sour taste in my mouth. I was happily surprised, as Paranormal Activity 3 was nearly as good as the first film, and my faith in the series was restored. Now, Paranormal Activity 4 is out, and I was really excited when I first saw the trailers. Everything looked good, and I loved the inclusion of the Xbox 360 Kinect to the film. However, when the reviews came out, they were split 50/50. So, going into the film, I didn't know what to expect, unlike the other films.
So, what did I think of the film? Well, it definitely was interesting. Dealing with a new family for the first time, the story of the film was on the slower side. It wasn't as smooth as the other ones were, which was a disappointment. However, I loved the characters themselves, especially Ben, who quickly became my favorite character from all the films. After Katie from the first film, Alex is my favorite leading lady in a non-pedophile way. Her character acted the way that someone who is experiencing these kind of things would. Ben was the best male lead of all four movies. Not only did he bring the comedic aspects, but he also acted the most level headed of the male leads. I may or may not have gotten misty eyed when Ben was killed (plus, it was a nice jump scene. Who expected Katie to just show up behind him?).
After watching Paranormal Activity 3 & 4, I have now learned to never trust little kids. They are now one of the most terrifying things on the Earth. In this case, the creepy child was Robbie, the mysterious kid who moves in across the street from Alex. And who just so happens to be his "mom"? None other than Katie herself. That was one of the moments that caused my theater to cry out, as we knew that sh!t was going to be going down big time.
One new aspect I liked was bringing in the Kinect, using it as a tracking device. However, I wish that more could have been done with it. Besides one scene where Katie just rises out of the couch, the night vision Kinect aspect was useless. Besides the Kinect, though, there really wasn't any special camera effects this time. I was also kind of disappointed about the lack of actual activity that happened in the house compared to the first three films. Sure, a good deal of stuff happened and were actually pretty good (especially the chandelier scene and the toy line scene). However, the actual activity itself could have been better.
So, now I'm thinking about the demons and the coven. I read online somewhere that someone believes that there were actually two demons in this film: Toby and then Robbie. Obviously, Toby was in the film, but the question becomes this: Is Robbie a demon or is he just a child from the coven? That was (sadly) something that was unexplained. However, I am in the camp believing that there are two demons in the film. It actually kind of makes sense, as Toby can make itself look like anything it wants, which would explain the kid shape early in the film. Then, after Katie returns, the child size demon is actually Robbie, who makes one slight appearance after that, but is never seen again.....
The ending of the film was the best one since the first Paranormal Activity. Sure, it seemed a bit rushed, but the overall effect of it worked. It was the first scary ending since the original film, as it once again focused on a demonic Katie and her killing someone. However, as scary as Katie running towards Alex and attacking her at the end was, the truly frightening moment was when Alex turns around and discovers the coven coming after her. That was something that I was not expecting to happen and it really caught me by surprise.
Also, if you are reading this, check out Jacob Degloshi on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Youtube, wherever you can. Something paranormal is happening at this house, which happens to be in the same neighborhood as Alex's house, and he discovered a tape in his daughter's suitcase that not only has a certain symbol on it, but shows an oddly familiar family that you are going to recognize if you've been following the series.
So, I know that I did a lot of random rambling, but this is my first real movie post and I'm experimenting on a set up for these. Next time, it'll probably be a little more organized and a lot less of me going on tangents. However, I will always end with my grade for the movie in my closing thoughts. Paranormal Activity 4 wasn't the strongest of the series, but I enjoyed it none the less. Led by great leading characters in Alex and Ben, the series continues to have the last 15 or so minutes to have the most memorable moments where everything else in the middle is take it or leave it. I give Paranormal Activity 4 3 out of 4 stars.
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