by Isabel Paterson ’12

To be completely honest, I cannot give a fully accurate review on the movie Paranormal Activity 3 because quite frankly, I was hiding in my sweatshirt for the majority of it. From what I did see though, this was one creepy freakin’ movie. Continuing along the theme of the movie’s priors, a family moves into a new house before realizing something else is living with them. The dad (Christopher Nicholas Smith) sets up some VHS cameras. Yes, VHS, remember them? The difference between this ‘Paranormal Activity’ and previous ones is that this one happens to be set in the 80s. After the tapes are set up, the audience knows it’s time to put away the snacks. Previous ‘Paranormal Activity’ movies have been critiqued for the fact that there was too much suspense and not enough action. While there was definitely a load of suspense in this movie, there was action as well. What this movie does to you is get you right there, on the edge of your seat, ready for something to happen … and then nothing does. But, it does happen during a more silly or casual scene in the movie. The difference between Paranormal Activity 3 and other horror movies is that it does not follow the same set up and storyboard that our minds are used to.  This plot usually includes a peaceful beginning, a problem, scary stuff, a break, more scary stuff, a happy ending. I can safely say, none of that applied to Paranormal Activity 3. The movie begins without any credits or titles. For the first 5 minutes, nothing happens, but then it jumps right into it.  When the home video cuts to daytime, I could feel the stress in the theater go away, but there are still twists and turns. By the end of the movie, no scene is safe.  There is either something going down, or something about to go down. This movie left me scared to walk past mirrors, scared to dangle my feet from my bed, scared to turn the light off when I go to sleep, and might I add, scared to ever set up surveillance cameras in my house. It is a movie you will remember, if you can bare to keep your eyes open for the whole thing.