Movie Review: Paranormal Activity 4

Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost return to the directors chair for the forth installment of the Paranormal Activity franchise: Paranormal Activity 4.  Written by Zack Estrin, the film picks up several years after Paranormal Activity 2 and focuses on a family of four in Nevada who take it upon themselves to babysit a creepy neighborhood kid named Robbie (Brady Allen) when his mom has an unexplained accident.  When spooky things begin to happen around the house after Robbie's appearance, Alex (Kathryn Newtton) and her whacky boyfriend Ben (Matt Shively) do a little investigating and set up cameras around the house.  Paranormal Activity 4 was released in theaters and IMAX on October 17th. 

It's inevitable that these movies will keep coming out simply because people keep going to see them.  And though I feel that the franchise has one good sequel left in it, Paranormal Activity 4 is definitely not it.  But say what you will about lame story lines, frustrating characters, and cheap scares, These movies are still great when seen in the right setting.  The acting never has to be good because it is found footage, and the found footage style does add to the spookiness when done right. 

I always find it interesting to see what the source of the footage is supposed to be in these films.  The first three tell you why the main character has a video camera in the first place, i.e. they are a wedding videographer or they just got a new camera.  But in Paranormal Activity 4 they don't even bother to explain why this teenage girl is waltzing around with a camera in the first place.  When Alex becomes suspicious she has her boyfriend set up all of the computers in her house to record video at all times after she finds out that he has been recording their iChat conversations.  So the footage comes from an unexplained handheld camera, iChat conversations, laptops laying around the house that for some reason are never turned off, and an Xbox Kinect with the green motion sensors on, which is actually pretty spooky at first, though the blatant product placement is beyond lame. 

The storyline in this one is probably the worst yet.  Part of this is due to the fact that we have seen it all before.  Nothing new or impressive is introduced and the ending is weak.  The characters seem too relaxed for the situation they are in and besides Alex and Ben the characters are too one-dimentional and unlikable.  You don't necessarily find yourself rooting for the family to survive.  I would really like to see one of these films with a more middle-class and relate-able family.  An old, creeky house setting rather than a generic new upper-class home might add some suspense and believability.

In summation, expect poor story telling and a bunch of stuff we've already seen in the first three.  Oh, and an Xbox Kinect!  Though this movie is scary at times and also pretty entertaining.  And hey, if you've already seen the first three you may as well see this one.  The overarching story between the four is actually kind of clever and sets up for plenty of sequels.  Not that great, but I'll keep seeing 'em. 

5/10 Xbox Kinects