Hollywood’s rule on film trilogies has concluded that the third film in a series is usually the worst. Thankfully this isn’t the case for the ‘Paranormal Activity’ franchise; the films have only gotten better with every new installment. Third time’s the charm, and ‘Paranormal Activity 3’ succeeds in being a good American horror film, as well as being the best of the trilogy.

The first ‘Paranormal Activity’ film dealt with Katie and the haunting she experiences with her boyfriend Micah. The second film was a parallel prequel to the first, involving Katie’s sister, Kristi, and the haunting her family experiences. ‘Paranormal Activity 3’ is a prequel to the first two films and depicts the origin of this demon or ghost that’s haunted Katie and Kristi in the previous films.

Set in 1988, Katie and Kristi are just two young girls living with their mother, Julie (Lauren Bittner), and her boyfriend, Dennis (Christopher Nicholas Smith). Kristi has an imaginary friend, named Toby, whom her mother just ignores as anything but peculiar. Dennis, being a wedding videographer, starts setting cameras around the house after experiencing paranormal activities himself. The discoveries Dennis finds are surprising and scary, and he starts filming for more days in order to solvethe mystery of this ghostly entity.

Toby, both Kristi’s imaginary friend and the paranormal entity causing havok around the house, is a freaky character. You never see him, or her, or it, but it’s activity starts off small and insignificantly and soon escalates into fully frightening terrors. Things move around and disappear, but then things around the house start flying and go haywire.

The moments of Toby’s scary antics captured on film are great, and this time around the series has implemented something new – an oscillating camera. Dennis uses the base of an oscillating fan and incorporates one of his cameras onto it. Thus the camera can depict an entire room by moving slowly from one side to the other. This oscillating effect is the most impressive, creative, and scary innovation from the series. It adds the perfect amount of suspense when something seems normal the first time the oscillating camera pans to it, and then changes the next time the camera comes around.

‘Paranormal Activity 3’ improves upon the previous two by being less boringly slow. The heart of the series relies on slow-building suspense, yes, but the first two spent too much time setting up the premise before the scares came in. The third installment sets up the premise while also implementing scares, so we get the best of both worlds. The first real scare in the film is a great introduction to Toby and the scares soon to come.

The last 20-or-so minutes of the film feel a little rushed, but it’s still a nice ending to a film that succeeded in being scary throughout its majority running time. This film answers questions left unanswered from the previous films, but it still leaves room for future installments that will most probably go even further back in time in order to explain the backstory of the demonic Toby.

Three out of four Kents.

Extra Notes

• The best part about PA3 is the fact that the trailer(s) for it is slightly misleading. None of the scenes in the trailer are scenes from the actual film. And the amazing part is the trailer still gives off the eerie essence of what the film is actually like.

• PA3 is fun and entertaining with a lot of scary moments, but it’s also pretty funny because of its charming and goofy Dennis character, as well as his best friend Randy.

• The child actors should have some recognition because they did a solid job at acting in this film.

• The best sequences in the film are the ones with the oscillating camera. This includes the wonderful scene where all the kitchen appliances disappear… and then something happens right after.

• The editing of this film should be recognized, too, because there are moments in PA3 that have fast cuts/transitions, but because of the quiet suspense built up right before this transition, it makes it scary to the audience.