Paranormal Activity 4: Review By Zak Lee Ferguson

Paranormal Activity 4 was something I was eager- anticipating- not only is the 3rd a revolution of horror and usage of found footage and the bets in the series it showed a bit of intelligence upon the directors part upon the usage of the storyline and arch of the young innocent protagonists- here the film is neither prequel nor is it anything as high quality as the last. Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman created something good looking, fresh, idealistic, pushing the boundaries and the tension up a Koch- PA3 sh*t me up, it held me, it wowed me and to whom ever critiques my critique I scoff I find that in its own minor league the third is a masterpiece of a high velocity.

This review may feel sparse, but its based upon how spare the film is- empty of emotion, fun, excitement, never gripping nor exulting the originality- it feels tacked on, bordering on- lets make them wait it out- instead of cruel jumps and miscellaneous cuts and cheap shots it does neither- neither does it care for an explanation for its camera totting lead- it feels shoddy, tacky, rushed, bemused and seemingly it what's to put you off the idea of buying another admission ticket for a fifth.

A third paragraph, is that enough to create a review: no, but scolding pain I feel is the previous is so strong a feature and so dammed beautiful- it hit notes on cinematic values and horror production, this film is centred on the present of 20111 of a stranger and odd behaviour- it has no paranormal behaviour, it has trance like children, it has imprinted motion censored outlined spots of some ghoulish spirits lurking in the deepest of darkest backdrops- but other than that its pacing, pacing, webcam trickery, lame asssed character development, recycled jargon. It does not feel edgy, knife jabbing it feels safe- playing it safe- not too much, not too far- but that's what it should have done to be the finale- something dark, brooding, ferocious madcap not slender slick intercut with sectored rose tinted glasses- it had the budget, the photography the graft so why not ;push it to its ultimate extremities.

The film is jam packed full of potential but never fully or never actually tried to fulfil a promise.

Long winded, boring, potentially exemplary, but it never crosses that divide.