Watch Paranormal Activity 3 if you want to fall asleep, not if you want to be frightened. This movie forces its storyline into the exact same framework as the previous two movies and it just seems ridiculous. Additionally, this slow, tedious movie constantly tries to prove that it takes place in the 80s - probably because it doesn't look or feel anything like the 80s. Plus, the few jump-out scares are not worth the wait. This franchise is on its deathbed and it needs to pass on.

Minor plot spoilersI am not a fan of this series. The stories are too slow to build with long scenes of nothing and then the scare is minimal. This movie is the spoiler for the series as we find out from the subtitle "It runs in the family." We do get an explanation. This is a prequel filmed in high quality DVD using a VHS camera. The acting was better in this one. Lauren Bittner was convincing as Julie. In one scene she puts on a mask and scares the guys. She is so happy she got one over on them, she jumps around with bubbly joy. Also extremely realistic is young Kristi (Jessica Tyler Brown) who convinces me she has an imaginary friend named Captain Howdy, er ah Toby. Likewise child actor Chloe Csengery did an excellent job as Katie as she goes screaming across the room.There is a sex scene that is comical. Dennis (Christopher Nicholas Smith) starts out mouthing "wack-a-da, wack-a-da" porno music and as a romantic sort stampedes right to Julie's chest. There are some strange events going on in the house, so it gets wired for VHS tapes. Now as I recall the longest VHS tape setting was 6 hours (some were 8 hours) which means they would of had to been changed out frequently and viewed for paranormal activity with some scenes lasting for a second. With multiple cameras going 24/7...well you get the idea of how tedious and impracticable this becomes. In one scene the stationary VHS camera is looking at the entire girl's bedroom and then the next second it is focusing on Kristi's bed. While they used the amateur camera for a realistic effect, they didn't stay true to it, which made for a better movie. Maybe one day they will discover how real movies are made.What is not credible is the wife not believing what is going on and refusing to look at the evidence on film. They had to do this so they could keep the constant build up. Dennis filming everything with the camera at grandma's house didn't make much sense. At some point if you are being chased, you stop filming and run. If you are hiding and need to be quiet, you don't keep the camera on. The chase scene is hard to justify filming in all of these types of movies. I felt a little short changed on the ending.Like the other movies, it starts out slowly, but it doesn't sputter and grind its wheels like they did. This is my favorite of the three.F-bomb, no nudity, comical foreplay scene. Was that a 1993 Free Willy stuffed whale in this 1988 movie? Now that was really unexplained.

This third installment of the PA franchise pretty much follows the script of the first two, and while the first one is by far the best, this one is a solid addition to the series.First, let me start off with the one glaring problem with this movie. For the movie to work, you have to suspend belief that in no way most families would endure such trauma. In other words, most normal families, after reviewing footage of the night before and seeing footage of their daughter being lifted off the ground by her hair, or watching their daughter having a one-way conversation with some unseen entity, etc...would have run for the hills much earlier. Of course, that doesn't make a particularly good movie, so if you can suspend that belief and watch this movie for what it is, it's not bad and will provide some chilling moments.This movie is based on the perspective of the viewer watching old, home-made footage. One interesting aspect of this is how this comes about. In the beginning, someone breaks into Kristi's house and steals the box of old VHS tapes, and then suddenly we start watching them. It's not disclosed who this person is that steals them, but I wonder if that becomes an important piece of information for later in the series. Anyways, the old footage shows the sisters as young girls, living with their mom and her boyfriend. The young girls are cute and innocent, and that kind of makes it the more disturbing when you witness what happens to them, especially to the younger one as she generally thinks it's just fun and games, yet we know differently. And what really impressed me was just how good the acting was when it came to the girls, especially the younger one, Kristi. They were believable, engaging, and likable.One different and interesting thing about this installment is the usage of a panning camera which pans back and forth between the kitchen and living room. This adds a level of suspense as it's sweeping back and forth as things are happening. You get the feeling that there's always something dire going on in the other room that you cant see. The scares are pretty similar to the earlier movies in that you really don't see the entity, you just witness the activity going on around the family, though we do see Kristi conversing with it, whom she calls Toby.If you liked the earlier Paranormals, then you'll most likely enjoy this one. Personally, I think the fist one is by far the best so far, and Im getting the feeling that the rest of the franchise wont come close to that one, but this one isn't bad. It follows the similar formula, which isn't a bad idea, and yet it's just different enough that you feel like you're watching a part of a franchise and not the exact same movie. However, it's just not quite as scary or creepy as the first one, nor does it stay with you nearly as long.

No this is not scary at all. It is just some bad actors screaming in the dark. I saw this in a theater and had a laugh because I was the only one not getting scared. Most people these day can't sit throw an old horror movie because they would pee in there pants. By time this movie gets any were there is not even a minute. Paranormal activity 4 is better and that one is not any thing that good believe me. The story line is awful. The ending is awful. It is not scary. Why would any one 10 or older get scared. This is just so lame. Don't see it. If you got scared of this don't see Dracula (1931) or any of the exorcist movie because you will pooh in your pants. L.O.L.