BEETLE FILM DISCUSSION: PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 (HEAVY SPOILERS)

Hey there, I recently reviewed the film Paranormal Activity 3. I haven't been able to get this film out of my mind for the past few days (a sign of a good film). This film raised so many bizzare questions, questions that weren't even addressed or hinted at in the previous two films. How come Katie and Kristi talk about their house burning down when we never see footage of this actually happening (maybe the cult they go to live with in the end of the film burned it down, maybe they were lying about it but why would they lie to their spouses, maybe they were brainwashed into thinking various things including the burn down of their house), why don't they ever mention their mom and stepdad dying and going to live with the grandmom (Surely they would have mentioned that IMPORTANT FACT in the previous films), why don't they ever mention being raised by a cult (This is easily explained away though, I imagine they were probably brainwashed either into not remembering these events or believing the cult was some big family, but if this were the case why is this "big family" never brought up in the previous films), Since Katie is clearly possessed by the end of the film did the demon unpossess her or did the cult drive him out of her because she wasn't fully ready yet? Do you understand why I say in my review that PA 3 only serves up more questions (questions we wouldn't have if the film had actually STUCK TO WHAT WAS SET UP IN THE PREVIOUS FILMS)?

Why is just about none of the footage from the trailers shown in this film (The trailers actually included footage of a house burning down, so it seemed like the footage from the trailers stuck closer to the mythology than the actual film did)? Well, there are two possibilities: Possibility #1 is that originally they had a whole different film prepped for release, this means that 2 different versions of the film had been created but in the end they decided to go with the version we saw in theaters (maybe test screenings of the original footage weren't as positive as they had hoped, maybe they wanted to do something different?). Possibility # 2 (and the possibility that is way more probable) is that they shot all that footage specifically for the trailers and never had any intent of actually inserting that footage into the film, if true, this pisses me off. It's a brilliant strategy to mislead audiences but that also means that they were purposefully misleading and lying to audiences, showing them a film they would never see. NOT. COOL. In the end, we'll just have to wait for the dvd release to see if they release an alternate cut along with the theatrical release.

In fact, the film fails to follow the mythology and events established in the first 2 films so badly I wondered if they brought a new screenwriter onto the film. I did some investigating online, and the screenwriters for PA3 were Christopher B. Landon (who helped to write the screenplay for PA 2 along with 4 others) and Oren Peli (He wrote the screenplay for the original and helped write the screenplay for the sequel). Now, I can understand why Landon could have inadvertently messed up. Maybe he didn't fully understand the events that had been alluded to in the other films, but that's why Oren Peli was there...to set him back on the right path but he apparently failed to do that. I am seriously disappointed, we could have had a really cool origin story but instead we got a fake one that doesn't make sense when viewed with the rest of the films in the franchise.

I assume the reason they decided to deviate from previously established events (if this was even a conscious decision and not an accident) was to make it a more interesting, unpredictable film. Well, it does succeed (PA 3 is really quite thrilling) but at what cost? PA 3 asks us to take what

we have been told was fact and truth in the previous films and throw that all away. I say: "But movie...you made all that out to be true". Movie responds: "I was lying". I fire back with: "But the characters seemed to believe what they were saying, they seemed to be speaking from what little memory they had of the events". Movie responds with: "They were mistaken, they were lying too". I respond: "So, let me get this straight...in the previous two films you were lying to us and you had the characters lie to us too"? Movie responds: "Yes". Angry, I respond a final time: "...fuck you". You see, I understand what the film was trying to do, but they went about it the wrong way. I would say maybe this is a reboot of the franchise, but THIS IS ONLY THE 3RD FILM!!!! It's too early for a reboot and frankly I don't want one!

Now, besides all my negative harping on the ending (I actually screamed "What" twice, once when the screen cut abruptly to black, a 2nd time when the credits started rolling) I must say that I really did enjoy the film....I'm even contemplating if I may actually love it. The whole film before the ending is superbly well done, well acted, and well filmed. It's definitely the best film in the franchise thus far...but it's got the worst ending I've seen for the franchise (hence why I had said best film and worst film). Stripping away it's affiliation with the Paranormal Activity Franchise and judging it as its own film...I would honestly give it 5 out of 5...it was better than sex and was one of the more original, innovative, and wildly ambitious horror films I've seen in recent years. Unfortunately, you HAVE to judge it as part of the Paranormal Activity Franchise because it's, you know, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 and unfortunately that's where the film ultimately falls apart. Because the film fails to follow pre-set events (God, how many times have I used this phrase in this discussion?) it just doesn't work as a Paranormal Activity film and that's why it ends up failing as a film overall. Yes, my final score is still 2.5 stars and GOD do I wish I could give this film a better rating. I love that it's so ambitious and clever, I love how the characters are fleshed out, I love how it tries to be original (in it's own weird way) and I love how it ( FOR ONCE, THANK GOD) doesn't rely solely on jump scares to get the audience scared. I also have to give props to Henry Yoost and Ariel Schulman (the creative minds behind Catfish, one of the most realistic documentaries I have ever seen). They are some of the most ambitious, creative and clever filmmakers I have seen and I wish them the best of luck on their future endeavors (I'M ROOTING FOR YOU GUYS!)

So there you have it, my full thoughts on Paranormal Activity 3. I hope this helps to explain my rating on the film and maybe will either encourage you to see this cool controversial little flick or to give it a skip for the time being. It's up to you, but personally I'd wait till DVD (it's always viewed better when you're in a house alone with all the lights off...no bothersome audience members to distract you), where I'm still holding out hope for some cool dvd extras and maybe an alternate cut (a dim hope, since no other Paranormal Activity DVD comes with anything except the finished film).