I find this kind of weird. An audience looking to be frightened; seeking to wet themselves; aching for the bitter chill of fear; didn't like a movie that pretty much did just that. I mean, PA3 wasn't lasting scary, unless you actually believe that it's real, which it clearly isn't, or you're a religious buff. What the movie was, was tense, and a decent enough story, much more in your face than PA1, and entertaining at very least. The answer as to why lies, of course, with stupid people. Again. And the fact that this is the 3rd movie, and little has changed.
What Paranormal Activity 3 Did Right:
1. Preyed upon multiple innate phobias.
This is what Paranormal Activity does to people without them even realizing it. The story always revolves around a normal everyday family, living at home comfortably without a care, until some thing invades this home. Subconsciously, to everyone who has a "home", their home is a Sanctuary. An impregnable fortress where people expect things to play by their rules. It's your home turf, y'know? And now something you can't see or defeat has suddenly invaded this fortress. It's proving to yourself that you are indeed helpless to stop this entity. It's harming your family, it's wrecking your stuff, it's invading your personal area, and you can't stop it.
This entity, now dubbed Tobey by the younger sister, is preying upon much younger people now. Katie and Kristi are incredibly young in this movie, and the film does a good job of painting them up to be completely harmless, cute, innocent, and oblivious to the nature of Tobey; at first. When Tobey starts getting pissy, these girls have the living shit scared of out of them, and the older sister gets assaulted quite a bit. Having a demon rage against young children shows an inhuman ruthlessness, which really fucks with an audience after a while.
2. Tension.
Comparing Paranormal Activity to other horror movies is like comparing Resident Evil 1 to Resident Evil 4. Other horror movies are lasting scary, there's something warped or perverse that really fucks with you personally, and you find it's hard to sleep that night. Like Resident Evil 1, all you can see when you close your eyes is that zombie lurching towards you: its every alien movement, the low moan, the rotting flesh; and suddenly you're not so tired anymore. Paranormal Activity is like Resident Evil 4. It's not terribly scary after you're out of that dark theatre, but while you're there, you're tense. Waiting for the scare that you KNOW is coming, but don't know when or how.
It's the perfect set up. The film sets you up like a house of cards: playing every moment up, having you anxiously waiting for the scare, and the delivery makes you lose bowel control briefly. Well done.
3. Showed more of the Demon.
Tobey was not fucking around in this movie. In the previous two films, Tobey was a little more subdued in his actions until the climax of the movie. Within the first 20 minutes or so, the couple is making a really bad sex tape while they're high, when an earthquake hits (they're in California). As they run off to check on the girls, the camera sways a bit due to the vibrations and the quake ends. And we see him. Dust from the roof settles on a form, we see an outline of Tobey. We can't tell much, but he's made known, and given form. The dust falls as Tobey takes off. The Demon is connected to the Katie, the younger sister, and to everyone else in the house, is her imaginary friend she calls Tobey. And about halfway through the movie, when Katie tells him that she wants nothing to do with him anymore, Tobey gets a little ticked off and ups the ante by quite a bit.
I won't spoil any scares, but I will say the one that actually made me say "Holy Shit" out loud. There's a small scene where the sisters are playing tag or something, and Katie runs by the camera. Kristi is chasing her closely and she actually runs into Tobey. A thud is very audible and Kristi is visibly scared the moment it happens. She begins to back away very slowly from Tobey, calling for her Mother, until Tobey grabs the girl and picks her up by her hair. I thought that was pretty chilling.
4. They explained why this is happening, sorta.
There's a scene in the movie that I apparently missed while going to take a piss. I guess some stuff happened in the girls room and some weird symbol thing was made in Lite-Brites after the attack. The boyfriend/Father researches this symbol and finds it to be the Emblem of a Witch Coven. This coven apparently brainwashes young girls to be used in various rituals. We come to find that Julie's (the mom of the sisters) Mother is either the ringleader or a prominent member of this Coven.
The final scenes of the movie take place at Rose's house (Rose is Julie's Mom). The boyfriend/Father is looking for Julie, and he happens across a meeting of this Witch Coven. The symbol is seen is lights in this room, which has a bunch of older women in it. Boyfriend Guy runs away from this meeting, finds Katie, blah blah blah, until the end of the movie. Boyfriend Guy finds Kristi knelt by Julie's corpse (Julie was killed as little earlier by Tobey). He has Katie with him, and leaves her for a moment to approach Kristi.
She, upon him touching her shoulder, turns around and screeches at him. She has fangs, I think, and she scuttles off. Somehow, this has hurled Boyfriend Guy backwards and injured him. I figure maybe Tobey was like "BTFO, lol." Anyways, Boyfriend Guy is crawling on the floor while the camera seems to have magically fallen in perfect angle to catch his demise. As he gets closer to the doorway, Rose steps in front of him. He looks up at her pitifully while she gestures at him slightly. Tobey then proceeds to grab Boyfriend Guy's arms, and break him in half. Cooooool. Rose then walks away with both sisters in hand, while Katie cheerfully says "Come on, Tobey!"
Ok, me being the nerd I am, I kinda know what's going on. Stupid People on the other hand, wouldn't have any clue. Basic Demonology says that demons can't exist on our Plane without some sort of host, someone they're connected to and ultimately will use to solidify their existence among us. Said victims can't be just anyone, they have to be prone to spiritual existence, these people are known as HyperSensitives. What it seems to me, is that this Coven of Witches are using young HyperSensitive girls to use as hosts for demons, in order to harness their power and control them. So, Rose, seeing that Katie is a candidate for their rituals, has brainwashed her and bound "Tobey" to her, explaining why several years later "Tobey" wants to take Katie for himself. This explains why Katie doesn't remember jack shit in PA1, and why Tobey is so intent on stealing Katie away for himself. I never saw PA2, so fuck that.
What Went Horribly Wrong:
1. They edited too much.
According to a lot of surveys, people didn't like that fact that most of what the previews were showing, was not in the actual movie. Other scenes were changed. Example: there's a scene in the previews where Katie and Kristi are filming themselves playing Bloody Mary. Once they lights go out, nothing really happens, once they come back on though, a shadowy form is supposed to be in there with them. In the movie though, this scene was changed to have Kristi and Boyfriend Guy's film buddy. People don't like change, haha.
2. They explained why this is happening, sorta.
Explaining or attempting to explain the supernatural is always a double-edged sword, it's just the nature of the beast. On the one hand, if the audience wants "Tobey" to be explained, this might help give an inkling as to why without completely telling the story. This leaves the door open for another Paranormal Activity, and may keep viewer interest....maybe.
On the other hand, people might be confused about what happened, and by default resort to "Fuck it" rather than think it out. This creates a negative association with the movie, and so people spread the word that it was bad. Of course, this shuts all avenues for any more movies in this series, and kind of discredits the series as a whole.
Personally, I liked the movies that I've seen. They were innovative to an extent, had a decent loose story, some good scares, and were entertaining. For me, they're entertaining for all the wrong reasons, mainly because I file PA under 'Comedy'. All in all, go watch at least the first one. It's a decent movie, and good if you like the thriller genre. If worse comes to worse, you can come laugh about it with me.
