User Reviews

To be honest, I never liked Paranormal Activity movies. It's about people who lived in a house with cameras and there are evil spirits haunting them then all of the events are caught on tape. The idea is interesting but the execution always end up being unsatisfying. Paranormal Activity 3 is the very beginning of the series. It's not actually a prequel. It's more of a backward trilogy to make the ending of the rest of the Paranormal Activity films mysterious. Although, the twist is a little bit predictable but Paranormal Activity 3 has a decent story to tell with these found footage. And it really has the scares. Finally, this series has a genuine scare.

Paranormal Activity 3 reveals all the mysteries of the first two movies. Unlike the first two, instead of watching the lives of these people and wait for the spirits to come out, this one really tells a story through the videos. The story is not anything new though but the execution is decent. The second Paranormal Activity narrates almost everything in the story. Here you don't need it, you just have to look at the video footage to know the story.

Aside from its storytelling, Paranormal Activity is all about the scares. They improved the scares by moderating the slow burns and keep the objects floating. The ghosts aren't quite invisible like the first two. Here, it's campy. You can see its shadows. And of course, there's a lot of threat from the ghost. The scares are more than just jump scares. It has more terror and gumption to the thrills which is kinda fun. The cameras are well shot. Everything is well made. But the twist remains predictable for some reason.

Paranormal Activity 3 is not earning the fear anymore. It's now earning the scares. It's great to see Paranormal Activity with exact scares than wait for more than five minutes to be scared. It's not the scariest horror movie of the year but it's the best part of the series and also the most decent horror of the year. I still wanna see the parts on the trailer that wasn't show in the actual film but Paranormal Activity 3 is satisfying enough in its short runtime. Decent enough as a found-footage-horror-film.

I was expecting this movie to be better than the second movie considering it has better reviews and it was. Before watching the movie I wasn't sure if I was going to like the story or find it interesting considering it is set 18 years before the events of the first 2 movies which I was skeptical about. The movie was similar to the first movie as in it had likable characters and their story was really interesting. I thought the paranormal activities were good and did make be flinch a bit just like in the first movie. I also thought it was a good concept of having the 2 children experience most of the paranormal activities.

I watched this movie yesterday and just like the others I came out completely tensed up and paranoid, I LOVE IT!

I've heard people say, these movies are slow and nothing really happens but that's kind off the whole point! The entire movie I was scanning the screen for something unusual and even though some things are small they freak me out! In that respect the first movie was still the best since nothing really major happens there and it's just the suspense. Still this one was very good too and had me firmly by the nuts.

The entire movie I was on the edge of my seat, effects are simple but awesome and acting overall wasn't bad at all. A very entertaining movie!

Paranormal Activity 3 is the best one yet you would think by now the franchise would have run its course but no it has not there are more scares and more doors are opened for future installments. This is understandable when the makers behind Catfish are involved and they bring new scares and show this franchise is not dead. This is my favourite so far it is one of the best horror films out there at the moment so many questions are answered but soo many have been created and some are still unanswered. If the story is good i hope there is another installment as these questions need answering. Watch the first two before seeing this as i didn't and now i am going to watch them as people say they are clues and hints plus you have to watch the first two pr you would be lost with this one. When the adverts say the last 15 minuets you will never forget they mean it you will be shocked. Paranormal Activity 3 is fantastic a must see for any horror fan and a must see for fans of paranormal activity.

Of Paranormal Activity 3, I can tell you this much: Chances are, if the first one didn't do much for you and you found the second one to be kind of blah and repetitive, there's no way you'll like the third one. That's a fact. The setup and premise are familiar, even if the characters are not. So as such, I can understand someone's not liking this one much at all. But. I personally found the first and second ones to be pretty scary – even when, in the second one, I knew stuff was going to happen. It has to be a good film when you're surprised even when you expect something, right? So, right or wrong, I loved this movie. It gave me what I was seeking, and more.

Whereas the second film was set shortly before the first one, this film takes a look at the childhood of Katie, the protagonist of the first film. You may recall that as the first movie progressed, Katie became convinced that something was after her specifically – but she couldn't imagine why. This movie attempts to resolve that issue. And you sort of have to give credit to a movie that resolves some things while leaving other threads dangling just enough to make one wonder what the hey is going on.

It's 1988. Young Katie lives with her younger sister Kristi, her mom Julie, and Julie's boyfriend Dennis. Strange things are afoot in their house, around the same time that young Kristi begins communicating with an imaginary friend named Toby. Is it a normal kid phase, or is it something more sinister? As with the other films, cameras are placed around the house to capture anything odd that may happen during the night. (In a clever bit of ingenuity, Dennis takes apart an oscillating fan and places a camera on it so that he can pan from living room to kitchen and back.)

What makes a movie like this work for me is the same thing that made The Blair Witch Project work (and its sequel not work at all) – it feels voyeuristic, as if we were simply peeking in on some family's everyday lives. Reasons are given for the constant filming (Dennis tells Kristi, for example, that he's "testing" his new camera as they have a tea party.) We're automatically drawn to the video footage. What will we see? We're now ready for something – will it jump out at us? Will furniture be overturned? Or something even worse?

The mood is another huge selling point. People react as you'd expect them to. Dennis is obsessed with finding out what's causing those noises and other disturbances; Julie thinks he's completely off his rocker and becomes more testy as time goes by. People who also experience the occurrences, like a babysitter and a friend of Dennis, are stunned to the point of not wishing to discuss the matter further, hurriedly leaving as soon as possible.

Now, I can't say that everyone, even those who love to be scared, is going to love this as much as I did. For me, since we see almost everything through the lens of a camera, the terror – and the anticipation – are grossly heightened. When that door is opened, what will we find? It's not going to be pretty, but unlike a standard horror film where one can simply slough off a shock as being too fantastic, here we're so easily drawn in by and engaged with our surrogate family that we feel as terrified and mystified as they do.

Paranormal Activity 3 won't answer everything that the first two may have left unsolved, but it does offer hints as to why, in the present day, these events are still occurring to Katie and her family. We see a part of that genesis, and it's not really what I expected. I was unsettled and thankful I hadn't seen the movie at night. Okay, that might be a little hyperbolic, and when some of you actually watch the movie you'll laugh at me for being skittish. I don't care. I enjoyed the movie, and that's all I'm concerned with.

The trailer convinced me to go see this flick, and I left somewhat perplexed and disappointed. Frankly, it seemed like a different movie from what was portrayed. Most of the scenes in the trailer were not in the final cut, which is a shame because the film itself felt very incomplete.

Tension was built through the movie, but it felt like there was never really a climax, and that the pacing was uneven. The intensity and suspense of the movie built up well, though I can't help but feel that there were at least a couple scenes missing entirely. While the last part of the movie was without a doubt very intense, it brought absolutely no sense of resolution, and was entirely dissatisfying.

It was like listening to a piece of orchestral music that dramatically builds up, but is then cut off short. Beyond that, I felt very deceived. The trailer was practically of a different film, and I feel like it was very dishonest to market it that way.

Horror movies tend to polarize opinions all the time... Far more than the majority of movie genres. What one person might find scary may be humorous to another person... So when I left the theater after a packed screening of this movie , the audience seemed pretty polarized in their opinions. It really is an example of a 'you either love it or hate it movie' (Although some people may not take either extreme which is absolutely fine) .I am one of the people who came out of the theater loving it.

Paranormal Activity 3 is a prequel that goes back to the year 1988. It follows the sisters Kristi and katie (from the last 2 movie's) 18 years before the events of Paranormal activity 1. Its an origin story that gives us a little more information but still leaves us feeling confused and uneasy.

The new cameraman (Dennis) acts as a foster father to Kristi and Katie (The whereabouts of the real father remains open to debate) works as a wedding moviemaker. This gives a decent enough explanation as to why he seems to have top of the range filming equipment (for the era) . His character comes across as more caring and less irritating than Micah from PA1. The Mother of Kristi and Katie (Julie)came across as caring towards her children. The children who play Kristi and Katie actually come across and fairly decent actors.

The basic plot is like the last two movies. Strange occurrences are happening at the house they are staying in. Dennis out of curiosity decides to set up cameras around the house to hopefully find something unusual.

The greatest improvement of this movie over the other movies is probably the pacing. I wont ruin anything (that hasn't been in the trailer at least) but the younger daughter kristi has a seemingly imaginary friend, called toby ,that she talks to at night. As the movie progresses things get out of head fairly quickly and this imaginary friends becomes something real and horrific.

The movie does a good job of taking us out of our comfort zones. We feel confused and that confusion adds a sense of helplessness. While we may know the formula of the last movies we know little about the monster. What we don't see ,but know is there, usually scares us the most. The camera footage itself comes across as grainy and lower in quality than before (Again the trailer is rather misleading) . It makes it feel more authentic. While you know its not real you cant help getting sucked in by the movies world. There are also some clever shots and effects (Scenes with the oscillating camera are ingenious at times) .

The main complaints that I have with the movie are that sometimes the actions of Daniel can be questionable and the ending left me feeling a little unsatisfied.

That being said it doesn't detract from my own experience of the movie. I was terrified! It may not terrify some (the ratings on IMDb show some that already) but I think the best thing to do is go watch it and make up your own mind

Saw "Paranormal Activity 3" at a special Hollywood premiere at the ArcLight. I also had the honor of seeing Katie Featherston signing autographs for us fans waiting patiently to see it. Unfortunately, I left my Droid smart phone in the car because it was my understanding we would be wanded for recording devices. That didn't happen and many people had their camera phones with them. I would have loved to get my pic taken with Katie. Oh well.

Anyway, back to the movie. "Paranormal Activity 3" is a prequel to the first two movies. The movie starts in 2005 with Katie getting together with her younger sister Kristi at her house and both come across some old VHS tapes of them taken in 1988 when they were children left behind by their deceased grandmother. They watch a tape and that is the premise of the film.

The overriding glaring error in this film is that the entire 1988 portion of the film was shot in HD in 1:85:1 or 16 x 8 ratio which caused me to ask the question "oh really?" If my memory is correct, HD video in that ratio did not exist. The film would have been more realistic had the picture quality looked more like VHS with the ratio in 1:33:1 or 4x3. The father, Dennis, works as a wedding videographer and he has a linear editing system consisting of two 4x3 monitors and VHS tape similar to the editing system I used when I took video production classes in college in the early 1990s so the film gets kudos for that.

The film starts with young Katie celebrating her birthday with her little sister Kristi looking on. As the story progresses, we discover that Kristi has an imaginary friend named Toby. When it's time for the girls to go to bed, Kristi gets up, walks toward the camera (yes, just like the first two movies, this family has camcorders set up around the house recording their life) and starts talking to her imaginary friend. Meanwhile, Dennis and his wife Julie decide to make love while the camera is rolling. Just as things start to get hot, an earthquake strikes. As Dennis and Julie run out of their room to check on the kids, crushed pieces of plaster fall from the ceiling. When the plaster lands, it appears to hit something invisible, the first sign that there is a spirit in their midst. Throughout the film, things escalate as Kristi's imaginary friend starts taking things to higher levels causing her older sister Katie great worry and concerning Dennis as the paranormal happenings are all caught on tape.

The first "Paranormal Activity" film had a great premise in which a couple liked to record their life on tape. Problem with making sequels with a story like this is you get every family recording their lives on tape and so you start to wonder why is it that every generation of this family likes documenting every move they make? Another thing I found tedious is that like the first two movies (and practically most clichéd horror films), this film contained quite a bit of "scare scenes" that makes you jump. This film had a few legitimate scares but had one that was so predictable, I didn't even budge in my seat when it happened.

With every subsequent sequel having more or less the same premise, you start to wonder when this story is getting old.

Okay, so I have watched the first one and I found it quite scary but it didn't really make me jump much, and it kinda lacked events, but I swear on my own life this third movie is well improved sending chills up my spine and last nights takeaway in my pants. I found it really frightening and both me and my boyfriend screamed like idiots a number of times. You get loads of crappy horror films about that go straight into some sweaty pervert chopping toes off but the thing that made me soil myself a number of times is the fact that it progresses further and further into the film and you just know when the timer slows down your gonna scream like a bitch. Ending was a bit rushed but what can I say, now every time I hear a noise in my house at night I am pretty convinced I'm going to get possessed/dragged out of bed by a demon.

WOW, don't waste your money on this hunk of crap. Nothing for the first hour and then recycled scare scenes after that. The movie made no sense, there was nothing from the trailer in the movie and the ending was like a scooby doo ending.

I wanted to slit my wrists during this film just so I could end my suffering and perhaps see some gore LOL I'm so happy I did not pay to see this film. For anyone who hated the Blair Witch Project, you will hate this film even worse.

The makers should be sued for lying to everyone in the trailers, another Hollywood lie in order to get the cash. Dammit!