***Here's my little disclaimer, while I won't spoil any important plot details for this movie, I will discuss the endings of the previous three films. Don't say I didn't warn you.***
Paranormal Activity 4 takes place approximately five years after the epilogue of the second entry (can you believe that this is the first, honest-to-God, sequel to a PA movie). This film focuses primarily on the Nelson family, namely the 14-year-daughter of the household, Alex Nelson (Kathryn Newton), and her goofy, though good-natured, boyfriend Ben (Matt Shively). The Nelsons live next door to none-other than Katie Featherston who, when we last saw her, was left possessed by a vicious demon that forced her to kidnap her then-infant nephew to presumably fulfill a decades old pact made by her grandmother (a member of a witch coven). When Katie is inexplicably rushed off to a hospital, the Nelsons take in her six-year-old son, Robbie, a socially awkward boy with odd and often creepy idiosyncrasies. While Robbie makes quick friends with Alex's six-year-old brother Wyatt, strange and unsettling seemingly paranormal disturbances begin to occur. Alex, unnerved by what's happening, rigs the families' computers to record any unusual activity. What she discovers may end up being more than she can handle, as the disturbances continue to escalate.
Before I get into my thoughts on this particular film, I'll quickly run down what I thought of it's predecessors. The first film, I really enjoyed. While it was held back somewhat by a low budget and less-than-spectacular acting, it nevertheless scored thanks to it's great suspense, memorable shocks, interesting twists, and surprisingly effective special effects. 
Part 2 improved on some fronts, namely that the bigger budget allowed for some more dynamic scares plus an improvement on the acting front. On the downside, in revealing more of the story, it left less to the imagination and removed some of the previous flick's suspense and mystery. Part 3 had many of the same problems of the second all while falling victim to an increasingly more predictable formula. Not to mention, it answered few of the unanswered questions from it's predecessor and had a frustratingly abrupt ending. That said, it still managed to deliver on the requisite scares, namely in the better-than-expected finale... so it met the bare minimum of what I wanted to see. Part 4 on the other hand... that's another story. It's really nothing short of a miracle that such a thin premise had been able to remain effective for three movies, so for one to finally fall short of expectations shouldn't be that much of a surprise. Unfortunately, this is a series for which I think most don't exactly have "high expectations," so when it's unable to live up to such low standards, that's pretty disappointing.
One of my biggest gripes about the third entry was that, despite the lingering questions left unanswered after Part 2, it basically sidestepped it's cliffhangers and instead left many of it's questions to be answered in the following sequels.
I was actually looking forward to this film for this reason, as I was genuinely curious to see how events would unfold. Unfortunately, it appears that the producers are planning to milk a few more sequels out of the franchise. Few, if any, of the previous films' plot points are addressed, and instead Paranormal Activity 4 answers it's predecessor's lingering answers with... more questions. I get that these films are popular, and the low budget makes them usually safe bets for the studio, as the profit margins on the ticket sales have fared pretty well so far. That said, given the increasing diminishing returns these sequels keep producing, I can't help but think that by the time they do eventually pull the plug on the franchise, they will have alienated their fanbase to a point that everyone will have just stopped caring. Hopefully that won't happen, but I'm not counting on it.
I remember stating in my review of Part 3 that the filmmakers were going to need to think of a really creative way to keep this series interesting if it was going to stay fresh. Unfortunately this film is, as predicted, weighed down by the increasingly duller and more predictable formula. By now, it's all become routine. The series has always had the typical flaws of most found footage movies, namely the questionable logic of it's characters, cheap look, and hit-and-miss decisions on camera movement. In the past, I was generally willing to overlook most of those problems so long as the movie delivered the expected scares and jumps. In this film, that's the main problem, it's just not that scary. For every decent jump or jolt, there's about ten failed attempts, plus numerous set ups for some potentially awesome payoffs that end in the most anti-climactic way possible. The filmmakers did try to change up the formula a bit by adding a creepy kid subplot a la The Omen, but that just did more harm than good. It's a routine formula that doesn't add much suspense and only leads to a fairly predictable plot twist that, as expected, simply raises more questions than it answers. If the studio wants to keep this series going, they're really going to have to deliver with the next sequel (wait, doesn't this sound familiar).
So... was there anything I liked in this movie? I'm having a hard time thinking of anything "good" about the flick but rather simply thinking of things about it that are simply okay.
The cast, namely Kathryn Newton and Matt Shively, were clearly giving the film their best shot and manage to bring forth some passable performances, just nothing particularly special. As for the special effects... they're not bad either, but nothing that we haven't seen already. In fact, I'm having a hard time thinking of any particularly memorable effects sequences from the film. It's odd thinking that the original film (with a mere budget of 15,000 compared to Part 4's budget of 5,000,000) was more memorable on the effects front. I suppose there were a few decent scares, as I mentioned earlier, including one particularly suspenseful scene that I won't spoil but will say that it takes place close to the end. If there had been more of that, this would have been a much more effective movie. It's too bad, lots of potentially decent setup ruined by mediocre execution.
So that's Paranormal Activity 4... and it kind of sucks. If you were a fan of the series, this will probably be a huge disappointment. If you weren't a fan of the series, this won't change anything. For those looking for a decent scary flick to see this Halloween, don't see this one. Instead, check out the movie Sinister, which came out a few weeks ago. Though I haven't written a full review yet, Sinister is a much better made film with more effective scares, performances, and direction. In other words, basically what this film should have been. Let's hope when Paranormal Activity 5 comes out (it's unavoidable) that the filmmakers will try to breathe some new life into this series.
My Score: 2 out of 5!
Part 2 improved on some fronts, namely that the bigger budget allowed for some more dynamic scares plus an improvement on the acting front. On the downside, in revealing more of the story, it left less to the imagination and removed some of the previous flick's suspense and mystery. Part 3 had many of the same problems of the second all while falling victim to an increasingly more predictable formula. Not to mention, it answered few of the unanswered questions from it's predecessor and had a frustratingly abrupt ending. That said, it still managed to deliver on the requisite scares, namely in the better-than-expected finale... so it met the bare minimum of what I wanted to see. Part 4 on the other hand... that's another story. It's really nothing short of a miracle that such a thin premise had been able to remain effective for three movies, so for one to finally fall short of expectations shouldn't be that much of a surprise. Unfortunately, this is a series for which I think most don't exactly have "high expectations," so when it's unable to live up to such low standards, that's pretty disappointing.One of my biggest gripes about the third entry was that, despite the lingering questions left unanswered after Part 2, it basically sidestepped it's cliffhangers and instead left many of it's questions to be answered in the following sequels.
I was actually looking forward to this film for this reason, as I was genuinely curious to see how events would unfold. Unfortunately, it appears that the producers are planning to milk a few more sequels out of the franchise. Few, if any, of the previous films' plot points are addressed, and instead Paranormal Activity 4 answers it's predecessor's lingering answers with... more questions. I get that these films are popular, and the low budget makes them usually safe bets for the studio, as the profit margins on the ticket sales have fared pretty well so far. That said, given the increasing diminishing returns these sequels keep producing, I can't help but think that by the time they do eventually pull the plug on the franchise, they will have alienated their fanbase to a point that everyone will have just stopped caring. Hopefully that won't happen, but I'm not counting on it.I remember stating in my review of Part 3 that the filmmakers were going to need to think of a really creative way to keep this series interesting if it was going to stay fresh. Unfortunately this film is, as predicted, weighed down by the increasingly duller and more predictable formula. By now, it's all become routine. The series has always had the typical flaws of most found footage movies, namely the questionable logic of it's characters, cheap look, and hit-and-miss decisions on camera movement. In the past, I was generally willing to overlook most of those problems so long as the movie delivered the expected scares and jumps. In this film, that's the main problem, it's just not that scary. For every decent jump or jolt, there's about ten failed attempts, plus numerous set ups for some potentially awesome payoffs that end in the most anti-climactic way possible. The filmmakers did try to change up the formula a bit by adding a creepy kid subplot a la The Omen, but that just did more harm than good. It's a routine formula that doesn't add much suspense and only leads to a fairly predictable plot twist that, as expected, simply raises more questions than it answers. If the studio wants to keep this series going, they're really going to have to deliver with the next sequel (wait, doesn't this sound familiar).
So... was there anything I liked in this movie? I'm having a hard time thinking of anything "good" about the flick but rather simply thinking of things about it that are simply okay.
The cast, namely Kathryn Newton and Matt Shively, were clearly giving the film their best shot and manage to bring forth some passable performances, just nothing particularly special. As for the special effects... they're not bad either, but nothing that we haven't seen already. In fact, I'm having a hard time thinking of any particularly memorable effects sequences from the film. It's odd thinking that the original film (with a mere budget of 15,000 compared to Part 4's budget of 5,000,000) was more memorable on the effects front. I suppose there were a few decent scares, as I mentioned earlier, including one particularly suspenseful scene that I won't spoil but will say that it takes place close to the end. If there had been more of that, this would have been a much more effective movie. It's too bad, lots of potentially decent setup ruined by mediocre execution.So that's Paranormal Activity 4... and it kind of sucks. If you were a fan of the series, this will probably be a huge disappointment. If you weren't a fan of the series, this won't change anything. For those looking for a decent scary flick to see this Halloween, don't see this one. Instead, check out the movie Sinister, which came out a few weeks ago. Though I haven't written a full review yet, Sinister is a much better made film with more effective scares, performances, and direction. In other words, basically what this film should have been. Let's hope when Paranormal Activity 5 comes out (it's unavoidable) that the filmmakers will try to breathe some new life into this series.
My Score: 2 out of 5!
