Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension
2015 Paramount Pictures/Blumhouse Productions
Directed by: Gregory Plotkin; Written by: Jason Harry Pagan, Andrew Deutschman, Adam Robitel, and Gavin Heffernan
Starring: Chris J. Murray, Brit Shaw, Dan Gill, Ivy George, and Olivia Taylor Dudley
MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 88 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 3/10
The Fleege's move into a huge house on the West Coast, and BOY what a great deal it was. A great deal! I mean, a SUSPICIOUSLY great deal! As Ryan, Emily, and their six-year-old daughter, Leila, prepare for Christmas, they've got a few houseguests: Ryan's brother Mike, a woman named Skylar (there to do feng-shui?), and Leila's imaginary friend, Tobi. Wait a minute...Tobi? Isn't that the same imaginary friend from all the other Paranormal Activity movies who's actually a demon?! Uh, oh!
Sure enough, as soon as the family begins to settle in, weird
stuff starts happening. Ryan and Mike find a box full of creepy old video tapes,
and for some reason the camera from the SyFy TV series, Ghost Hunters. The video tapes show two girls
receiving some strange, cult-like training. The video camera shows that Tobi,
who's been heretofore invisible (and thus, whatever horrific form that terrified
audience members have given him in their own mind), is actually a sort of ink
blot thing. If there's one thing I think of when I think "scary" it's not inkblot.
Sure enough, the girls in the video talk to Tobi just like Leila does...and
also, despite the videos being 25-years-old, seem to be talking to the Fleege's.
Also, the video girls' names are Katie and Kristi. Wait a minute...could this be
the same Katie and Kristi from the other Paranormal Activity movies?! Is
Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension--the purported final film in the
series--bringing everything full circle?
Look, I enjoy the Paranormal Activity films, even when they're not that great. The Ghost Dimension, though, is worse than "not that great." It's bad. Unfortunately, it's not only bad, it's a lousy ending to a franchise that deserves far better. The lack of care here is disturbing and it starts with the title of the film. These movies are about a demon's attempt to become corporeal, as he's assisted by a coven of witches. As far as I can tell, there's never been a ghost in any of these things.
Look, I enjoy the Paranormal Activity films, even when they're not that great. The Ghost Dimension, though, is worse than "not that great." It's bad. Unfortunately, it's not only bad, it's a lousy ending to a franchise that deserves far better. The lack of care here is disturbing and it starts with the title of the film. These movies are about a demon's attempt to become corporeal, as he's assisted by a coven of witches. As far as I can tell, there's never been a ghost in any of these things.
And then, we
have the ghost camera, or whatever the hell it is supposed to be. Clearly, the
filmmakers have run out of angles, no pun intended, with the found footage
approach. But this is a franchise who's greatest moments have essentially come
from DIY hacks, I.E., putting a camera on a rotating floor fan. Adding CGI blobs
into the frame is not only not scary, but goes against this franchise's ethos.
However, the biggest disappointment here, at least for this fan, is the handling
of the franchise's mythology. The ongoing, connected story has always been pretty loose, but there's also
been a nice, almost Lovecraftian hazy frame to fit it into. Ghost Dimension spells
everything out, and badly, while taking out any Lovecraftian mystery. Also, the logic here is forehead-slappingly bad. We've seen Tobi take corporeal form before by simply
possessing someone...and yet his endgame this whole time has been to take human form by possessing someone? It makes no
good sense.
The most frustrating element here is that scattered moments from the film do work. While the adult acting here, even for a franchise that's mostly starred unknowns, is a bit poor, the child actor, Ivy George, has creepy down to a science. She has to do some heavy lifting when it comes to carrying the scares, and she does surprisingly well. Also, there are a couple of moments, like when Leila attacks a priest, or when Kristi tells Leila "God Bless You" when the latter sneezes 20 years into the future, that are genuinely frightening. However, in previous films, the frightening moments have not only been far more abundant, but surrounded by, at worst, a little tedium. Here, they're surrounded by a genuinely bad movie. That's particularly disappointing when the previous film, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, opened up so many new and exciting possibilities for the franchise. What a damn bummer.
The most frustrating element here is that scattered moments from the film do work. While the adult acting here, even for a franchise that's mostly starred unknowns, is a bit poor, the child actor, Ivy George, has creepy down to a science. She has to do some heavy lifting when it comes to carrying the scares, and she does surprisingly well. Also, there are a couple of moments, like when Leila attacks a priest, or when Kristi tells Leila "God Bless You" when the latter sneezes 20 years into the future, that are genuinely frightening. However, in previous films, the frightening moments have not only been far more abundant, but surrounded by, at worst, a little tedium. Here, they're surrounded by a genuinely bad movie. That's particularly disappointing when the previous film, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, opened up so many new and exciting possibilities for the franchise. What a damn bummer.
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