Ranking the Paranormal Activity Movies

I haven't talked too much about the Paranormal Activity franchise. I reviewed one of them a few years ago, and that's about it. So, this is my personal ranking of the Paranormal Activity movies. 

#6: Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension: To date, this is the last movie in the Paranormal Activity franchise. I also think it's sad the last movie in the franchise just so happens to be the worst. In particular, I really feel this movie stripped away the one creepy element the franchise had left. They showed you what the activity. More than anything, this movie feels like a gimmick. It probably doesn't help that the flick is the only movie in the franchise in 3D because the characters found a 3D camera from the 1980s. Because that's how it works, right? 

#5: Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones: For me this one was marginally better. I didn't really care about any of the characters. None of the scares particularly land. The reason this one isn't last place is because I think there were a couple of clever ideas. Namely, I actually liked the idea of the characters communicating with the evil spirit through the electronic game, Simon. But, a couple of clever ideas are not nearly enough to save what is otherwise a bad movie. 

#4: Paranormal Activity 4: The biggest issue with the fourth entry of the franchise is that it's just kind of bland. Some of the product placement feels kind of forced. Compared to the films I have lower on the list, I actually don't mind the characters in the film. Are they as good as some of the characters from the first three movies? No, but I don't have any real issues with them. Therefore, I don't think there's any better placement for this movie than the middle of the list. 

#3: Paranormal Activity 2: This is a movie that takes the simple premise of the first film, and legitimately expands upon it. I like the characters that we get here, and their ties to the characters from the first film. I don't know that all of the scares work as well as they probably could or should, which is why this film isn't any higher. But, this was a solid sequel in my opinion. 

#2: Paranormal Activity: It might seem strange that I'm not giving the top spot to the original. It's honestly pretty close for me. However, there is one thing that really sets this movie back to number two. Even when I watched the movie for the first time, I found the character of Micah to be incredibly frustrating. Since he was really one of two characters I was stuck with for 90 minutes, it doesn't always make this the easiest watch, even if I do genuinely enjoy the movie as a whole. 

#1: Paranormal Activity 3: In many ways, this feels like the conclusion to a pretty solid trilogy that takes the audience back to the past, showing how the activity began for Katie and her sister. For whatever reason, this is the movie in the franchise that has always stuck out to me as my personal favorite.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Final Destination 3

Plot Synopsis: During a school field trip to an amusement park, Wendy has a vision of a roller coaster derailing and killing her and several of her classmates. She panics and manages to get herself and a few of her classmates off of the ride before it derails. Death begins coming back to collect. When Wendy starts seeing clues as to how they all die in the pictures she took, she and her best friend’s boyfriend work together to try and put a stop to Death’s plan. Positives: So, I think this movie really benefits from having Mary Elizabeth Winstead in the lead. She gives easily the best performance in this movie. Once again, this third film does a good job playing into the franchise’s dark sense of humor.  Mixed Aspects: The first thing I want to address here is the kills. The tanning bed and the nail gun are both all timer kills for this franchise. One of the things I think hurts some of the kills here is that this is the point where the franchise starts to become reliant on CGI gor...
Read more

The Final Destination

Plot Synopsis: While at a NASCAR type event, Nick has a vision of one of the race cars crashing causing a lot of deaths. Realizing what’s about to happen, he gets himself and a select few people out before the crash happens. Of course, Death comes back to collect. Positives: A couple of kills are okay. There’s a scene where a racist guy gets lit on fire while being dragged by his tow truck (all while the radio plays “Why Can’t We Be Friends”). I want to highlight this kill because it’s the one time in the movie where I laugh, and I feel like that’s the intent. The other kill that I kind of like is the guy who ends up at the bottom of the pool. One of the side characters is a security guard played by Mykelti Williamson. Williamson is the best actor in the movie, and it’s not even close. Negatives: All of our main characters suck. At best, they’re bland. At worst, they’re annoying. I mentioned in my review for the third movie, that I felt the writing was weaker than it was in the first t...
Read more

Scream 7

  Plot Synopsis:  After years of being traumatized by Ghostface killings, Sidney Prescott has relocated to the town of Pine Grove, Indiana. Now her oldest daughter Tatum is the same age that she was when the Ghostface killings began. Of course, a new Ghostface pops up to begin slicing people up to get to Sidney and her daughter.  Positives: As usual, Neve Campbell shows up to work. I kind of like that this is a Sidney Prescott dealing with motherhood. She's still a very guarded person. I kind of like that the lesson she has to learn is that she has to teach her daughter how to be a fighter, and that Sidney needs to learn that she can't always be there to protect her kid. Isabel May is solid as Tatum. Something I like that I know is not going to be for everybody is how they utilize Matthew Lillard. I won't go into spoilers here. I also like how Chad and Mindy are integrated into the movie too. Having them as Gale's interns is actually kind of fun. I should also say that ...
Read more