RBR: Paranormal Activity 3

This franchise seems to be defying the law of diminishing returns by improving with each entry. What started out as a gimmick has cleverly developed into a franchise that doles out just enough of the backstory each time to make us want to come back for more. In this third outing, we head into the wayback machine of the 1980s to see Katie and Kristi, the girls featured in the first two films, as kids. To maintain the 'found footage' nature of these films, the girls' upbringing is documented by their mother's new boyfriend, who is a wedding videographer. When creepy things start happening around the house, he attempts to document it all with his camera. While the previous two films set up their scares in predictable fashion, this one is clever in not only offering some legitimate scares but dishing them out at unexpected moments. This often comes from the one camera that has been set up on an oscillating fan. It nicely builds the audience's anxiety as it slowly swivels from one side to the other. The other aspect of this one that I appreciated was the characters acted in a realistic manner. Unlike the second film where everyone came off like a moron, the characters here exhibited a reasonable mix of fright and curiousity. While I'm not sure how much longer they can reasonably do the 'found footage' thing, there's certainly more story to tell about this family and the demon that continues to haunt their lives. And for once, I actually look forward to seeing where this series goes from here. Given that the fourth movie has already been announced for this October, it appears we won't have to wait long to find out what happens next. Rating: ****