Starring: Katie Featherston

Directed by: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman

Today, I’ve just seen, “Paranormal Activity 4”, and here is my review.

Plot/synopsis: This film is set 5 years after the events of the first two films. This film focuses on a new family who has an adopted son, named, Wyatt. A child named, Robbie, stays with this family for a few days while his mother is away at the hospital. So Robbie and Alex becomes friends. Ever since Robbie has been staying with the new family, strange things starts happening around the home, while Alex (the blonde girl in the film) who is Wyatt’s adoptive sister, and her boyfriend Ben, videotapes everything that goes on around the home.

You either love the series or hate them. A lot of people like to see these films as nothing but typical, “scares”. The way I’m looking at these films, it is way more than just, “scary ghost scenes”. If you pay close attention to the films, they have a story, and an actual plot to follow. You have to follow the 4 films of “Paranormal Activity” in order. If you watch the films, out of order, you’re going to get confused with the story.

I’m sure most everyone out there have seen the first “Paranormal Activity” movie, but you didn’t care to see the rest of ’em. Why? Don’t you want to find out how Katie Featherston turned out to be at the end of the first one? The sequels will tell you. The story of the sequels progresses, giving little information on the mystery surrounding with Katie. That’s the main idea with the story. What’s going on with Katie? Why did such an innocent young woman do something mysterious and then she disappears with, Hunter, who was Kristi’s son? There’s a mystery surrounding the story, and the writers want you to solve it yourself. The question you have to ask is this, is Katie really alive or dead? I’m not saying anything. You have to see the film for yourself. Just giving you a tiny hint, I can say for sure, that Katie does return in some form. That’s not a spoiler ’cause the trailers have already been teasing it.

As for the scary ghost scenes, they seem to be getting better every sequel. Throughout the entire film, as the characters are doing their scenes, you’re always looking around the screen everywhere ’cause you never know what may happen. That’s another thing, that makes these movies so fun. In this film, you get to see the actual ghosts which the previous films didn’t, and that made the movie even more interesting. I think the goal with these movies, is that they want to show people what it would be like if the supernatural were real. What it would be like if these things actually happened. They are doing a good job making it believable.

As for the acting goes, they are not Oscar worthy performances, which they don’t need to be. They went for unknown actors without any experience, ’cause the film makers didn’t want perfect Hollywood style acting if you know what I mean. They wanted people in the film to act like real people, like us. So the acting, really doesn’t bother me. They wanted the acting to be simple and normal.

The thing is, this was a very intense movie. The first half of the movie felt like a feel good family film, then the movie got darker and darker as it went along. I was at the edge of my seat toward the second half of the movie. The ending was so crazy and out of this world, I was sitting there speechless while the end credits rolled. The ending was very powerful. It’ll leave you thinking, “WTF just happened”? Again, I don’t want to give any major spoilers. Maybe I’ll do this in a spoilers post, but I’m going to wait for another week or so until the movie goes out, then I’ll do the “P.A. 4” spoilers post to discuss the story.

With all this being said, I was pretty blown away with, “P.A. 4”. The ending did scare me a little, and that rarely happens. I’m usually never scared watching horror films ’cause I’m used to watching ’em, but this one pretty much did it to me. I don’t see how people can’t like these movies? Maybe they just don’t understand the story well ’cause there’s some pretty serious stuff in there, again, I don’t want to reveal anything. Of course, this movie left open for “P.A. 5”, and the next movie will probably reveal everything of what’s going on. They are getting closer to what’s going on.

Gives these movies a chance ’cause they do mean something. This was the best film of the series and possibly one of the best movies of 2012. To hell with those critics out there, they’re totally misinformed anyway.

Score for “Paranormal Activity 4” = **** (4 stars as in “excellent”)

Kev