johnlink bundles his PARANORMAL ACTIVITY rankings
I am way behind on throwing these four movie reviews into a single place. But Halloween is approaching and I haven’t watched a movie in awhile (thanks to the World Series), so this seems an opportune time to do it. Below are links to and comments on all four of the American PARANORMAL ACTIVITY films.
Scores for FILM; MOVIE; ACTING; WRITING; BONUS (if applicable). Then the average, giving a final score. For an explanation of what these categories mean, jump to here. If you click on the link attached to any given title below, you will jump to the full article for that movie.
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: FILM: 7; MOVIE: 9; ACTING: 8; WRITING:8; FINAL SCORE: 8
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2: FILM: 4 MOVIE: 8; ACTING: 6; WRITING: 5; FINAL SCORE: 6
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3: FILM: 6; MOVIE: 9; ACTING: 6; WRITING: 7; FINAL SCORE: 7
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4: FILM: 3; MOVIE: 6; ACTING: 7; WRITING: 3; FINAL SCORE: 4.75
When humanity is wrapping up its existence here on Earth and documenting movies for future generations of Qwtrzxzxians, I still am of the opinion that the original PARANORMAL ACTIVITY will get a chapter in the story of horror movies. It has been a mere 4 years since the release of the film, and the landscape of independent horror has been unquestionably changed for at least a cycle. Thanks to the low-budget and simple concept of PA turning into a major horror franchise, local and low-budget filmmakers have a model for trying to get their ideas into theaters. As these things usually turn out, very few make it that far. But the success of films like V/H/S has PARANORMAL ACTIVITY to thank for providing a found footage model which works with the current brutal zeitgeist prevalent in the genre today. While BLAIR WITCH can certainly be counted as a precursor to this movement, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY would appear to be a sibling to these other films whereas BLAIR WITCH feels more an ancestor.
All that said, the first and third PARANORMAL ACTIVITY films really work for me. I think they move well, scare well, and work within the confines of the devices of the film. The second movie is flawed but not terrible. It is a satisfactory sequel in the overarching story. The fourth film, however, really showed a sharp decline. The reported fifth film is still in its infancy. The filmmakers are having a hard time figuring out where to go next. I’m glad they chose to wait rather than continue to follow the SAW model of releasing a film every Halloween regardless of whether or not they had a fully fleshed out idea.
As I said in the end of my review for the fourth film, I’ll be seeing whatever else they throw up next regardless of its apparent quality. Once you are four movies into a series, it is certainly too late to stop.
johnlinkmovies 
I’ve only ever seen the first, and I agree it is very good. Sounds like I should make a point of seeing the third (which means seeing the second), but your comments on 4 doesn’t exactly make me want to run out and do that.
Thanks for the breakdown. 😉
True! But once you watch three of them, you’re sure to want to watch the fourth out of curiosity… right?
Exactly. And because of that, I’m a bit reluctant to watch the next two, even though they appear to be very good. 🙂
Well said. Yeah the first one for me is really the best one. Sometimes not knowing anything is the most effective thing about horror.
Absolutely. They laugh at me at work (I work at a movie theater) but I avoid trailers like the plague. Horror and suspense movies are so often derailed by a trailer which gives away too much. I’d much prefer knowing absolutely nothing about a movie before seeing it.