Paranormal Activity 4: News, Discussion, etc

[scnj]

I'll keep seeing them as long as they remain enjoyable. So far, I've preferred each installment over the previous one.

[marillion]

SalvorHardin wrote:

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Looks ok.
But, just like with the previous 3, I'll wait for the blu-ray. This is the kind of movie you watch with a couple of people in a dark quiet house, not in a theater.

Try five teenaged girls in a haunted hotel room... Seriously.

For my daughter's 15th birthday this year, we got a very good deal on a room at a new hotel here in Albuquerque that used to be a hospital/mental institution dating back to the 20's. Extremely cool achitecture and they don't downplay the haunted angle.. After taking them on the Old Town Ghost Tour, we went back to the hotel and the girls watched parts 1, 2 and 3. From what my wife tells me, they were freaked out more by each other than the movies. LOL

Link: Hotel Parq Central

[Captain Craig]

^^^
LOL, every creak, gust of wind or flicker of a light must've had them scaling the walls!!
The mind can be a cruel trickster some times.

[Admiral_Young]

I actually watched the first movie by myself in the dead of night with no one home and the door open the whole time (possibly have told this story before in other threads). Really an incredible experience lol. Later found out my friend had done the exact same thing and had the exact same experience! Sadly as I've said before too...the subsequent films have not had this affect on me as the first one has for whatever reason.

The theatre experience was not as great as the DVD watching experience. The theatre experience I had reminded me of the audience that saw "The Blair Witch" project...sigh. Too many teenagers talking and making fun of the movie, which of course made the adults yell to them to shut up!!! LOL

[archeryguy1701]

The first one had me pretty freaked out the first time I watched it alone. It was over Christmas break a few years ago. I was an RA at my old college and I stuck around during the break to guard the dorms and the few people who couldn't leave. The few friends who stayed in town were all unavailable the night I wanted to watch it, so I went down to the main lobby, plugged it into the big TV, and watched it in this basically empty dorm building with all the lights off. I actually had to turn the movie off for 15 minutes right before the point where the demon really started getting pissy because I got so freaked out. The next two are noticeably less effective.

[Ethros]

Well this came out on Wednesday here in the UK; it's not out till Friday in the US though.
Saw it this afternoon.

Two words-

Jail. Bait.




Anyway, like PA3, most of the stuff in the trailer isn't actually in the film, but similarish scenes are. I know why they do that, and also agree with the why too, you don't really wanna ruin/spoil your big scares and jumps for a movie like this in the trailer.
...although that leads on a problem with this latest part of the franchise. It's not really that scary. IMO anyway, certainly of the 4 it's the one that made me jump or be scared the least. I think I only jumped maybe once in this? Most of them you can pretty much see coming, and it's only really the last five minutes or so where it gets freaky.

I'm never one for writing big reviews, but I think This at SFX says most of what I thought, 3/5



I have some more comments to make about the overall arc plot, mostly of what was revealed from PA3, but I'll wait till some others have seen it too.

Basically I'd say if you're a fan of the series go see it, though it's definitely not the best entry you can still enjoy it. And if you're not a fan, well like I used to say about the Saw sequels, if you didn't like the others why would you be watching pt.4 or onwards?

[Admiral_Young]

The important question from me...do we have original story resolution? I assume they seed for future films as well?

[Captain Craig]

I'm not surprised to hear that scenes from trailers are not in the film. That M.O. has been done and frankly expected. I like all 3 and have a hard time labeling one "the worst", the quality has been as even keel as one would want in a series so the last paragraph by Ethros has me puzzled but the gist is "you'll like it if you like the others", and that's good enough I suppose.

[Admiral2]

Admiral_Young wrote:

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The important question from me...do we have original story resolution? I assume they seed for future films as well?

No resolution. Expect a 5.

I always compare sequels with the original. This one, like the others, has nothing on the first one, though I appreciated the extra helpings of Katie. I like her, demon possession and all.

[Admiral_Young]

Yeah I broke down and ended up reading the wikipedia article which was updated with the plot. I'm kind of disappointed...but understand. This has become a franchise, and Paramount is going to milk it for everything it's worth until fans become bored of it and stop going. I will still see it, but right now story wise I'm kind of disappointed.

[Ethros]

Mmm, like how the trailers for this were saying stuff like "its all been leading to this! All the activity has lead to this! dum dum dum!" etc
It all just reminded me of how Saw IV, V and VI were promoted. They all said things like "answers are revealed! Discover the truth" and so on. Of course you never did, and there was always another film to come. It wasn't until they finally stopped with VII that they (more or less) paid things off.


But yeah, given what was revealed about the demon, the cult behind it, the girl's grandma etc in the third movie, very little is followed up on or explained in this new entry.

There's also a definate suspension of disbelief in the final part. How is Alex recording this? Presumably on her iPhone I guess. Would you really be running away from monsters trying to kill you and still be holding up your phone to record it all?? Ha

Some other points I wanted to make on the movie that I'll use spoiler code for-

So this takes place five years after PA 1&2. at first you think the creepy kid over the road is Hunter, but then it turns out the kid of the family is actually Hunter, who was adopted a few years ago. So if Demon-Katie took Hunter away as a baby, how did she lose him in order for him to be adopted? It seemed like the point of the movie's events was like her trying to get him back, but she already had him anyway at the end of PA2. I didn't really understand that.
And then also, so who even was that creepy kid over the road? Katie's son? Where did he come from?

And who were all those dozens of possessed people/demons (like how Katie looked) at the end? Gah, I need answers! Don't want to have to wait a whole other year for PA5 and then that probably won't explain much either.
Still, that part where demon-Katie was at the end of the corridor and then like RAN down it after Alex with that horrible face scared the shit out of me


An amusing point though, it seems in these movies if you're the male husband/partner/boyfriend it's doubtful you're gonna survive till the end! Micah in the first, husband Dan in 2, boyfriend Dennis in 3, and now friend/boyfriend Ben in 4

[Captain Craig]

We using this thread for the grading/review as well?

[Admiral_Young]

I can't be bothered to start a grading thread and I don't think it'll get too many responses so we should just continue using this.

[Ethros]

Yeah, I was skimming through the threads for 2 & 3, they don't have tonnes of comments so not much point making a new thread when we have this

[the G-man]

All I know is that, once you name your demon "Toby," your movie series is no longer scary to anyone...except maybe Michael Scott.