The Wasteland Reviewer

The Wasteland Review Request: Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)

Just how many entries are there in the Paranormal Activity franchise? When you look at horror franchises, you expect to see plenty of entries in them because horror films are generally cheap and have a large fan base for the genre. When you have a franchise like Paranormal Activity, there are plenty of opportunities to make tons of money since they are found footage films made with minimal budgets. The original film was a trend-setter that was one of the most profitable films in the history of cinema. There is no surprise that Paranormal Activity would at least get up to a fourth entry that expands the dark twisted world of Katie and the entity of “Tobi” that has haunted her since childhood.

What does the duo of Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman bring to this entry? The previous entry was their first go-around with Paranormal Activity and that is generally considered one of the strongest entries in the franchise. This one continues the expected found-footage format to some waning effect. There is a bit of a stretch in what scenes make sense or not with the cameras being present. There are whole sequences that feel a little forced that a camera would be present. But Joost and Schulman do leverage some clever advancements in technology to bring this film to life like webcam chats as well as some video game cameras that were newer back in 2011 and 2012. The pacing of the film could certainly be stronger with some stretches of the film feeling a little too mundane and others feeling a tad too repetitive to keep the audience engaged. There are some strong set pieces though including an incident in the garage and the climactic confrontation with the mysterious neighbors.

Does Christopher Landon’s screenplay expand well upon the franchise’s lore? Landon incorporates Katie into the story and explores the witchcraft foundation of the franchise but only in limited ways. So much of the film relies upon creep kids being creepy and they both certainly get their moments. The structure of the film and the progress of these haunting feels too uneven to fully engross the audience. So much of the narrative progression is crammed into the final 20 minutes and would have benefitted from a more gradual progression. The characters are not the most interesting with some of them feeling quite frustrating. The parent characters feel so poorly written and frustrated that they bring down some of the experience. The overall narrative is plagued by so many tropes without many fresh twists on them. If you like this franchise and found-footage horror, you will certainly get plenty of those boxes checked.

How does the cast enhance the experience? One of the best elements of the film is the presence of Kathryn Newton. Before she got the opportunity to shine in Lisa Frankenstein, Freaky, and Ready or Not 2, she brought plenty of charisma and charm to this film. You connect to Newton’s Alex and enjoy watching her on-screen. Future Lopez vs. Lopez alumnus Stephen Dunham plays the dorky-kid-trying-to-be-cool  well enough as well. The two kid actors are certainly creep when they need to be and that is mostly what is expected out of them. The actors who play the parents are not the most memorable (not that they have much to work with).

Is Paranormal Activity 4 a worthwhile watch? If you love this franchise and horror subgenre, this certainly will get your attention. But there are too many shortcomings for this to truly deliver. Newton was a star in the making even with this leading performance so that is a plus. There are also a few scenes that will certainly stick with you and a few clever twists on the found-footage genre.

Special thanks to Nicholas Attanasio for nominating Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)!