‘Paranormal Activity 3,’ smarter and scarier

If you're looking for a terrifying and smart movie to watch, "Paranormal Activity 3" is for you. It being the third film in the series, I expected the occasional ghostly activity and noise with no apparent source. However, the directors made it obvious early in the movie they were stepping up their game.

My biggest complaint about the first two films was you had to watch about 45 minutes of nothing before the story became remotely scary. In this installment, however, the scares start right away. Granted, the frights are slightly predictable, but they seem to catch you off-guard anyway.  

The movie  is a prequel to the first two films. It focuses on a family of two young girls, their mother and step-dad. Early in the film, the youngest of the girls is seen talking to her ‘imaginary' friend Toby. It is soon apparent Toby is not exactly "Casper the Friendly Ghost."

Like the previous films, the man is obsessed with running the cameras and analyzing the footage, while the woman denies any paranormal activity and refuses to watch the tapes. The mom eventually realizes her husband is on to something when the spirit does something to prove its existence to her.

This is when they decide to leave and stay with a creepy  grandmother who is a demonic worshiper — what could possibly go wrong?

This is where a few plot twists start to unfold, another aspect I enjoyed about this film compared to the other two. It had a more well thought out plot that kept you guessing, as opposed to just some bumps in the night.  

My biggest complaint about the movie is many of the scenes from the trailer are not in the movie. This doesn't detract from the quality of the movie, but it's annoying and I felt a little misled. The scene of the two girls playing Bloody Mary in the bathroom isn't in the movie, the shot of the house on fire is nowhere to be found and the scene where a psychic median appears to get thrown across the room is missing.

That being said, the trailer's claim, "The last 15 minutes will ruin you for life," is a bit of an understatement. While the first two films were just scary, the last fifteen minutes of this one become emotionally disturbing and terrifying. I'm someone who is usually unfazed by horror movies, but this one is an exception and truly frightened me because I believe paranormal activity exists.  

Overall, the movie is a good scare with a well-developed plot and a great movie to see for the Halloween season. If you do plan on seeing it, I highly recommend watching it in theaters because the audience reaction is half of the experience. It is exceptionally more frightening than Paranormal Activity 1 or 2 and will be sure to leave you sleepless —  that is, if you can watch the last fifteen minutes without closing your eyes and covering your ears.