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'Paranormal Activity 4': Is the movie worth seeing this Halloween?

'Paranormal Activity 4' is the newest installment in the found-footage franchise. Is it a satisfyingly scary story for Halloween?

Back in 2009, Screen Rant鈥檚 Kofi Outlaw caught a preview showing of the indie-produced found-footage film 鈥� during director聽Oren Peli鈥檚 campaign to have viewers 鈥渄emand鈥� film screenings in their area. Positive word of mouth eventually carried the film into a wide release and on to聽$193 million dollars (from a $15,000 budget). Since that time, the Paranormal Activity sequels have become standard Halloween season programming at the box office and with low-cost productions and massive ticket revenue, the films now rank as some of the most profitable movies ever made.

Now the producers are back with , re-teaming with their directors, Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman ().聽Despite some memorable scares, Paranormal Activity 3 was criticized for the way it handled the larger (albeit thin) franchise 鈥渟tory.鈥� Can聽Joost and Schulman find a better balance this round 鈥� a film that delivers both creative scares and advances the Paranormal Activity mythos?

There鈥檚 no doubt that the filmmakers faced a tough challenge, given the series鈥� thin premise but nearly every element of the franchise has been watered down in part 4.聽The movie delivers a number of tense 聽moments but only a few of them pay off with memorable scares. Additionally, the story, which takes place years after the events of Paranormal Activity 1 and听2, further muddles the larger franchise mythos (creating significantly more questions than answers) and, like plenty of found footage films before it, fails to deliver a fulfilling conclusion. Some viewers will defend the film for being satisfyingly spooky but, compared to the prior entries,聽Paranormal Activity 4 is by far the least compelling.

Ever since the original Paranormal Activity, the overarching series storyline has primarily been exploring events that led-up to the first film, jumping around in time, but number 4 finally moves the larger plot forward. Five years after Katie ruthlessly killed her boyfriend, sister, and brother-in-law as well as kidnapped her nephew, the demon-possessed woman has stopped running from the law and settled in suburban, Henderson, NV. However, despite headlining the cast, Katie is little more than a supporting character and the story聽once again centers on a clueless victim, Alex (Kathryn Newton), who attempts to make sense of spooky incidents in her home. Alex is a typical teenage girl, Skyping with her boyfriend Ben (Matt Shively)聽and playing table tennis on Xbox 360 Kinect 鈥� ignorant to the fact her new neighbors are a demon-possessed murderer and a troubled child. As the unexplained and dangerous happenings escalate, Alex comes face to face with the horrors of Paranormal Activity.

As a production concept, Paranormal Activity 4 has a lot of smart components: Alex is a welcome change of pace from the camera-obsessed young adult husbands/boyfriends in prior entries and the dynamic between the character and her 鈥渂oyfriend鈥� offer a good mix of lighthearted scenes to offset all the creepy ones. In addition, an explanation for all the cameras is smart enough; though, for viewers who have trouble suspending disbelief, the film still presents plenty of 鈥渨hy would you film that?鈥� moments.

Each camera, like in parts 1-3, is built with specific production 鈥渢ricks鈥� in mind (ex. the living room is enhanced by Microsoft Kinect鈥檚 infrared laser grid). Unfortunately, none of them are nearly as entertaining as the setups that came before. For the most part, the Kinect sequences (which are essentially this installment鈥檚 鈥渇an cam鈥�) are a missed opportunity and, looking at the way the gimmick is used throughout the film, offers little payoff for the amount of time spent squinting through night vision shots. It鈥檚 a problem that leaks into the larger film experience 鈥� as Paranormal Activty 4 is the most meandering entry in the franchise. The pacing is stunted, especially in the final act, and the ratio of time spent in tense setups versus onscreen paranormal hijinks has noticeably lessened 鈥� resulting in scenes that are less rewarding and ultimately deliver fewer memorable payoffs.

Mythology buffs who have been hoping for a competent extension of the聽Paranormal Activity聽series story will be equally underwhelmed. As mentioned, the film finally advances the larger narrative five years into the future but, surprisingly, creates more franchise plot holes than it addresses as well as significantly convolutes聽the 鈥淭oby鈥� demon lore all while riffing on聽Paranormal Activity 3 plot points 鈥� without adding anything fresh to the mix. Avoiding specific spoilers, it鈥檚 fair to say that Paranormal Activity 4 entirely side-steps primary questions that audiences have been asking for years, following the events of Paranormal Activity 1, 2, and听3, in service of predictable twists and a bungled 聽鈥漛igger is scarier鈥� approach in the last act.

In addition to normal screenings, Paranormal Activity 4 is playing in IMAX certified theaters but there鈥檚 absolutely no benefit in paying the premium charge. The confined in-house found footage format isn鈥檛 improved by a larger screen or louder sound and it鈥檚 hard to find any reason for聽Paramount鈥檚 choice to release in IMAX -聽aside from inflating ticket prices for a high profile film.

Whether you attend the Paranormal Activity movies for the scares or the story, part听4 is a step down for both audiences. The plot raises plenty of questions that fans will debate in the coming weeks but only because the film is extremely vague on what audiences are actually seeing minute to minute 鈥� not because Joost and Schulman聽create fresh directions or interesting mysteries in this installment (they don鈥檛). That said, creative setups have long-been the聽franchise linchpin; unfortunately, the spooky setups aren鈥檛 particularly original this round either, rehashing familiar found footage ideas with minor twists that rarely deliver big scares. There鈥檚 little doubt we鈥檒l see a Paranormal Activity 5 but, given the measly $14.15 million that has been spent to produce four entries in the $576 million (and counting) global franchise, it鈥檚 time for Paramount to reinvest some of that money in filmmakers who can deliver a better return on audience investment 鈥� i.e. a more satisfying set of scary movie experiences.

Ben Kendrick blogs at .