[Movie Review] Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015)
Director: Gregory Plotkin
Writers: Jason Pagan, Andrew Deutschman
Runtime: 88 min
Main Cast:
- Chris J. Murray as Ryan
- Brit Shaw as Emily
- Ivy George as Leila
Review: by Erika T
Horror movies don’t typically scare me to be honest. I mostly watch them for the suspense and to laugh at characters that make really stupid decisions. I’ve seen all of the Paranormal Activity films, so I didn’t see the point in missing out on this one. At this point, you should know what you’re getting yourself into if you want to watch these films. I wanted to see this one since I was curious about the continuation of the mythology.
A family moves into a huge house thanks to a deal of a lifetime. While settling in they uncover a sophisticated video camera that’s capable of capturing increasingly nefarious paranormal phenomena.
What I Liked:
I like that the stories keep building on the overarching plotline of the sisters and Toby. However elementary you can’t deny that we see a lot more development of this story. I would say it’s at an accelerated pace compared to the prequels too. While I wasn’t personally scared I think there were a few good moments that’ll garner a lot of thrills and chills. The main character’s brother was hilarious as a source of a lot of one liners. I think I could say there were more laughs than screams, and for the most part, it was intentional.
What I Didn’t Like:
The formula’s the same. You can expect the typical family members that remain skeptical until it’s too late despite having video evidence right in front of them. That remains as frustrating now as it always was. In the beginning, there is a lot of shaky camera work. It was difficult to focus on the scenes sometimes and that was without 3D. The 3D itself was only used sometimes. This is the first film where it switches so frequently. I wish it were a little more obvious about when you should get ready to put your glasses on. The film isn’t shot very brightly so using the glasses made it a lot dimmer. After a while, I got tired of putting the glasses on and taking them off so I just left them on. In the end, I had a mild headache. Another movie-goer also complained that the film gave her a headache.
Summary
As long as you know what to expect when you see these films then you should enjoy it fine enough. It’s predictably predictable at this point, but it’s a decent 90-minute escape if you want a few scares. And it definitely isn’t any longer than it needs to be. Not sure if they’ll keep making these films but the budget is low so they’ll certainly make enough for a sequel if they’re interested. It’s worked well enough for them before.
User Review
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Images Courtesy of IMDB
