'Paranormal Activity 3' ties up horror trilogy

When it comes to "sleeper hits" in horror, I have to say that the "Paranormal Activity" movies are, by far, the best in the genre. That's not to say that they are the best of the horror films. There are plenty of films out there to make you scream, but I just think that these films are great.

Audiences have been aware of the plot of "Paranormal Activity 3" (PA3) since the very first film. It is set in 1988, with sisters Katie and Kristi as children living with their divorcee mother Julie and her videographer boyfriend Dennis. The weirdness starts off almost instantly in this prequel to a prequel. After spending some time home alone and hearing strange noises coming from a closet in the girls' room, Dennis decides to set up cameras in their room and Julie's bedroom. However, unlike the previous films, we are able to confirm, early on, the relative size and shape of the demon behind all the PA films.

I've talked briefly in my PA2 review from last year about how the importance for the film to evolve cinematically from the first to the second to the third. PA3 did this spectacularly with the introduction of an oscillating camera that Dennis fashions out of a broken fan. From that point on, every time the audience is shown footage from this agonizingly slow-moving camera, I could feel myself letting out large sighs of anticipatory anxiety.

Something interesting in this film was that, because the demon is acting as Kristi's imaginary friend Toby, there seems to be a certain playfulness – to an extent – about the things that he is doing. On some nights, Kristi can be seen talking to him near one of the cameras and running around the house playing with the demon. However, this whimsy ends the moment Kristi refuses to do an unknown task for "Toby" and says she doesn't want to talk to him anymore.

I was very shocked to see where all of Toby's violence was focused once he did become violent. Aside from people outside of the family, it was actually Katie who received quite a lot of aggression. Apparently, it is Toby's plan to just abuse the hell out of Katie until Kristi become a little more compliant. And, to his merit, it worked.

Turns out that all he wanted was for the girls to visit their grandmother. Isn't that just the sweetest thing you ever heard? Okay, so there is more to it than that. Turns out the big reveal is that the *SPOILER* is part of a *SPOILER* that wants to *SPOILER* the *SPOILER* and kill *SPOILER* because *SPOILER* didn't want to *SPOILER* more *SPOILER*.

The end result was the third film in a series of bone-chilling horror flicks that make me afraid to be alone in my apartment at night.