I approached “Paranormal Activity 4” like I did the second and third installments in the popular series of horror films: With adolescent anticipation, I bought my ticket, settled into my seat with a tray of fake nachos and waited for the scares.
As I wrote when part three came out, I’m a sucker for these movies. I like the stripped down format, which pieces together “found footage” shot on video cameras, cell phones and webcams to tell the tale of a demon named Toby, his possession of a woman named Katie and their slaughter of unsuspecting families. Although these movies rely on cheap jump scares, the long, stationary shots draw you in and set you up for heart-stopping jolts. My favorite scene remains the falling furniture scare in “PA3,” captured by a camera strapped to an oscillating fan. It was, to lean on a cliché, pure genius.
I had reasonably high hopes going into “PA4.” I knew the routine and figured the filmmakers would deliver a familiar but fun scare fest that expanded on the mythology of the series.
I was wrong on all counts.
I knew the movie was in trouble when a chandelier dropped in front of the character carrying the camera and failed to make me even flinch. With the exception of one really good jump scare a few minutes into the movie - a scare that made me laugh out loud when I thought about the reaction of the character carrying the camera - I was able to predict nearly every moment designed to frighten audiences. People jump onscreen, things go BAM, surprises WHOOSH by and invisible forces rip sheets off of beds.
Been there, done that.
Since the scares weren’t working, I tried to latch on to the story, but there was nothing there. “PA4” follows Alex, the teenage daughter of a suburban family. Katie, who abducted her nephew, Robbie, in the second movie, lives across the street with the boy, now a creepy four- or five-year old. Although Alex’s family has never had any contact with Katie, they take Robbie into their home when an ambulance whisks her away one night. Soon, strange things are happening around the house, and the only one who realizes it is Alex.
Intrigued, Alex’s boyfriend sets up every laptop in the house to record around the clock. Although they initially review the videos and see some odd things, like an ethereal figure sitting next to Robbie in the living room, they inexplicably stop watching them when the really freaky stuff starts to go down.
The filmmakers stumble occasionally as they tell what passes for a story. In an early scene, Alex’s boyfriend zooms in on a big screen television on which Robbie and Alex’s younger brother are playing a video game and asks if the character on the screen looks like Toby. Since no one at that point had even mentioned Toby, this scene seemed like a continuity goof. Also, the kids frequently look up at an invisible person passing by, but when we finally see the spirit, he’s the size of a small boy. Either I didn’t understand what was going on or the filmmakers weren’t working off a clear template.
Niggles aside, my biggest beef with the story in “PA4” is the pointlessness of the whole thing. If my memory of “PA3” is correct, the fourth installment of the series ends in nearly the same way. Once again, there are hints of a coven of witches being behind the presence of Toby, but the filmmakers do nothing to move this idea forward.
I recommended the first three “PA” movies, which are the modern equivalent of “Poltergeist,” one of the greatest haunted house movies made. But even if you’re a fan, you can skip part four. It adds nothing to the series, and when it abruptly ended, I thought, “That’s it?”
When I returned to the office after viewing the movie, I read that Paramount has scheduled another sequel for release next year. I’ll be there, fake nachos in hand, but my expectations will be low.
Rated R for language, violence and terror. Two stars out of four. Email David Laprad at dlaprad@hamiltoncountyherald.com.