Review: Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension

Chris J. Murray and wife Brit Shaw have Murray’s brother Dan Gill staying with them for Christmas, after the latter has gone through a messy relationship break-up. One day the brothers are cleaning out some old stuff when they stumble upon a video camera unlike anything they’ve seen before. It seems customised, and everything viewed from it comes off weird, almost ghostly. They also find some old videotapes that are recordings featuring former occupiers of the house: Katie and Kristi, the two girls we’ve followed in the previous films. Here they appear to be a part of some weird cult, headed by Don McManus. Meanwhile, in the film’s present, Murray and Shaw’s young daughter seems to have a new playmate…that only the girl can see.

 

This franchise has been all over the shop. The first film was one of the better ‘found footage’ films. The second was terrible. The third even worse. “Paranormal Activity 4”, however really wasn’t bad at all, nor was the subsequent “Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones”. Unfortunately, this 2015 entry from director Gregory Plotkin (an editor in his directorial debut) is a pretty sizeable dip in quality, though still better than the second and third films.

 

Truth be told, this one plays out more like “Poltergeist” done badly than a “Paranormal Activity” film, just with found footage and out-of-place FX that are far too fantastical for this narrative style to handle. ‘Found Footage’ films really ought to be as minimalist, and realistic as humanly possible, since a faux-reality is what is being aimed for. Sure, most fictional films want you to accept its reality for the duration, but it’s especially so for a pseudo-doco or ‘found footage’ film. Having said that, the illusion was shattered for me anyway less than 2 minutes when I spotted the fairly well-known presence of actor Don McManus, who I’ve seen dozens of times on TV and in films. Way to keep up with the ‘this isn’t a movie, it’s real life!’ motif, guys. Bravo. Why do these ‘Found footage’ films almost always cock that one up? I know I’m a film nerd, but still, Don McManus at the very least is the kind of face that has you going ‘Hey, it’s THAT guy!’. If we’re not meant to notice shit like that or if you want to put in cheesy visual FX, why not just make it a more standard issue paranormal film with a linear fictional narrative approach? Yeah, ‘coz everyone involved wanted to cash in on the latest fad. Thing is, this isn’t the latest fad. ‘Found footage’ films aren’t as hot as they used to be, and this most certainly won’t be the one to change that trend.

 

It’s a shame, because on a conceptual/plot level it’s an intriguing variant/wrinkle. It’s a really clever idea…that has been completely squandered by the boring, ineffectual and occasionally irritating ‘Found footage’/first-person treatment. The characters are somewhat likeable, but that doesn’t make them especially interesting. I did, however, find the scene with a priest rather funny. For the record, I’m always a little intimidated by clergymen for some reason, but a priest who wears the collared shirt with jeans? Hell no, that’s just freaking weird right there. Meanwhile, one very “Ringu”-esque image would’ve been cool in any other kind of horror film than a ‘Found footage’ film. Similarly, the night-vision finale would’ve been awesome…in a film that wasn’t of this aesthetic.

 

Another problem with the film is sheer boredom through predictability. Six films in, we know nothing happens for the first 20 minutes at least, and things rarely ever happen during the day time. The result? Lots of thumb twiddling in these seemingly never-ending sequels/prequels/cash grabs. There’s a twist with about 30 minutes to go that seems like a reversal of the situation in a certain ghostly story from the early 00s (I won’t name it outright, so as not to be a spoiler). Unfortunately, 30 minutes isn’t really long enough to go too far with the idea.

 

Although not the worst film in this too-long franchise, this is easily the entry that more than any other shoots itself in the foot repeatedly by taking you out of the pseudo-doco reality. Incredibly frustrating, because the story has more merit than many of the previous entries. Goddamn it, if this wasn’t a “Paranormal Activity” film, it might’ve had its moments. As is, it doesn’t really. This is why I hate ‘Found footage’. I have no idea why it took four screenwriters and two storywriters for this. Scripted by Jason Harry Pagan (co-writer of the highly underrated “Project Almanac”), Andrew Deutschman (AKA Andrew Stark, also of “Project Almanac”), Adam Robitel (An Editor, Actor, Writer, Producer, and Director), and Gavin Hefferman (Ditto), from a story by Brantley Aufill (who has done minor miscellaneous work, mostly in short films), Pagan, and Deutschman.

 

Rating: D+