Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)

1.5/4

              I flock to these films like a rat smelling cheese on the rat trap. Objectively (perhaps even subjectively) it's not in my best interests at all, but there is something that draws me in like a lamb to the slaughter. These films have gotten bad. To many, they started out fine with the first installment (I think I was one of the few who found it satisfying, but not terrifying or overly creepy) but they have fallen so far that they have simply become an annual obligatory routine.

              What is perhaps my main problem with this film (and the other sequels) is that it's become all setup with almost nowhere to go. The camera is static (at least the third one had the ingenious idea to use a rotating fan) and the editing flips from room to room and we wait patiently for something to happen, but it never does. We are left with strands of wasted opportunity. The knife floats into midair and we wait...and wait...and wait, and finally when it crashes down it's so inopportune that you can't help but wonder "Who cares?" Clearly the characters don't, written with such condescension and indifference. As they wander through the story, they become increasingly witless to their surroundings even as things gradually get weirder.

             The story is inconsequential at this point. The whole series is meant to build the mythos of Katie and her haunting, but this story does so little to advance the story that it is almost pointless. The first sequel at least had its bumps in the night while tying Katie into the story, the third story went the prequel route and came off as just plain silly, this one is so plain and uninteresting that when the final showdown occurs in the last minutes of the film it is so comical that you just have to shake your head. It's basically a rehash of the stories from #2 and #3.

             With wasted (aka entirely missed) opportunities and stretches of absolutely nothing that go on and on and on, this fourth entry is about as entertaining as watching water boil. There's a whole lot of nothing with nowhere to go. It's an easy buck to make, and clearly that's why the series continues, and perhaps why the filmmakers are just becoming lazier. With such little payoff (or need for a payoff) the filmmakers are just running through the motions with as little energy they can use.