Hello all you movie lovers and haters. I’m Kit Kat and I’m back for another lovely round of Trailer Trash. While I haven’t personally seen all of the other Paranormal Activity Movies, just seeing the trailers didn’t get my hopes up for a decent movie. And here we are again with their FIFTH installment… Besides the Fast and Furious franchise…I don’t remember another series with five movies.
Other than Harry Potter, Indian Jones I think, James Bond...nope. The thing is, the whole “found footage” genre has been slowly dying for years but for some reason, this franchise will not die. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a sixth or seventh installment from them. Here's my main issue with the films. We know it started with Katie and Kristie. With each film, we have gotten father and farther away from them. In this trailer, they are briefly mention and one of them is a stepmother. I'm guessing this means the daughter from the second film finally returns since she apparently wasn't home when her parents were killed and her brother taken. I'm not sure how I even remember that off the top of my head.
Yes, those are the others. Indiana Jones being the least successful of the most successful I do believe. But the fact that they are still trying to make a good horror movie for this franchise is a little…disturbing. Many by now would have gotten the point and stopped the insanity. From an outside point of view, the movies all seem to blur together because they all look similar.
My main issue is, how are these all connected and will there ever be an end? I just don't understand how this demon can affect so many people when the main characters are not even present anymore. Ok, yes Katie was in the fourth one briefly but that's not much. There's also too many characters overall. Most of them are totally irrelevant to the plot anyway. So now we're apparently in the south side of Los Angeles, with some Hispanic kids. I have no freaking clue what this has to do with anything I have seen before and I've seen all the films to date.
And I’ll say what I thought after first seeing this trailer: is this a horror movie or a live action Grand Theft Auto? I mean really. The music, the visuals. I couldn’t help but to think that they are trying to do way to much on the establishing of our location. Sure, it’s LA but we know it’s a horror movie franchise. That’s the point of going to see this movie. Not for feeling like we are LA. Sure we need to feel for the characters but I don’t know how well I’d feel for some guy who seems to party all the time and that he thinks a baseball bat will protect him from gangs.
What bothers me is that I know this will follow the formula of its predecessors, nothing for the first 3 acts, then all the action and horror will take place in the final act, followed by some title cards telling us this is still being investigated or something. The whole series is getting a bit stale, so honestly, they need to liven things up a bit. Do something different. Build suspense, stop relying on so many jump scares and for the love of Matthew Gray Gubler, give us an ending to the story, not a continuation! Seriously, I want to know how this thing ends. What's with the demon and what's going on with the sudden shift in location? There is no sense in continuity here. The films are all highly disjointed but at least the first three sort of worked as a trio. Everything else is just confusing and unneeded.
*stares off into the distance* ah…Matthew. *ahem* And I completely agree. If you are going to do a shift in location then you need you let the audience know why but not at the expense of the current movie. I fear the same that this movie is going to try and establish itself in the timeline and then half way through you will finally get the new movie with them prodding you to keep you realizing it’s connection to the others. Movies like that never work because they are trying way too hard and that’s what’s happening here. By now they are either desperate or hoping fifth time is a charm to make some money. I’m sure some people will go to see it for mindless entertainment but maybe this time someone will get the hint to rethink doing another one.
To be fair, we are basing everything we are saying solely on what we've seen from the trailer. I admit, the creepy factor is indeed there. There are several things that I find unsettling and downright disturbing. There are a few things where I just go “What??” or “I don't want to know...but now I need to know.” This does seem to have other horror elements worked in besides demonic possession. I did notice the religious aspect being introduced, so here's hoping they don't offend the entire Catholic church with this. Then there's a scene with the two creepy girls saying “He'll see you now”. What the actual hell?
I agree there are some creepy aspects to the trailer. The parts that get me are when he is standing looking in the mirror and pulling the string or whatever out of his eye. *shudders* Get’s my skin crawling. But the jump scare of seeing the guy down the road and the kids not being able to get out of the car. He disappears and suddenly he’s in the window and breaks through the window. Those moments get my adrenaline going like a horror movie should. If they do work those horror aspects in well with the rest of the movie then maybe it might not be as bad as we think it will. Besides, it’s all ready been proven that two creepy girls talking together are creepy.
I have a little big of hope that this one might be an improvement over the previous four. It seems to be going in a different direction and hopefully it won't be the formulaic mess it has been. There seems to be some new things introduced so its possible that it won't completely suck. We can only hope that this is true. Knowing my luck, I'll be dragged to see it. If I'm lucky, I'll get stuck next to a cute guy so when I get “scared” I can grab him. *crosses fingers* Please let it be Tom Hiddleston.
Well, I’m broke and don’t have the money to see this one. Besides, I’m saving my money to see Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug. I like me some hot dwarves and elves over possibly bad horror movies anyday.
Yeah, you say that but wait until you see Smaug. That is one sexy dragon, mainly because he has the voice of Benedict Cumberbatch. That's all I really have to say about the new Paranormal Activity film coming out in January. I hope this is the final installment honestly. I'm looking forward to 2014 and the hundreds of new films coming out, waiting for me to critique.
And with any luck, we might have another bad movie to review for Bad Movie Bonanza. Knowing movies as we have, there will always be another bad movie to rant about. Oh the fond memories. And that’s all I have to say about the movie either. No high hopes but maybe some very small ones.
Well Kit Kat, I believe it's time to sign off. Here's to the holidays, the New Year and to the movies that will be released, both good and bad. Anything to add?
Just that I hope to get back to my reviewing of books very soon. The holidays are always hectic but I hope to get at least one review done before the year is out and maybe even a video for my video roulette. Only time will tell. Anyway, I’m Kit Kat and I love me some trailer trash.
I'm TheCinemaChick, wishing everyone a happy and safe holiday. My Best of 2013 list is coming, so stay tuned.
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