Paranormal Activity: Dimensión fantasma

I've always had a lot of respect for the "Paranormal Activity" movies, if not a whole lot of love. "Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension" (R, 1:28) is the sixth installment in the series, which has scared up about $1 billion in ticket sales worldwide, against less than $25 million in production expenses. The original "Paranormal Activity" (2009) was filmed in the house owned by Oren Peli, who was the film's producer, director, writer, cinematographer and editor. Peli made that film for $15,000 and it ended up earning nearly $200 million worldwide – almost 13 THOUSAND times what it cost. This, of course, was the film that started that billion dollar franchise and, co-produced by Jason Blum, helped establish Blumhouse Productions, which eventually brought horror fans the "Insidious", "Sinister" and "The Purge" films, as well as the Best Picture Oscar Nominee "Whiplash" in 2014. Now THAT'S a success story that anyone who has ever tried to make a buck on their own idea or vision has to respect… but what Movie Fans really want to know about a movie is whether it's any good. That's what matters to us.

Personally, I liked all of the "Paranormal Activity" movies… but I didn't LOVE them. As they were bringing us creative stories, helping to turn the found-footage subgenre from a novelty into a viable filmmaking option, redefining horror movies for the 21st century and giving audiences thrills, chills and our fills… of plot twists, there was a downside to the fun. For one thing, the "Paranormal" movies did what the "Fast & Furious" series did – give us films out of the sequence of the overall narratives of its characters – but even tougher to keep straight. The other problem with the "Paranormal" films has always been a lack of action. Although they've put some scary and interesting moments on the screen, in most of the movies, not a whole lot happens – especially in the first one which seems overly dependent on the single big payoff at the very end of the film. The advertising for "The Ghost Dimension" promises a franchise-capping story that will answer all of the fans' questions and take us where no "Paranormal Activity" has taken us before. The question is whether the sixth installment gives the series the ending fans deserve.

"Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension" takes place in 2013, after the events of "Paranormal Activity 2" and reflective of the events in "Paranormal Activity 3", from a present-day perspective. Young married couple Ryan and Emily Fleege (Chris J. Murray and Brit Shaw) move into a house built on the land where the home of Katie and Micah stood in the first film. Ryan and Emily have a little girl named Leila (Ivy George), whom they call Lee, and Emily's sister Skyler (Olivia Taylor Dudley) lives there too. When Ryan's brother, Mike (Dan Gill), newly separated from his wife, comes to stay for a couple weeks, there are then enough unsuspecting people in the house for the ghosts to begin tormenting.

While setting up Ryan's Christmas decorations, Ryan and Mike come across a mysterious box that Ryan says isn't his. Inside there is a series of VHS video tapes and an old, but uniquely upgraded video camera. The tapes show the young Kristi and Katie, circa 1988, being introduced to Toby (as in the third film) and being taught to make the most of their psychic abilities. That camera has the ability to see and record spectral phenomena. As Ryan and Mike try to figure out what's really happening on those tapes and record increasingly prominent ghost-like apparitions, Lee is observed talking to an invisible "friend" and behaving very oddly. At first, the Fleeges try to solve the mystery and protect the little girl themselves. They eventually call in a priest (Michael Krawic), but it starts to look like it might all be too little, too late.

"Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension" is a very disappointing ending to the groundbreaking series. The film suffers from the same malady as all the others – not enough action and not enough dread until the very end. The special effects are good, with paranormal wisps of black smoke looking a lot like those in "Crimson Peak", and the 3-D gives a very nice depth to the shots of that wide-open house and those spectral images and it serves the few brief action scenes pretty well. Unfortunately, contrary to what the movie's advertising would lead us to believe, our peek into the Ghost Dimension is frustratingly fleeting, with even the "Poltergeist" remake doing a better job of showing us "the other side". This movie has a half-way decent climactic scene, but the story's ultimate resolution and the final image on the screen elicited dissatisfied groans from my fellow theater patrons. Although I settled for the more subtle eye roll myself, I felt their pain. Basically, this movie gives us the standard "Paranormal Activity" formula, but without a worthwhile payoff. Much like the ghosts that the films portray, the 2015 installment shows that the "Paranormal Activity" movies have outlived their usefulness and should just fade away. "C-"

The weak performances, over-reliance on CGI, and lack of tension all make Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension an unsatisfying and unenjoyable movie experience. The poor screenwriting is evident throughout the movie, with examples such as the lazy narrative convenience of having a character "follow them out of the house". Its failure to deliver any real scares or tension makes it an ultimately disappointing experience. There are virtually no scary moments and the tension is non-existent, making it hard to stay engaged throughout the runtime. It's a shame, as the premise of the film had a lot of potential. Sadly, it just doesn't deliver.

The Paranormal Activity franchise has definitely been one to follow. The story follows a demon, under the guise of 'Toby' who has been steadily haunting a family and racking up quite a body count. This entry, which promises to be the final one, seems a little distant from the rest of the series. The family move into a house where they find a video camera able to pick up spirit activity and a collection of VHS tapes documenting Katie and Kristi after the events of PA3. The spirit camera is the USP of the film, as they delve into 3D filming ectoplasm and eventually showing 'Toby' as he starts haunting the families daughter. As you can expect, they do start to milk the 3D element too much towards the end of the film, especially in the climax, and quite a lot of the 'activity' scenes seem to play to the audience more than the characters. However, being able to see the demons movements definitely add to the building of tension, and is a much stronger installment than PA4 and 'the marked ones'. The main problem lies within the need for another, final installment, to finally tie up all the loose ends.

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A couple, their friend and one of their brothers are staying in a large house when they discover a video camera. They start to experiment with this camera and soon realize that it's picking up ghostly images that they can't see without. Soon the young daughter is being visited by someone named Tobi and the adults begin seeing frightening images.

I guess I should give a breakdown on my option of the series leading up to this sixth entry, which the producers are saying is the very last one. I found the first film to be truly frightening and I rank it as one of the best horror movies from the past thirty years. The second film was a complete bore while the third one had an interesting and good story but no scares. The fourth and fifth films in the series proved that they had gone to the well one too many times and it was time to put a nail in the coffin. I walked into this sixth film with low expectations and the film started off having me fearing for another bad entry but then it turned out to be much better.

Is this a great film or a good one? Absolutely not but I thought there were some interesting developments with the plot and there were some really effective scenes that make this worth sitting through. Whereas the first film had the majority of its scare scenes work, this one here isn't nearly as lucky because I'd say only fifteen or twenty percent of the scares work but when they do work they're pretty powerful. The budget here was a lot higher, which allowed for some CGI scenes and I thought these effects were the worst of what we get here. There are moments where the camera is slowly moving around and you're expecting something to happen. The director does a very nice job at the build up and pay off.

The most effective scenes have things running or jumping towards the camera. There are some logical issues and there are moments that don't really connect to the events they're trying to tie to in the series but I liked some of the new stuff here. There's a twist involving the two men watching a tape of Katie and Kristi as a kid that works well. There's also a few other nice elements that help this film seem more than just a rehash of the first movie.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE GHOST DIMENSION might be the last and at least they go out with something better than the previous two films.

"I've heard of spirit photography before, I've just never seen it in person." When looking through boxes at their house Ryan finds an old video camera. Excited about the find he begins to walk around filming everything. He begins to notice strange things through the lens and when he looks at tapes of movies filmed with the camera he makes a horrifying discovery. This is a series that has been on the decline ever since the first one. Each one tries to do something different than the others, and this one actually shows the activity rather then showing things happening without knowing why. This new idea makes things not as creepy to me. Seeing a chair start to rock without seeing something do it is scarier then seeing a ghost move around. This movie, however, much like every other sequel, is almost review proof. This is the 5th movie in the series and by now you are looking forward to the new one or not. As for me this is a series that should probably stop. If you can't improve on the last one don't make it. They haven't reached Batman & Robin status with the franchise yet but they are on their way. Overall, not un- watchable but another drop off from the previous one. I give this a C+.