Paranormal Activity 5: Ghost Dimension

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.

Remember Saw? Remember what happened to that franchise? After becoming a Halloween staple, it was immediately overshadowed by the newer, fresher Paranormal Activity series, with the last Saw using 3D as a final resort to churn out one more film from the dying franchise. Now, we're seeing the same thing from Paranormal Activity. In fact, the desperation to milk one last film is apparent, and it's sad. Alas, this is the cycle every horror franchise goes through. I have to admit, I personally enjoyed this series longer than I would expect. To call PA4 disappointing is an understatement, but The Marked Ones made up for it and surprised the hell out of me.

However, TGD is easily the worst film in the series, one of the worst films of the year, and a sad, cynical, soulless attempt to salvage whatever is left from this franchise. There's literally nothing memorable here, nothing iconic. It's all so generic and inept, from the constant jump scares, to the forgettable actors, to the 3D, which is used in the most clichéd way possible. The story doesn't make a lick of sense compared to all the buildup in the previous films, most likely due to the noticeable absence of Christopher Landon, who wrote all the sequels up until this point. And why the hell did it take two years for four writers to write the script? Was that really necessary? Overall, there's not much to be said about TGD because there's not much to actually talk about. By the time of writing this review, I've already forgotten about 90% of the movie, and you will too. So don't watch it. You don't need to see the activity. Whatever you come up with in your imagination is probably far scarier than this movie would ever dream to achieve.

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 approached this movie with low expectations due to the negative reviews and the slipshod quality of Paranormal Activity 4. However, I found myself pleasantly surprised to discover that this movie did not suffer from the plodding pace of the first movie or the frustratingly unintelligent characters that were featured in PA2 and PA4 (recall that the father in the second movie had cameras installed but then refused to watch the recorded footage). This entry moves along at a brisk pace and is never boring, and you never have to wait too long for some creepy visuals or a good jump scare (yes, there are jump scares and this will turn some viewers off, but it didn't bother me as I was in the mood to be startled). The character of Mike is somewhat annoying but he's there to serve as comic relief.

Many of the visual effects are subtle and done quite well, such as the particles and shapes captured by the modified "ghost camera," but the use of CGI becomes much too heavy-handed in the latter half of the film. Whereas most of the scares are done very well, a few of the CGI effects seen near the end of the movie are more funny than scary and this is not a good thing; sparser use of computer- generated visuals would have been a wise move, but instead they were VERY liberal with its application here (especially in comparison with the previous entries). Also, without spoiling anything, there are some frustrating problems raised by the plot twists that occur near the end of the film and PA5 ultimately creates more questions than it answers.

Fans who were hoping for a neat and tidy wrap-up to the franchise will be somewhat disappointed with PA5. However, if you accept that these films have had convoluted plots from PA2 onward and you're just in the mood to be scared and entertained, you'll probably enjoy this one. It's a solid popcorn movie for a rainy night.

Just don't puzzle over the continuity of the plot too much... You'll give yourself a migraine.

When you look back on old horror series like 'Friday the 13th' or 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' and you see 'Part 8: Jason Takes Manhatten' or 'Part 5: The Dream Child' you can't help but shudder at just how ridiculous the sound of that sequel is. Sadly I fear when people look back on the 'Paranormal Activity' series 'The Ghost Dimension' is going to sound equally ridiculous and appear the same for anyone who bothers to watch it. The film isn't good and does a real disservice to an otherwise great series. A huge disappointment.

The filmmakers on this one seemed to have absolutely no understanding of what made the first four (or five including 'The Marked Ones') so effective. It was the fact that even for those of us that don't for the faintest second believe in ghosts or demons, it's still scary because everything was so simple. A person standing over their partner at night simply staring at them for hours on end is much more frightening of an image than actually seeing a completely unrealistic monster-like creature jump out of nowhere. This film did not belong in the series and if it is indeed the last 'Paranormal Activity' film to be made, it was a sad way to end things.