Launched in 2007 but not officially released until 2009, the first Paranormal Activity film took the horror world by storm. Audiences fell hard for the found footage approach to supernatural events and the slow burn of a presence subtly creeping its way inside Katie and Micah’s home before the explosive final scene. All of these qualities are reason enough for genre fans to talk up a stand-out indie film, but the at the root of the project, the core reason why people connected so well with the original Paranormal Activity is the simplicity of the horror.
The low budget, found footage style of filmmaking that gave the movie a sense of being grounded in reality, the modest set up of a single camera capturing everything that happens while Katie and Micah sleep at night, the reliability of a loving couple torn apart over obstacles out of their control — at its core, Paranormal Activity is an iconic film that succeeds because of its clever usage of the fundamentals of horror. Knowing this, it’s very strange how far the filmmakers would stray away from this original premise in the sequels by cramming in as much extensive mythology as possible to a film that worked because it got back to basics.
Now, in 2015, the supposedly final film of the franchise, Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension is ready for release, and it has promised to not only show Toby, but also wrap up all of the loose ends unraveled by the previous installments. However, what has been years in the making, and is perhaps the most eagerly awaited entry of the series for hardcore fans, turns out to be possibly the most disappointing one in the bunch, not only because the final stages of the coven’s plans prove extremely disappointing, but also because by this point, the franchise has jumped off of the tracks and created a story that doesn’t even resemble the original elementary plot design.
In the film, an unsuspecting family moves into a new home and begin experiencing strange occurrences after they discover a box in storage from the previous owners with an old ’80s style handheld camera inside. The father, Ryan, was already filming everything with his own camera (for reasons unknown) so he’s delighted to find a new tool with which he can enjoy his favorite hobby: shooting his family members. At first, it was a funny joke to make fun of the retro chunky camera, but soon he begins noticing unexplained movement through the old lens that he can’t see on his modern day camera. It seems that Ryan has stumbled upon some sort of spirit photography that seems to almost encourage mystical activity in his home, triggering odd moments of interaction with what can only be assumed as ghosts, and a startling change in behavior of Ryan’s daughter, Leila. His three foot tall angel has been acting cold, bitter, and distant, and on top of all that, she’s whispering to a person that her family can’t see; a man named Toby who tells her to do things, and acts as a harmful wedge placed sharply between her and her loving parents.
Sadly, CGI Toby doesn’t do much to help the film’s merits. Fans of the franchise have been waiting to catch a real glimpse at the imaginary friend that so many spooky kids have spoken to throughout the past few films, and now that he is completely out in the open for the world to see, his heavily computerized floating blob body bring about more disbelief than startling scares, and it becomes clear that Toby was much more frightening when he remained transparent, and people were just dragged up the stairs by an invisible entity.
For the few answers that Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension provides to the mythology of the series, it raises twice as many questions. In this entry we learn that a man, who is assumed to be some sort of leader of the Midwives coven, spent years training Katie and Kristi to become thorough witches, all for the end result of pleasing Toby. This man, who becomes easily identifiable by his trademark tiny ponytail, has one end goal in mind for his little girls; hoping to use them to help complete his master plan for his master. However, when the scheme is finally revealed, and the fact after that five films (six if you count Paranormal Activity: Tokyo Night) this is what all of the witchcraft and demonic possessions and kidnapping have led to starts to sink in, the messy, out-of-place writing becomes more apparent than ever before. It feels like all of the time spent investing in the previous films was completely wasted, since this disappointing final shock is all that the years of dedication have put up as a reward for watching.
Completely formulaic and uninspired, Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension is the black sheep of the series, because it feels so different from all of the others. The idea of using 3D as a way for audience members to watch a found footage film is weird enough, but throwing a portal into the mix that drops characters off in different time periods is a concept that, although by itself is pretty cool, has no place in a story about witches. This franchise worsens the more it reveals, but perhaps that’s true with any ongoing series that throws time travel into the mix. For a timeline that already has so many different components going on all at once already, this final addition to the Paranormal movies should have spent less time bringing new breakthrough ideas about, and more time covering the already exposed cracks in the story, and getting back to good old fashioned, classic found footage horror — the style that made the series so universally applauded in the first place.