Paranormal Activity 5: Ghost Dimension

"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+.

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.

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.

Oh yeah... this movie was not great! It was probably closer to being the absolut worst! In that case i am gonna be honest and sau the only good Paranormal activity movie, is the first one! 2 and 3 are watchable and the rest are either insulting or embarrising, including this one!

The story and plot is nonsens and boring as it tries to connect this movie with the third! Characters move into the house, watches a tape from the third movie and then portal opens.. ot something! Idk.. movie does not explain so I can't either! Characters are also flat and lifeless!

The movie though commits the ultimative sin by showing us the demon in his full form! This eliminates all horror as the demon is a floating black mass of bad CGI with 3D effects! It really pulls you out! The first movie was great cause it was realistic! No effects or anything! This movie though has a lot of CGI effects!

This is just a cheap horror movie found footage style! No where near anything good about the first movie!

I think I read somewhere on the movie poster that this one is different and that it shows the story from the other side... Well, if it did, then it is not anything special.

I watched all the paranormal activity movies and even a parody. I watched them all not because I really liked them or enjoyed much but because I like horror films and those are rare nowdays - I mean the good ones. so, I was hoping with each one of these that one might be good, but... I mean, they are not bad entirely, but not something special either. I was surprised when the 1st one was voted somewhere as the scariest horror of all time!!!??? Say what?!

This one starts promising, but that is all that is interesting. The little girl is good. Mum is just ... whatever. Dad - well, at least he is kinda sexy so he passes as well as that blond girl ( which, by the way, I did not get why she is even in the house?! - a babysitter?!)

So, Toby is evil, he is in the house for 6 days and the family goes around filming... Yeah,right. That is what bothers me in all of these films. I mean, I know it IS a movie. But if you use hand camera to make a movie look more realistic, please let people do realistic things too. But no ...

All in all, if you don't have anything better to do - go ahead. A few thrills and it is over. 5 from me.