Four and a half hours! That's a lot of Paranormal Activity! We start off with number three. Our intro to "Toby" and view into what happened when the girls were little. Kristi has a new imaginary friend, Toby. She spends all day and all night playing with him and telling secrets. Its all fun and games until strange things start happening around the house. Things moving, odd shapes and shadows, weird noises.
My favorite new scene would be the tooth fairy scene. There's just something creepy about Toby taking the tooth and keeping it for itself. The way the door is cracked open to the crawlspace, you can just feel Toby staring out, coddling his little treasure. Its skin crawling.
The other new scenes are Bloody Mary with the two girls and Kristi playing with Toby in the middle of the night by jumping off their loft area into its arms down below. The additional little bits with Kristi playing with Toby are pretty good and add to the story. But it brings up a big thing for me. In the second and first movies anytime they talk about "what happened when they were kids" they always say that they were scared shitless of the hauntings and the horrible creature and goings on in their house. Yet in the third one we see Kristi literally befriending the demon and only towards the end does it ever really terrorize Katie. On top of that, they always seem to say that it focused on Katie, when in the end Kristi ends up being the one chosen to be its "bride".
I guess I could be wrong with the time line and that Toby could have terrorized them in their previous house when they were even younger, but then why would they not mention anything in the third one about Toby being the thing that terrorized them before. And then there is the fire. What fire? And why do they not remember that their mom is dead in the second and first ones? Is it the brain washing from the cult? Did they make them forget everything that actually happened in their childhood, even making them believe someone else is their mom? I mean, I guess that is why they are doing a fourth, or at least it better be because these are some huge plot holes that really beg to be filled.
The second movie only has one extra scene, the "cleansing" of Kristi upon Martines return to the household. It doesn't add much, but its a nice little touch that makes her knowledge of the exorcism and transference rituals seem a little more likely. Sadly, they don't add any extra scenes to the first, but hey, it was pretty good the way it was.
Now, the transition from the third movie to the second isn't worked in very well, it just sorta cuts the VHS out and the second movie starts. Its ok, but it doesn't work as well as the second to first and back to second. These work so well because, tada! The second originally fades into the beginning of the first one. And the added resolve to the first one by adding the ending of the second where we see Katie continue her rampage was much needed and makes it all feel complete.
I'm hoping to see the plot holes resolved in the fourth. I don't know how but at the same time I would like to learn what happened to Katie and Hunter, so maybe they can do half prequel, half sequel... oh fuck it, we all know they will do a Paranormal Activity 5.
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