"Does
not look like a finale for what’s supposedly a final instalment.”
Oren Peli’s Paranormal
Activity (2009) revolutionized the found-footage filming style with its
refreshing horror tropes and visual language. It was a huge success, making the
conceit a profitable subgenre and thereby launching a string of sequels. Its
trick is simple – homes videos are created by families in hopes of capturing
supernatural phenomenon. It is catchy but the problem is that the gimmick only
works during the first time. Succeeding films become too predictable and most
resort to recycling old materials with frustratingly silly twists.
Gregory Plotkin’s Paranormal
Activity: The Ghost Dimension is another victim of the curse. It is the
sixth and presumably the final instalment in the franchise. It follows the
urban legend of a haunted house in Santa Rosa, California where children Katie
(Chloe Csengery) and Kristi (Jessica Brown) were proselytized into a cult that
worships a demon entity known as Toby. After being burnt down, the house
is rebuilt and its new owners are young couple Ryan Fleege (Chris J. Murray) and
Emily (Brit Shaw) with a lovely young daughter named Leila (Ivy George). Christmas
is quickly approaching and everyone is excited for the season. Ryan’s
recently-heartbroken brother Mike (Dan Gill) comes along to spend the holiday
with the family, as well as Emily’s blonde friend Skyler (Olivia Taylor Dudley)
who constantly disappears for yoga retreats.
While decorating the house, Mike stumbles upon a
custom-built VHS camera and a stock of tapes in the storage. When Ryan gets the
gadget working, the brothers are astonished to see odd energy fields and
strange vibrations manifested only through the camera’s lens. Worse, the tapes
turn out to be footages of two children being coerced by their grandma Lois
(Hallie Foote) and an unseen man into communicating with the spirit world. Soon,
Leila begins talking to an imaginary friend named Toby and apparitions escalate
in what supposed to be a happy home.
Paranormal Activity:
The Ghost Dimension follows the same formula that popularized the series,
particularly the first three films. Here, edgy homeowners set up a chronology
of nocturnal video shoots and handheld camera footages to record supernatural
occurrences that plague their loved ones. It is too dependent on loud or weird
noises, moving nightly shadows and jump scares to achieve suspense. The present
film does exactly what it predecessors did, setting the terror in another
suburban family. It also attempts to be innovative by employing the dusty and
cloudy look of 80s VHS tech. It brings in a different kind of texture but its
effect is not appreciable.
After five movies, the franchise has developed a complicated
and cluttered mythology. The Ghost
Dimension strives to answer lingering questions but its effort falls too
short. It manages to establish connections, especially with the third film, yet
it fails to give better understanding on what prompted the series’ principal
characters on worshipping the devil or tapping the spiritual universe. The whys
are never suitably clarified and all the scares end up hollow and pointless.
Expectedly, logical lapses are overabundant and the
characters’ slow-witted actions and reactions are exasperating. After getting a
bad vibe of their new home, they plant several cameras around the house but
obviously never bother to watch them. Despite his growing curiosity, Ryan is
too unhurried in reviewing the tapes, progressing with a few footages a day and
feeding his discoveries to his family (and us!) piecemeal. They know unearthly
forces are haunting the house but they keep going back-and-forth between believing
and reverting into it’s-just-coincidence mentality. That's why they never vacate
the house, leaving Leila more exposed to the torments of the devil.
Paranormal Activity:
The Ghost Dimension is just another rehash of the familiar stories in the
franchise. It introduces another family and employs the VHS camera to sound new
but it remains frustratingly disappointing. It ends with no concrete resolution
and its promise to be the last instalment in the series may be another failed
effort.
Production companies: Blumhouse, Solana
Films, Room 101
Cast: Chris J. Murray, Brit Shaw, Ivy
George, Olivia Taylor Dudley, Dan Gill, Jessica Brown, Chloe Csengery, Don McManus, Hallie Foote, Cara Pifko, Michael Krawic, Alden Lovekamp, Mark Steger
Director: Gregory Plotkin
Screenwriters: Jason Harry
Pagan, Andrew Deutschman, Adam Robitel, Gavin Heffernan
Producers: Jason Blum,
Oren Peli
Executive producers:
Steven R. Molen Steven Schneider
Director of photography:
John W. Rutland
Production designer:
Nathan Amondson
Costume designer:
Lisa Lovaas
Editor: Michel Aller
0 comments:
Post a Comment