Paranormal Activity 3
This prequel to the first two films in the Paranormal franchise shows why the family initially came to be haunted.
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
Directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman
(R)
**
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Like its hit predecessors, Paranormal Activity 3 is “more fun house spook show than actual horror movie,” said Marc Savlov in The Austin Chronicle. Still, it’s got enough “jolts, frissons, and downright freak-outs” to please teens on date night. Documentary makers Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman take the reins for this prequel, set in 1988, when adult sisters from the first two films were children. Even with the new directors, there’s a sense of “haunted-house franchise as fast-food chain”: No matter who’s making the burgers, they “all come out tasting the same,” said Scott Tobias in the A.V. Club. Sure enough, the film’s main trick is to use home-surveillance cameras to capture things that go bump in the night, though this time we also learn why the family initially came to be haunted. You wouldn’t want to view all three installments in one sitting, said Ty Burr in The Boston Globe. But each one works the way an effective ghost story should. Watching this one in a crowded theater reclaims “the pleasures of the good old-fashioned communal shriek.”
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
-
Laurence Fox suspended by GB News after 'unacceptable' Ava Evans comments
Broadcaster issues apology after actor goes on a tirade during a live interview with Dan Wootton
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
The daily business briefing: September 27, 2023
Business Briefing The FTC accuses Amazon of running an illegal online monopoly, Biden visits auto workers on picket line, and more
By Harold Maass Published
-
Seaham Hall review: serenity on the coast in County Durham
The Week Recommends Former haunt of Lord Byron is pure poetry when it comes to spa options in the north-east
By Jamie Timson, The Week UK Published