MovieChat Forums > Paranormal Activity 4 (2012) Discussion > This movie is not as bad as people make ...

This movie is not as bad as people make it out to be!

posted 12 years ago by take_exit3
41 replies | jump to latest

I'm not a huge fan of this series, but I enjoy it. I really liked the first one, thought the second one was ok but fairly boring. And I really liked the third one. Thought it was the creepiest of all. I went into this one expecting it to be the worst movie of all time. Like up there with Troll 2, especially after reading Harry Knowles (Ain't it cool news" recent review of it calling it "borderline unwatchable". I watched this last night and I do not see how it's any worse than the second one. It was far from perfect, but I still enjoyed it. Here are the pros and cons I came up with:

Pros:

1) Maintains same look and feel as the first three
2) Has creepy children in it, like the third one which I always like
3) Has some good suspensful moments in it\
4) None of the characters were extremely unlikeable
5) Has more Katie in it than the previous 2
6) For being the fourth installment of a horror series, it really could have ben worse.

Cons:

1) Too many unnecesary jump scares that were never actually supernatural related.
2) The editing over all was not the greatest, it seemed to frequently cut out in mid conversation, at least in the extended version.
3) The ending left something to be desired. Kind of confusing and not very scary.

So overall, I think it was a very satisfactory movie for being a part 4. There has got to be some people out there that agree with me right???

[–] mamouth007 12 years ago

I liked the first 3 movies, this one is not that good.
Does it suck ? Not really. But it's always the same thing. Nothing new.

We now know that there will be nothing to be afraid of until the last 10 minutes maybe.

When you know that, it cannot be scary.

Maybe they will have some better script ideas for PA5. We'll see that.

[–] peterquinn70 12 years ago

This is surely the absolute worst film for mainstream audiences. Even (oh, yes) worse than Pretty Woman. Cinema for idiots that even High School film & TV students would wince mightily at. Really liked the first two, and then the "franchise" (such a presumptuous term) took an excruciating, irreversible nose-dive. I was actually rooting for the demons this time.

[–] fiatlux-1 12 years ago

I liked "PA 4." Was it flawed, sure. Could it have had more action scenes? Sure.

Was it creepy to me? Sure again.

This film, no matter how flawed, was a 100 times better than Part 2. That was one serious piece of dung.
It sticks out like a sore thumb in this otherwise cool, fun series.

"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."

[–] mst66x 12 years ago

Enjoyed the first 3, however this one was just to much of the same thing, I found pa4 very similar to pa3, just couldn't help but feel like I have seen it all before, they should of stopped at number 3.

[–] cary_howe 12 years ago

Yes it is as bad. Nothing happens in the first half to two thirds then all the story points from the first half are forgotten in the second half. All the gags were rehashes of the first few films. It brought nothing new to the table and was completely pointless. I'd say you are completely wrong in that the last 15 seconds was the best of the film but it had nothing to do with the rest of this snore fest. The first two thirds of the film something flashed past the camera once every 15 minutes. Is that really the best they could do? The first couple were fun but this was just plain sad!

[–] Minkadinks 12 years ago

I didn't dislike this 4th installment, just had that familiar grating feeling that they were trying my patience somewhat.

Like other posters I've sat through many a sequel on the basis of liking the first film and enjoying the premise...and just like Saw, Hellraiser, the Freddies, the Halloweens etc etc etc I've dragged my way through the 2's, 3's, 4's and beyond extracting what enjoyment I can whilst having fairly low expectations. I really do want PA to develop this story, they HAVE my attention and I LOVE the potential with this plot development but the mere nuggets of story/scares/shocks have to be some of the most infrequent and frustrating of any horror series I have watched.

I'm all up for PA5, but I do feel the team now need to reward their loyal following with something more- pick up the pace without ruining the franchise with crappy special effects, keeping the creepy and the mysterious but finally reward our patience with something more than the now very predictable slow burn.

[–] brat-paq 12 years ago

Fell asleep twice while watching it, thats how boring it is.

[–] Trioxin_Zombie 12 years ago

No. It's worse than what some people make it out to be. Only idiots like you are in denial. They put *beep* in a tin and label it PA and you clowns buy into it like it's the *beep* be all end all of horror. No wonder they just chuck any old crap out like they did with PA4 and think they can get away with it!.

"Initiations over Michael. It's time to join the club!"

[–] scarsick 12 years ago

LOL, who's in denial? You hated it, a lot of people did. Are you gonna be mad just because not everyone will agree with you? I really like the series, the fourth movie is ok, not very scary (my biggest problem with this entry) and the ending is just... wrong, it felt like they don't know where to go with the story anymore. I hope PA5 fix this.

[–] Trioxin_Zombie 12 years ago

I see that having a strong opposing view doesn't go down well. Too bad!. It is what it is. So choke on it, bitch!.

"Initiations over Michael. It's time to join the club!"

[–] SyzyDamo 12 years ago

I didnt think much of PA4, really enjoyed the other 3.

Firstly, the PA series are are supernatural thrillers - not at all 'horror' films. Horror films are generally gore-fests, whereas thrillers, as in the PA series, generally do better by not showing all of whatever is there to scare the audience.

In that sense, all PAs did well. PA1 got let off with a lot because it was a relatively new concept, had very little hype prior to its release, and was able to run under its own merits. As other installments rolled out, anticipation, hype and expectation make it harder for a film to deliver.

My main beef with PA4 is that it wasplain lazy. It even had setups in place that the audience could have been supplied answers to - The coven, the childhood house fire, the symbolism, why Hunter wasnt hunter, why Katie gave him to a random family and who the heck has she been looking after all those years...?

Instead, the film was so obviously a mixture of teen dram and copious amounts of product placement. Its to be expected that once major money gets fronted by companies to support a film, theyre going to expect some sub-conscious-level visibility in the picture, but this was so blatant it was cringeworthy.

Then, when they did put in the scares, there was nothing creative to it. Jump scares dont rate with me and cannot be used as a substitute for genuine fear. PA4 lacked creativity with its scares, and many of the scenes were just mirror copies of stuff we had already scene. Remember the scene in PA1 when Katie was being dragged down the hall by seemingly nothing? THAT was genuinely creepy IMO because it was thoughtful and unique. When we see it in PA2, PA3 and PA4 it loses its lustre...

I think PA4 stands a great example of what happens when studios with money and no creativity try to stand on the shoulders of those before who have truly had to strive to be seen in this oversaturated industry. It just goes to show that you can have all the money and acting talent in the world, but it will never be an acceptable substitute for a good idea and some raw effort.

[–] Trioxin_Zombie 12 years ago

Yeah but this series only had one truly good acting talent since day one. And they killed her off at the end of PA2. Sprague Grayden.

"Initiations over Michael. It's time to join the club!"

[–] nobody_real 12 years ago

I'm with the majority (it seems to be anyway) that this last one wasn't very good. There wasn't much going on until the last minutes. I don't get the point of them going to the trouble of putting up cameras if they're not going to check them, basically, at all. I understand that the writers made dad unable to work his phone, and there was the discussion with Alex and the bf that she didn't really understand how to do it...but did I miss a part where the bf was going on vacation or something? He was over there all the time earlier it seemed, then they put up cameras and he doesn't show up for a week? And it took Alex about 10 minutes to figure out to break the windows out of the car, or to even knock the windows out of the garage door at the very top (they looked like windows up there)? Just seemed like some lazy writing. Pretty sure this is the end of the series for me, only way I'll bother seeing 5 is if it's the last one and something actually happens...series is kind of played out to me.

"Why is it every time I go somewhere, I get waylaid by jackassery?"

[–] kurt-2000 12 years ago

Correct. This movie is no where near as bad as the exaggerationists make it out to be.

[–] lordofthelake 12 years ago

I thought it was pretty good, though not as good as 3.

[–] MurderInc2014 12 years ago

The novelty of this type of horror flick...and definitely of the Paranormal Activity series.... has worn off. The 4th one was one too many. When the mother dropped from the ceiling and the father was thrown into the wall, I wasn't surprised or shocked or hit with a jolt of terror. I was expecting it and laughing. Through the whole movie (and also in some of the previous film), I'm thinking to myself why are they filming this. It makes no sense. I'm sure there will be diehards out there who love every installment and want more but the PA movies have served their purpose....and now have worn out there welcome as well, period. Hopefully this one will be the last.