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remcowiersma
Reviews
Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)
What did I just see??!
This Halloween night me and some friends thought it would be fun to see part 3 of Paranormal Activity.
Going into the theatre knowing that most sequels suck, we as a group saw the trailer a month before which implied this being a original and well thought through movie.
Boy, what was this a letdown! Besides the major plot holes and easy scares this movie just doesn't live up to it's predecessors. We ended up leaving the cinema with a feeling to ask for a refund (which I never, never, ever do or even think of doing)!
We sat down and saw 2 trailers and all of a sudden the movie started. At some point you go back in time and that is when the true horror started... We see all these people who we don't know and these people are never properly introduced. The acting is just hideous. I never believed a thing that these people did or didn't do. The main character is a wedding filmer who likes to film himself working/editing (How many filmmakers can you have in one family?!). Naturally weird things start to happen and he decides to put up several cameras and watch what happens.
We are introduced to "ghost" Toby. One of the girls can communicate with Toby. And here is where I started to think where are they going with this? Couldn't they find a better child actress for this role? The way the 2 girls act is just not believable and looks directed. When the girl is talking to Toby for the first time, I started laughing. A scene which is supposed to be really scary just turned into pure comedy for me and at that point I've lost interest and just started to see the big flaws of it all.
For a film that has a huge budget, the special effects are cheap. We've all seen these effects before in many movies and they didn't scare me.. Sound effects are descent but not as good as in the other 2 films. Most of the scare moments work, but sadly you see it coming 5 miles away (when you go look in a closet of course something comes out of it!). The look and feel of this film isn't '80s. Clothing and the way the house is decorated is a mix between the '80s till now. Only the babysitter really looks '80s. The actors never seem to make any effort to make it believable and that shows.
I feel like the writer couldn't decide where to go with this story and decided to make an easy escape and to pave the path for part 4. When you watch the trailer you tend to think that this could be a good sequel. Sadly when you see the film nothing that you saw in the trailer comes back and that is a huge letdown. The trailer had so much potential and the movie doesn't live up to it.
Acting 1/5, Special effects 1/5, Sound effects 2/5, Story 1/5, Look and feel 1/5.
Insane (2010)
Sadly Bad...
At a first glance this movie looks promising. The poster looks good, the killer looks pretty descent and yes, I thought the trailer itself was OK. When you read the plot it immediately reminds you of the great horror classic 'Psycho' which is in itself shouldn't be a big problem considering the fact that movies always recycle the same stuff for decades. Being inspired by these movies could result in a new (cult)classic.
Sadly this didn't happen here. The real terror of enduring this badly made flick already begins in the first minutes of the movie. And it doesn't get better until the end credits roll on the screen. The look and feel of the movie isn't natural. It looks like everything was edited later on in the movie. The Polaroid pictures that the killer leaves behind to let the victims know he is coming is an example of this. These just look terrible and WHY would a killer (who just wants to kill) leave pictures behind letting the victim know he is there before killing them while he could just kill them off instead of taking the freaking picture?!
Besides the major plot holes, bad camera, bad music, bad editing, bad special effects and the terrible acting this movie is just not good. It lacks character explanation which is essential for this type of movie. You must want the Heroin to win and succeed or even be excited when she is trying. Unfortunately you never feel for any character in this movie. Maybe it's because of the actors who just where more involved in trying to speak perfect English, when they all are Swedish, which resulted in (again) an unnatural feel.
On the plus side, I have to admit, there are 2 scenes which are absolutely brilliant. (One is when a victim clicks on the light and the killer is next to her bed. The other one when the heroin is walking in a dark room and not looks back but we see the killer waiting in the dark.)
Sadly, I was tempted to watch this when it still had a rating of 7,4 and someone called this better then 'Let the Right One In'. Obviously these guys have worked on this film or had a relation with the film. Saying that this is better than (also recent Scandinavian horror) 'Let the Right One In' and 'Frostbitten' is saying that you can better eat a rotten tomato then a perfect gourmet dinner.
So, all in considering, I have to give this movie 1 star. If I could give this movie 0 stars then still I had to give 1 star. Just for the effort and the 2 great scenes.