Paranormal Activity 3 is a 2011 American found footagesupernatural horror film, directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. It is the third installment of the Paranormal Activity series and serves as a prequel, mostly set 18 years prior to the events of the first two films. It was released in theaters on October 21, 2011. Paranormal Activity 3 was also Joost and Schulman's first horror film. The film broke financial records upon release, setting a new record for a midnight opening for a horror film and the best opening day for a horror film in the United States.
Plot
In 2005, Katie delivers a box of old videotapes to her pregnant sister Kristi and her husband Daniel, which holds footage of young Katie and Kristi with their mother, Julie, and her boyfriend Dennis. A year later, Kristi and Daniel's house is ransacked and the tapes are missing. In 1988, a young Katie and Kristi are living with their mother Julie and her boyfriend Dennis. Dennis notices that since Kristi's imaginary friend "Tobi" appeared, strange things have been happening around the house. Dennis and Julie attempt to make a sex tape, but are interrupted by an earthquake. The camera shows dust fall from the ceiling and land on an invisible figure in the room. While reviewing the footage, Dennis notices the strange incident. His friend Randy suggests that Dennis place cameras throughout the house. That night, Kristi wakes up and talks to someone off-camera. When Dennis questions her, Kristi tells him it was Tobi. Dennis and Julie hire a babysitter named Lisa to watch the kids, but she becomes desperate to leave due to several terrifying incidents. The following night, Kristi tells Tobi they're not friends anymore. Dennis discovers a strange symbol in the girls' closet and finds the same symbol in a book about demonology. When Kristi becomes ill, Julie and Dennis take her to the hospital. Katie is left home with Randy, and they play Bloody Mary in the bathroom. Randy is attacked and discovers a large scratch on his torso. They try to leave the bathroom, but a black figure moves and furniture is violently flung across the room. After Julie and Dennis return, Randy warns that whatever they're dealing with is dangerous. Dennis tells Julie that the symbol he found belonged to a witches' coven that ; they would not remember anything afterward. Julie dismisses his claim. The demon harms Katie until Kristi agrees to do what it asks. She asks her mother to take them to her grandmother Lois's house in Moorpark, California. After Julie encounters frightening activity herself, she agrees to go to Lois's home. At 1 am, they are awoken by loud disturbances and Julie goes to investigate. When she fails to return, Dennis goes to look for her. He finds occult imagery on the walls, including the symbol from the girls' room, and discovers several women, including Lois, dressed in black. He flees back to the house, with the women in pursuit, and finds Julie's limp body levitating above the ground. Her body is thrown at Dennis, knocking him down the stairs. He hides with Kristi in a closet until the demon leaves. Dennis and Kristi then walk into the kitchen. In the window, Dennis sees the women outside, circling around a bonfire. They find Katie crying near Julie's body. Dennis approaches Katie, but when he touches her, she unleashes a demonic scream that throws him to the other side of the room, injuring his leg. Lois stands before him, and Dennis's body is violently contorted, killing him. Lois then beckons to Kristi and Katie and tells them to get ready. Before they head upstairs, Kristi calls for Tobi and growling sounds are heard upstairs.
began in June 6, 2011 and ended on August 5. At the time during production, the film was under the name "Sports Camp". The film was directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. Jason Blum, Oren Peli and Steven Schneider produced, along with Akiva Goldsman serving as executive producer. With a script written by Christopher B. Landon, the prequel was released on October 21, 2011. In some of the trailers, many of the scenes weren't shown in the final cut, which angered many of the fans. Once again using unique social media strategy after the success of the first two films, Paranormal Activity 3 created the "Tweet Your Scream" campaign on Twitter in preparation for the release.
Reception
Box office
The film performed even better than its predecessors, grossing $8 million from midnight showings, setting yet another record for a horror film. Its total Friday gross was an estimated $26.2 million, which was the best opening day gross for a 2011 film since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 in July. Bringing its total to $52.6 million, it set a new record for the franchise, a horror film. At the time of its release, it set a new opening weekend record for a film released in the month of October as well as the fall season. Paranormal Activity 3 grossed $104,028,807 in the United States and Canada, along with $101,675,011 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $205,703,818, making it the highest-grossing film in the 'Paranormal Activity' series.
Critical response
Review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes reports that 67% of 124 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 5.95/10. The website's consensus is, "While the jolts and thrills are undeniably subject to the diminishing returns that plague most horror sequels, Paranormal Activity 3 is a surprisingly spine-tingling treat." Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 59 based on 25 reviews. CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade moviegoers gave the film was a "C+" on an A+ to F scale. Conversely, Roger Ebert gave the film a single star out of four, stating that "the appeal has worn threadbare", but predicting that the film will fare well in the box office nevertheless.
Home media
Paranormal Activity 3 was released on DVD/Blu-ray and video on demand/pay-per-view on January 24, 2012, and includes an unrated director's cut, "lost tapes", theatrical version, and digital copy. A one-disc theatrical version of the movie was released on DVD on February 14, 2012.
Sequel
In January 2012, Paramount announced there would be a fourth film in the franchise. It was to be directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, the directors of the third film. Filming started in late June. The film was released on October 19, 2012. On August 1, 2012, the first trailer was released, teasing this film with the tagline, "all the activity has led to this".
