Paranormal Activity

CHICAGO – The official trailer for “Paranormal Activity 3” has just been released!

Rating: 2.5/5.0

CHICAGO – I have written over a thousand reviews and have rarely been as conflicted as I am about my response to James Wan’s “Insidious.” It comes down to this question — do you judge the effort or the execution? I love what Wan and co-writer Leigh Whannell (the team behind “Saw,” working this time with the producers of “Paranormal Activity”) are attempting with their unique ghost story, one that clearly pays homage to an old-fashioned style of horror filmmaking, but I don’t think they quite pull it off. Ultimately, a movie doesn’t exist in theory, only up on the screen, and that’s where “Insidious” doesn’t quite work as well as this classic horror fan truly wished it would.

CHICAGO – In our latest horror/thriller edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 35 admit-two passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of the new film “Insidious” with Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne from the “Paranormal Activity” and “Saw” makers!

CHICAGO – Patrick Wilson (“Little Children”) and Rose Byrne (“Damages”) play a truly terrified couple in James Wan’s “Insidious,” opening this Friday, April 1st, 2011. Produced by the team behind “Paranormal Activity” and written and co-starring Leigh Whannell, the man who did the same double duty on “Saw,” “Insidious” hopes to be the haunted house movie of 2011 with a twist.

CHICAGO – There’s something that horror movie producers never seem capable of understanding. A great horror movie is like watching a magic trick. It doesn’t work nearly as well the second time. The sequels to “Saw,” “The Blair Witch Project,” and now “Paranormal Activity,” are not that dissimilar from watching the same rabbit come out of the same hat with nothing much different than a new colored bandana around its neck. “Paranormal Activity 2” has moments but doesn’t amount to nearly the same overall experience as the first.

CHICAGO – It almost felt like Universal tried to piggyback “Catfish,” recently released on Blu-ray and DVD, on to so many other movies that it somewhat tanked at the box office (not breaking even $4 million) because it lost its own identity; ironic, given the film’s purported examination of the shifting ground of truth known as the internet.

CHICAGO – A truly scary movie doesn’t release you from its grip when the end credits begin to roll. It doesn’t evaporate from your mind like a pleasurable yet disposable piece of escapist entertainment. It burrows itself within your subconscious and follows you like a malevolent shadow until night falls.

CHICAGO – From its first “The Blair Witch Project”-like film in Sept. 2009, “Paranormal Activity” now reigns as one of the most profitable films ever made based on return on investment. But just a short 13 months later, “Paranormal Activity 2” returns to theaters with content and panic tactics that are much of the same.

CHICAGO – In our latest horror sequel edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 20 admit-two passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of the highly anticipated sequel “Paranormal Activity 2”!

CHICAGO – Here’s the most desperate film in many a moon. It tries harder than any recent horror picture to prove that its artificial horrors are real. What it lacks is the subtlety and suspense necessary to actually scare viewers. “Blair Witch Project” did it with ominous sounds in the dark. “Paranormal Activity” did it with time code. Both films proved that in the case of psychological horror, less is always more.