Director: Gregory Plotkin
Notable Cast: Chris J. Murray, Brit Shaw, Dan Gill, Ivy
George, Olivia Taylor Dudley, Michael Krawic
The Paranormal
Activity franchise was definitely one of those “hit it while it’s still hot”
franchises that exploded onto the scene and would, like most of these kinds of
series, go out with a whimper. The quality of each entry varies to a very great
degree (hitting a series low with the fourth entry and somewhat redeemed by the
oddity of its spin off The Marked Ones)
and the weird theatrical release hiccup for this latest entry The Ghost
Dimension kept me hesitant going into the film. This hesitation was deemed
mostly justified though as The Ghost Dimension tries to keep things fresh for
this quickly decaying franchise with some new elements, but it still feels
stale as it goes about pounding the formula home for its audience. It simply
can’t override the issues that have plagued all of the entries since the
beginning and it can’t jump them with quality execution.
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| Everyone is video techs in these films. |
In the hype that was being built for The Ghost Dimension, which incidentally is a dumb title – fans already
know that this series is about witches and demons and not fuckin’ ghosts - they really plugged this idea that audiences
would finally get to see the demons and forces that have been the antagonists
in most of the series. To be honest, outside of the intriguing spin of plot in The Marked Ones about someone chosen to
be a warrior for the demonic forces, this franchise desperately needed a new
angle to keep things fresh. Unfortunately, The
Ghost Dimension has no intention of deviating from the formula of the
franchise despite the new visual gimmick. Instead, these new CGI elements of
demons and portals undermines any tension or atmospheric heaviness that could
have carried the scares and chills. Seeing more shapes and faces doesn’t add to
horror as much as it detracts from the clever tricks that various previous
entries used to keep its audience hooked. As if to add to the insult, The Ghost Dimension then uses every cliché
in the haunted house and exorcism book to sell its new visuals. For well versed horror fans it’s not only underwhelming, but it seems to spit in
the face of what this franchise did well to begin with.
To its benefit, The
Ghost Dimension does bring together some neat pieces of plot to tie in the
various entries of the franchise together. Not to give too much away, but it
dabbles a bit more in the time travel aspect and even starts off with a
familiar scene from Paranormal Activity 3
and builds on that. It’s not quite enough to really make this film the finale
it was sold as, particularly as the third act seems more intent on giving us crazy
visuals than something that ties together plot lines and character arcs. In
fact, the ending can be downright confusing considering it has a bit of time
travel element to it that really messes with the general mythology.
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| Oooooo, scary....right? |
As a Paranormal
Activity entry, it’s not the worse and it works the formula in a way that die-hard
fans are going to enjoy on some level. The new angle of seeing the “activity”
however takes away from the clever scares and fun execution of previous entries
without adding anything of relevance to the plot or scares. If this was the end
of the franchise, it would certainly have gone out with a whimper without any
of the clever pieces that have made each entry at least somewhat enjoyable to
watch. I don’t know if I would put my money on it being the end though as the
franchise is primed for a direct to VOD or home video reaping like many of the
big franchises of decades past. Take it for what it is, but it’s hard to
recommend this to anyone outside of franchise whores and those Paranormal Activity junkies out there.
Written By Matt Reifschneider
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