The fifth and final installment of the Paranormal Activity series is, well, it’s pretty normal. I myself haven’t seen all the paranormal activity movies. The last one I watched was Paranormal Activity 3 with my roommate freshman year, but it seems things haven’t changed much.
This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it really isn’t that great either. There is a story that all the movies work towards tieing together and Paranormal Activity-The Ghost Dimension seems to wrap things up well enough.
By the end of the movie you will finally understand the cause behind all the spooky stuff from previous movies, but if you haven’t seen any of the previous movies there is no need to worry.
The Ghost Dimension is capable of acting as a standalone movie. There are ties back to previous movies, but they’re loose to say the least. At no point did I find myself wondering what was going on or feeling like I was missing information that might have been provided in other movies in the series.
This is the main flaw of The Ghost Dimension as a chapter in a greater story. The movie doesn’t really relate in any strong way to the previous films.
If you pick up the one of the later books in the Harry Potter series, you would likely find yourself enjoying the story itself but also run across parts that you wouldn’t have the context for that the previous books provide. The greater story has a depth overall that requires multiple books or parts. The Ghost Dimension will not do this to you.
If you are just interested in a decent scare though, The Ghost Dimension ma be for you. Now, this movie certainly isn’t the scariest I’ve seen, but it also wasn’t plainly boring either. The film does a good job of building suspense, and moves at a pace overall that isn’t over- or underwhelming.
It makes use of many of the tropes found in classical horror and thriller films, and it’s pretty easy to tell when something spooky is about to happen.
Even when you know that something is coming though, the movie delivers.
It’ll make you jump if you let it. But if you’re adamant about not allowing yourself to get scared or engaged in the film you will find it pretty easy to keep your distance.
The use of the handheld camera and hidden camera viewpoints is somewhat interesting, but if you’ve seen any of the previous movies it’s gotten old by now. The special effects are decent for the budget and style of film it is, and so I have no complaints or praise there.
The dialogue is okay, and there is some mildly crass humor that lightens up the beginning of the film, but by the time things start to get serious the humorous dialogue ends, and I found myself paying less attention to the quality of the dialogue and more engrossed in observing everything that was going on and preparing myself for the scares.
Overall, Paranormal Activity-The Ghost Dimension is a decent stand alone film. If you haven’t seen any of the others in the series, and want a taste then this is a good choice. It’ll give you a decent scare if you let it.
Sadly though, it isn’t just a standalone but the end of a five movie series. When this is taken into consideration, well, the movie seems pretty normal and not significantly different from its predecessors. All in all, this installment in the Paranormal Activity series is pretty normal.