All Critics (99)
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Top Critics (16)
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Fresh (25)
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Rotten (74)
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DVD (1)
We're still seeing things through handheld devices and built-in laptop cameras, even though nobody seems interested in looking at the footage the cameras were supposedly recording.
Even for a something about supernatural shenanigans, this ending is embarrassing.
They could have called this Paranormal Inactivity.
The mood is often playful, with teases and fake-outs that are sometimes humorous and usually right before shocks. Violence is rare, quick and devoid of lingering close-ups.
Screenwriter Christopher Landon, along with co-directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, make a truly lame attempt at establishing a supernatural mythology to explain all this ...
It's all faint-by-numbers this time, without even a cool device like the low-tech fan cam from PA3 to interest us or really scare us.
The fourth entry in the hugely successful film series just can't match the others in the nightmare-making department.
Paranormal Activity 4 is the worst of the series and one of the worst horror films ever made. It's bloated, drawn-out and has no idea how to provide a single scare.
A lack of originality does hold the film back, but with decent work behind the camera and a breakneck finale, Paranormal Activity 4 is still a solid watch if you've an evening spare, or horror film night coming up.
It's a strong and creepy expansion of the mythos, but one that could have used a lot more work in the story department.
The eerie inertia and starkness of the past films' imagery are mostly gone here, and that style is what had set this series apart for me.
Little depth or subtext here. It's tough to care about the fate of a generic, whitebread family and its blonde-in-distress living in an airless, gated-community Nevada. We've seen the creepy kid and freaked-out teens in countless fear-fests before.
The chills are centered at the end of 'Paranormal Activity 4.' Even more creepy is the "cute factor" of little kids that permeates most of the movie. Although the franchise may be running out of steam, this segment is more than mediocre.
And, then there was four. "Paranormal Activity 4″ is a sequel to the second film, not the third, and totally unnecessary, of course.
For the most part Paranormal Activity 4 is effective. It's problem lies in originality. Needed was something more than the "same old" for this sequel to truly stand out.
The latest instalment in a franchise of cheaply made mass-marketed movies that have lined the pockets of producers who chanced upon the holy grail of license-to-print-money filmmaking.
The popularity of this reliable if repetitious franchise suggests that anxieties over the ubiquity and invasiveness of social media and its related technologies may trouble even the most enthusiastic members of the plugged-in generation (even teenagers).
Kids teleconferencing on their stupid computers=NOT SCARY!
Anyone who's seen the other entries can tell you this series has never been about the story. "Paranormal Activity 4' proves this once again, and when you factor in the lazy writing and complete lack of scares, it easily earns the title of worst entry yet.
Unfortunately, this franchise has finally seemed to run its course. There are less quality scares, and now a story that almost doesn't matter.
Orin Pelli's original idea that we'll keep wanting to pay good money to watch a digital clock ticking over has surely run its course now.
When the scares do come, they come fast and hard but, unfortunately, far too late.
A rickety old ride and no mistake, this instalment is for franchise fans only.
This franchise has run its course. Time to shut it down.
A sweet scary little night at the movies.
[Not] just a weaker movie than all three of its predecessors, it's a movie that straight up does not work in any way.
33%
52%
21%
Top Critic
