Paranormal Movie Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: Yet ANOTHER parody film based on "Paranormal Activity."

Review: Why do I keep torturing myself into watching these stupid movies? I wonder if somebody, somewhere is keeping track of what movie is the most parodied in history, because I'm starting to think "Paranormal Activity" must be inching its way closer to the top position. Was there really that much material to work with? I liked PA, and I'm probably in the minority of those that enjoyed PA4, and even I cannot understand the fascination to keep parodying this franchise. You'd think PA was on "Star Wars'" level of fame to warrant this many stupid films pathetically trying to be funny. You know, more than that, PA also has just as many ripoffs as it has parodies so there's something about this franchise that wreaks of cash-in even more than the real franchise! Well, at least this movie was better than "A Haunted House" so it has that going for it, but is that really much of an accomplishment? Actually, there was one major factor that made this film stand out as maybe the best of the parodies (again, not saying much): the many cameos from random actors. But there was a certain oddity to the cameos that enhanced the appearances to make them vaguely humorous; they weren't funny, but some did bring a smile to my face, and I did chuckle once or twice. For example, Tom Sizemore sporadically popping up out of nowhere, Kevin Sorbo strangely quoting "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys," Eric Roberts as a gay demonologist, and even the sexy Maria Menounos as a psychiatrist. It's hard to explain, but there was an unusual sense of humor at work in the writing that you will either appreciate the bizarre nuances or find it all beyond idiotic. Sometimes those little details do make a difference though like how one character is carrying a toy lightsaber for no conceivable reason. Like most of the parodies, however, the jokes still break down to either hit or miss with many more misses; thankfully only one or two gags eat up more time than they should as the pacing is a little tighter here. Another thing that I did like better than a lot of the other shitty movies was that this film acknowledged a lot of its own stupidity while breaking the 4th wall multiple times and even joking that the DVD of this particular movie had been pirated already. Or another instance was how the film starts off with a different female lead only for her to be killed off and suddenly replaced (both are hot though!) and a part where it says how much time you have wasted watching the film thus far. While I'll admit this film did a decent enough job trying to separate itself from the other hundred parodies, let's face it, all of these parodies suck. It's not as though we don't already know which scenes from PA will receive mandatory recreations. They throw in too many pop references which immediately date the movie, try too hard to beat the jokes into the audience's head as if the comedy wasn't already dumbed down enough, keep unfunny setups going far too long, and are unoriginal and uninspired, often copying the same jokes over and over again that were never funny to begin with. This is not to say that a parody can't be funny. There just needs to be more creativity, imagination, and a better understanding of what's funny; this is the main reason why I believe the first "Scary Movie" was so successful and the rest of those movies were painfully awful. Shockingly, "Scary Movie 5" is also using PA as its basis. Overall, this is just another shitty movie about as bad you would possibly imagine with only a few intelligent choices that set it a little further ahead of the pack. If you haven't had enough of these parody films, then I suppose you should check this one out because it felt a little funnier than the others I've seen.

Notable Moment: When Eric Roberts' character says there's nothing they can do about the demon so they should just end the movie and the credits begin rolling. This was sort of clever.

Final Rating: 4.5/10