Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)

Paranormal Activity 4 is the sequel to the second one and arguably a sequel that no one really asked for. The film follows a completely new family who soon have to look after the child of a neighbour and things go as predictably bad as you would imagine. I mean its pointless pretending that they want to do anything new anymore. The film implies that the little boy that is with Katie is Hunter but its revealed that the boy that the new family have is Hunter so it raises the question as to why Katie adopted a little boy and gave Hunter up. They spend a sizeable amount of the movie making it see like Robbie is strange and that there is something wrong with him and then drops it quickly when the twist is revealed.

Also the boyfriend is so annoying. At one stage it’s revealed he has been watching Alex while she sleeps and instead of being dumped, she is convinced by Ben to put more cameras in the house. She has just condoned his creepy behaviour. There is also the plot point that the parents aren’t get on and there is a bit of marital turmoil but this doesn’t actually serve the plot at all and is another thing that is dropped. It’s the fourth instalment and people who have seen the films will now that silence is followed by a jump scare and this film is so lazy that it relies on them way too much. 

We are nearly at the half way point before Katie appears and at this point I think that this is where the film is going to start ramping up the drama and the tension but no it just potters along and becomes even more boring as the film progresses. The performances are fine but for some reason this film has no scares because its everything we have seen before and bearing in mind that the directors of this did the previous one, its amazing how badly they have done with this film. 

Paranormal Activity 4 is by far the worst of the films in this series. It offers nothing new and this was the point where the producers must have thought that they had rode their luck long enough. The only thing of interest it did was show a bit of a teaser to what would become The Marked Ones. That’s it, a sixty second teaser out of a 90 minute movie. If I had been writing this review in 2012, I would have pleaded with the producers to stop because they had clearly run out of ideas but thankfully the franchise was saved but that’s for another day

Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)

I enjoyed the first Paranormal Activity film because I didn’t know what to expect and it worked really well. The second one had its moments but it was the first one with a different set up. The third one exists purely because they have clued in a way of making a film cheap and yet making a ton of money. For this one they have gone to the beginning to show how this all started. When they turn a sequel into a prequel its usually a sign that they are starting to run out of ideas. 

There is a brief appearance of Katie & Kristie at the beginning to make us believe that this is part of their story but that is all we see from them which is probably a good thing cause the first two films pretty much told us everything we needed to know. We go back to 1988 and despite it being 1988, they still manage to find a way of making it a found footage film even though things would have run on VHS tapes and they only last six hours and in 1988 they would have been hideously expensive yet this doesn’t seem to be a problem for this family. 

The film does the same thing that the previous two films do which is have quiet and then a big bang and nothing really happens. There are some moments which work but the film doesn’t really find its feet until it moves to the grandmother's house and then you find how it all got started. By then the film is nearly over and then it’s a rush to the finish and then its over. There are some good scares but it’s a bit too late.

There are some good moments. The bit where the ghost under the sheet stood behind the babysitter and then it dropped to the floor was pretty good as was when everything in the kitchen was on the ceiling and then dropped to the floor which was pretty similar to what happened in the second film but it seemed better done in this film.

This isn’t a film that is particularly original and doesn’t do anything new in terms of scares. All that it does is fill in the blanks about Katie and Kristie’s early years and when things started to go wrong in their lives. I know a lot of people don’t like this film very much but I don’t think that it's terrible. It’s nowhere near as bad as the fourth one but at this stage in the franchise, it has pretty much played its card and has no real desire to come up with anything new but just fill in the blanks. It’s not 100% lazy storytelling but it’s pretty close.

Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)

After the success of Paranormal Activity, it was inevitable that we were going to get a sequel.  The setup of this film is that it tells the story before the events of the first Paranormal film where Katie’s sister Kristi experiences strange things going on not long after the birth of Hunter.

This film follows the same path as the first one. It knows what went down well and repeated it here. There are moments of silence followed by a loud bang. There was a film critic in the UK who came up with the term ‘cattle prod cinema’ which is essentially something that makes you jump and then moments later the effect is forgotten. Paranormal Activity basically invented this and it got used by pretty much every found footage film that followed ever since.

The idea in the film is that the demon/spirit is in Kristie and she has a son which is the first son in the family so the dad and daughter come up with an idea to transfer the demon/spirit to Katie. I think that this is a clever way of dealing with the spirit/demon and yet tie up the loose ends perfectly. The way that the film links with the first one so well is something I like because I think that prequels should do that otherwise why bother. The fact that Katie comes back to the house to kill everyone from Ali and take Hunter is a nod to the first one but I thought it was well done. It didn’t make me jump like the ending of the first one did but it’s still a good ending. Apparently there was a version of that ending where you hear a neck break implying that Hunter died which would have been a terrible way to end the film and doesn’t make sense because why would Katie go into another room that doesn’t have a camera because of course Katie wants to spare our feelings.

The performances are better in this film. Sprague Grayden is perhaps the most famous person in these films because she’s the only one I had heard of before seeing the film. She had been in shows like Sons of Anarchy and 24. Its easy to feel sorry for her because she doesn’t deserve anything that happens to her. She doesn’t know that the demon/spirit has been transferred to Katie nor would she want it to have happened. Brian Boland is fine as the dad and Molly Ephraim is also fine although she would pop up in The Marked Ones. Katie Featherston continues to play Katie well but is totally brought down by Micah. I was so annoyed when he came back. Ok I know it made sense for him to come back but he’s even more annoying than he was in the first one.

I think that Paranormal Activity 2 is better than people give it credit for. Yes it rehashes a lot of things from the first film but I think it does them better in this film. The film is well directed and despite all the characters displaying annoying tendencies at some point during the film, its still an enjoyable film.

Paranormal Activity (2007)

Paranormal Activity is the film that brought Oren Peli to the attention of the movie world with arguably his best film. I think like most people this one got discovered at home instead of the cinema. The film follows a couple who are being haunted by something or someone and its revealed fairly early on the its Katie who has had to deal with this her whole live (PA3 goes into painstaking detail about it) and as the film progresses things get worse and it’s the staple of every horror/found footage film ever made.

Micah is an absolute scumbag. Sorry but he is. Everything that happens is because he made things worse and when Katie wanted him to stop, he just decided to make things worse and so it's hard to feel anything for him. There is a point in the movie when Katie says that maybe they shouldn’t have the camera and Micah replies that this stuff is golden. He is the biggest moron in history. I know in horror films there should be at least one but I can't think of anyone who does more to annoy spirits and bad stuff than Micah.

There is a point where even the stupidest of people would think that this is the best time to drop the camera stuff and make up with his girlfriend but no, he seems to ramp up his stupid activities. You could also argue that Katie is to blame for putting up with him but I suppose every character in a horror film has to have some flaws. 

The ending of the film is one of the reasons why I like this film. I didn’t know much about this film when I first saw it and I watched it at a friend's house with the lights off and the sight of Micah’s body flying towards the screen was one of the biggest jump scares I have had in a very long time. Even know I still find it a thrilling ending and that shows how good the film works. I know there is a version where Katie sits in the bedroom by the bed and then sometime later police enter the house and kill Katie (which I have seen on YouTube) but I would like to have seen that ending on the DVD because I think that it works as a better ending but I suppose the ending they went with is perhaps the best one for continuing a story.

This is the best of the Paranormal Activity films because after this, you knew what to expect and I think it was in the reviews for this film that I first heard the term ‘cattle prod cinema’ referring to the habit of jump scares which aren’t that difficult to create and only have a moment in your mind before you move on. I think that The Marked Ones is the next best but this Paranormal Activity will always be the one that I stick on first and think that this film is responsible for the tidal wave of found footage films that followed which showed that you can make them cheaply with a flimsy plot but still make some money even if the IMDB rating isn’t the best.

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

I remember seeing Cloverfield in the cinema and thinking that it was really good and always hoping that a sequel would happen. As the years progressed, those hopes started to go away thinking it would never arrive but then out of nowhere it did and eight years after the first one, we get a sequel of sorts. The story follows Michelle who gets in a car accident and is rescued by Howard who is keeping her in his bunker because an attack happened outside. What the film becomes is a question about who is the monster, whats outside or whats inside the bunker.

The film largely works as a three hander because all we have is John Goodman (who is brilliant), Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Michelle who is just trying to get out of the bunker and is also very good especially when she is against John Goodman. The third person is John Gallagher Jr as Emmitt who does feel like the third wheel but does freshen things up although he is slightly expendable.

The problem with this film is that the ending feels bolted on. From what I have read online, the original story was just the bunker stuff and then JJ Abrahams’ production company got hold of the story and added the Cloverfield bit onto it. He would do this with the Cloverfield Paradox to less successful results but in the case of 10 Cloverfield Lane it does feel like they just about get away with it even though I cant get rid of the feeling that the ending is bolted on.

10 Cloverfield Lane would still be a very good film even without the Cloverfield stuff and that is how good I found the film. The performances were really good and also the directing made certain moments of the film feel tense.

The Good Boy (2025)

Good Boy (or Heel as its known on Letterboxd) sees Tommy played by Anson Boon who is a totally unlikeable man who causes fights, takes drugs, has sex and is then kidnapped by Chris (Stephen Graham) who has him chained up in the basement. Chris lives with his wife Kathryn (Andrea Riseborough) and their son Jonathan (Kit Rakusen). The film is directed by Jan Komasa who previously directed Hater which was one of my favourite foreign language films of 2020 and this film sees Komasa make his English language film debut.

The film doesn't get off to the best start with what feels like 20 production companies. It reminded me of the gag from Family Guy where Peter is watching a film and there is what he thinks is the start of the film but its just a production company logo and it keeps going and that is what it felt like in this film. Thankfully things improved immediately although I think for some people the loud dance music might be off putting. The film does a good job of making Tommy (Anson Boon) seem really unlikeable. In fact he could come across as too real because I suspect we have all encountered someone like Tommy over the years. 

The film takes place largely in this big house. Now singular settings always go down well with me because it means that your entire focus can be aimed on what is happening in the house. Yes there are moments where we leave the house and go into a more populated setting but those are very brief and dont distract from the story.

Stephen Graham is very good in this film. I feel like at this point saying that sentence is like saying day follows night and Tuesday is followed by Wednesday but he is really good as Chris. He is doing this horrible thing which isnt made better by the fact it’s being done to someone that is very unlikeable. There is a suggestion that he is ex police but it’s never properly explained. In fact there is something off about Graham’s performance which makes it uneasy to watch. It’s difficult to tell if he is the mastermind behind what is happening or is being controlled by Kathryn. I have never been the biggest fan of Andrea Riseborough. I think she is a very good actress but there is something that doesnt quite work for me and i think she seems to thrive in very sad and downbeat roles which in a weird kind of way is why she is so good as Kathryn.  Anson Boon is very good as Tommy. He’s so unlikeable at the beginning but as the film progresses then he matures and becomes a bit more likeable. 

There is one aspect of the plot that feels out of place is the Rina being followed part. I understand that she is at risk of being sent back to Macedonia but having someone follow her in two scenes only for he to be taken by a group of men who don't blink twice at the guy being chained up in the living room but once she is taken then that is it for her story so it seemed to be there just to add a convenient way to write the character out of the story.

At the point where it’s obvious that Tommy would escape isn't done in the way that I thought it would be. Tommy is allowed to leave by Chris and Kathryn which seemed like a strange thing to do and then we see Tommy going back into the club to see Gabby and the film ends with Tommy ‘kidnapping’ Gabby and bringing her to Chris and Kathryn to the only ‘family’ that he has probably ever had. 

I feel like ‘enjoyed’ is the wrong word to use. I thought this was a very good film but I doubt I would ever watch it again. There was a walkout which wasn't the most surprising thing given that it was quite a downbeat movie although that is about the fourth movie this year where someone has walked out although this is the only one that made sense. It was a mystery screening but another one that I am glad that I watched because I doubt I would have seen it of my own choosing. 

The Bride! (2026)

The Bride! will probably go down as the most polarising film of the year and the film had already some negative reviews and my expectations were high when it seemed to suggest that this film was a musical akin to the second Joker film. This is a remake/reimagining of the 1935 classic Bride of Frankenstein and stars Jessie Buckley in her second cinematic role of 2026 as Ida and The Bride and also Mary Shelley who speaks through Ida at several points of the flm. After being killed by members of the mob, Ida is brought back to life so that she can be the titular bride to Frankenstein’s Monster played by Christian Bale. Annette Benning’s Dr Conelia Euphronius is this film's Dr Frankenstein and there are a couple of detectives trying to catch Frank and the Bride in something that resembles Bonnie and Clyde.

Second film of the year starring Jessie Buckley and once I heard about this film I thought that the only thing stopping Jessie Buckley from walking away with an Oscar would be this film. I don't think that this will affect her chances at all which is a relief. She is very good at playing Ida and Mary Shelley. There is something about Ida which even when she is speaking as Mary Shelley she becomes mesmerising. Whenever Buckley was on screen I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen and was totally engrossed with what was happening. I couldn’t quite make my mind up about Bale’s version of Frank because it has come relatively recently after Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi’s version and whilst it is unfair to compare the two because they are two very different films. This version of Frankenstein’s monster doesn't quite have the menace that Elordi’s does. Together though I thought the chemistry between Bale and Buckley was great and the film works because you buy into their relationship.

The only real issue with the story was the use of Myrna played by Penelope Cruz. The recurring gag that she was overlooked because she is a woman felt a bit weak and wasn’t really needed. In fact the whole detective part of the plot felt a bit unneeded and whenever the story moved away from the Bride and Frank was the time of the film where I was less interested in what was happening. The impression that the film gave or was given by some that this was a musical is very misleading. There are musical moments but these can all be written off as just happening inside Frank’s head and they are totally bonkers but somehow the film manages to pull them off.

I enjoyed The Bride!  The film is the most batsh*t thing I have seen for quite sometime and its obvious that it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea due to how disjointed it feels. The film totally flips all over the place and you are either going to be on board with it or not and I was on board from the very beginning. It’s not a perfect film by any stretch of the imagination but the film's flaws are kind of why I like it. I think that the idea that a major Hollywood studio would give someone $80 million to do this sort of film is such a risky thing to do especially for one like Warner Bros. and I am glad they did. I think this will not do well at the box office which is a shame but this worked a lot better than the second Joker film and was a genuine surprise.

Scream 7 (2026)

I can’t quite believe that we are now seven films into this franchise and the seventh time they have tried to squeeze the last drop of money out of the first film. I went into this film having heard nothing but negative things which did surprise me. Some of that may come from fans of the franchise but not being one of them I have just viewed them as slasher films that have at times bordered on pretentiousness. Oh look at us we’ve watched horror films and understand the ‘rules’ of sequels, prequels and something else I can’t quite remember ending in quels. The ‘plot’ sees Sidney (Neve Campbell) and one her kids that we have never heard of before Tatum (Isabel May) and her husband Mark (Joel McHale) and someone is trying to get to SIdney by pretending that Stu Macher from the first film is alive and well. 

I thought that Tatum was quite unlikeable at first. I don't think that it was necessarily the fault of Isabel May but just the way that she was written. She was being grumpy for no real reason. It’s sort of defended with the fact that Sidney is being over protective without telling Tatum what happened to her when she was younger or help defend herself from the inevitable time when someone dons the mask. Thankfully that stuff gets ironed out in later scenes but it was a ropey couple of scenes for her. 

I am quite glad that they went with the idea that Stu’s appearance was AI/Deepfake. The idea that he had been in an insane asylum for 30 years and no one would have spotted him was suspending disbelief a little bit too far. This is another horror film where Mckenna Grace appears for 10 minutes only to be killed off.  It also felt like Courtney Cox was in this film just so they could bring in another legacy character cause they are running low on established characters. She pops up, does the interview with Sidney and then literally disappears for a good 20 minutes. She doesn't really add anything to the story. It was fun to see Matthew Lillard back in the franchise after 30 years but the scene towards the end where he, and other past characters return in a cheap looking video.

There was something else that stood out to me. This was an 18 certificate film and I thought it was less gory than Whilst that I saw the previous week which was a 15. I’m assuming that the stabbing itself is what got it the 18 cause the blood sure didn’t. It does feel like there is a bit of inconsistency when it comes to classification from the BBFC. Most of the deaths are stab related deaths but one was quite impressive and its when of them gets skewed on a drink lever and not only it remind me of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre but when the guy is finished being skewed on it the flow of beer through his mouth did make me chuckle and I thought it was the one creative death in the entire film. 

This is one of those times that I genuinely don't understand the hate. Ok it's not brilliant but it's not terrible either. The previous film was not just the worst film in the franchise but honestly the most boring horror film I have seen for some time and I'm not sure if I can see how this is worse. They will inevitably make an eighth one and a ninth one so it really doesn't matter what we say about these films cause as long as they keep making money then they will keep making them cause Paramount need to pay off that huge debt they’ve now got. Despite all the things wrong with the film it is still infinitely better than Return to Silent Hill.