Runtime:
88 minutes
Directed
by: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman
Starring:
Kathryn Newton, Matt Shively, Stephen Dunham, Alexondra Lee, Katie
Featherston
From:
Paramount
Before
I get to talking about this, I saw the movie in the afternoon and it
wasn't until I got back home that I heard the big news about Disney
and Star Wars. I don't quite know what to think about it yet. It just
came as a major shock to me, needless to say. Hopefully Episodes 7
through whatever are better than the prequels.
Now,
onto PA4. The fact that I just saw it now rather than as early as I
could as with the other three... not a good sign right there. Before
going on, I'll provide links to the previous reviews I've done of the
series.
Now,
onto the film. I did not pay much attention to the advertising this
time around. Turns out it's a good thing. Once I got back I heard
that once again, much of the footage you saw in the advertising
wasn't in the actual movie. Up yours to the people responsible for
having such an audience-insulting thing happen two years in a row.
You
probably know the story already: this time the movie is set in 2011
in Nevada; a normal family discovers that there is a new family which
lives across the street... rather, it's a young mom (who you don't
see at first but you can probably guess who it is) and a little boy.
As they get to know the boy better, the family (mainly a 15 year old
girl and her boyfriend) get creeped out. They have a young boy of
their own and the two types become pals... but I won't reveal too
much more.
I've
enjoyed the previous three entries in this franchise to varying
degrees; overall, though, I liked all of them despite any warts they
may have. This one, though, left a bad taste in my mouth. It's a
shame as the girl and her boyfriend were rather likeable characters.
I was never really annoyed with them, which are legit complaints
about some of the people you see in the franchise. Plus, there's the
creepy unsettling moments you expect from the franchise.
Yet
this story is full of plotholes. For example, for no reason at all
the boyfriend seemingly vanishes for a large stretch of the movie
only to return. Another seemingly important character vanishes, never
to return. You'd think you would want to know the whereabouts of that
person at all times, but I guess not. Then, it's stressed early on
that the two leads always look at the footage that gets shot (via
laptop camera; hey, things are modern now; you also see a Kinect
used); that stops as more serious things happen. That's right, they
stressed how they looked at the footage but suddenly they don't? Why,
that don't make no sense! Sure, if that was done the story would be
much shorter as the doubting parents would have proof, but it's
problems like that which plague the story. I know you can nitpick the
story with the series in general if you really wanted to; this was
really blatant, though. And the ending... the film stops more than
anything else. Even more so than usual. Let's just say this movie
raises many more questions than answers anything that was asked
before.
So
overall I was real let down and disappointed with this. That seems to
be a common opinion. And oh yeah, there seems to be a blatant
“”homage” to something in The Exorcist, and also something
ripped off from The Changeling. No, not the Angelina Jolie movie. The
1980 one with George C. Scott that is a lot better than this motion
picture.
I'll
be back tomorrow night with what should be an appropriate review.
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