Things are set to go bump in the night once again as the latest “Paranormal Activity 3” trailer hits screens this week.
The newest in the micro-budget found-footage franchise focuses on the early years of the haunted happenings, setting the clock back to 1988. Two young sisters Katie and Kristi make contact with the poltergeist, while dad captures it all on ’80s-era VHS tapes. The child actresses look pretty impressive in the trailer, and the low-budget effects (people and things being tossed around the house) are sufficiently scary. the phantom beating of a meddling medium is especially shocking/scary/funny. Still, it doesn’t seem to offer much that we haven’t been shown already.
Oren Peli, the director of the first film, is staying on as producer, while “Catfish” creators Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman are helming. Like that film, the “Paranormal” movies are fond of presenting fiction in the style extremely personal documentary filmmaking.
“Paranormal Activity 3” opens nationwide October 21.