The actors do their best, with mixed results, but there is nothing new to be mined from Ryan's attempt to uncover the truth behind Ghost Dimension's haunting or Emily initially dismissing his obsession as paranoia.
Paranormal Activity characters have never been particularly well-defined, layered, or even all that likable but The Ghost Dimension's roster, much like everything else in the film, is full of half-hearted outlines and relationships the series has already explored to exhaustion. Worst of all, by the time Ghost Dimension's entity begins to appear more frequently in the final act, the effect is more distracting than terrifying - because in-your-face CGI moments are direct-to-DVD-quality bad.
At times, the effect, which presents any "paranormal activity" as a fluid-like black ether will be overly-familiar (and tired) to horror movie fans - who have seen countless amorphous spectral entities in better films for decades. Instead, Ryan's camera allows the characters and viewers insight into previously mysterious things. The Ghost Dimension, as a concept, completely undermines the series' most successful component - fear of the unknown (and unseen). Similarly, Ghost Dimension's effort in continuing (and potentially capping) the franchise narrative come at the expense of quality Paranormal Activity activity scares - which are few in number and lacking in originality. To his credit, Plotkin attempts to bring all of the earlier movies full-circle with a film that could act as the final chapter - should Peli decide to finally lay the franchise to rest yet, where The Ghost Dimension is a passable (though half-baked) endpoint, it's still thinly-scripted and does little to actually make the events of recent Paranormal Activity films matter - especially PA 4 and The Marked Ones. Like prior entries, The Ghost Dimension story develops within the standard Paranormal Activity template: a nice family moves into new house/meets a new person, strange things begin to occur, a connection to Katie and Kristi is uncovered, Toby gets name-dropped, and strange things become scary - then life-threatening. Unfortunately, where the original Paranormal Activity was a refreshing and haunting indie movie experience, thanks to quality storytelling, clever implementation of the found footage format, and most importantly, chilling use of the unseen to terrorize viewers, The Ghost Dimension is a desperate attempt to salvage the series' waning popularity by going bigger (with CGI special effects) rather than better (a return to the subtlety that made the original two films special).ĭirector Gregory Plotkin completes the series' transformation from inspired haunted house horror to an unimaginative frame for found footage gimmickry - this time in 3D. Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension marks the "final entry" (time and profits will tell) in the fan-favorite found footage series created by Oren Peli. As unexplainable events begin to occur in the family's house, Ryan becomes obsessed with the camera, its connection to the mysterious home tapes, and a shadowy figure that cannot be seen through standard video equipment.
In addition to the camera, the Fleege brothers also find a series of VHS tapes dating back to the late 1980s - home videos that chronicle the lives of two sisters, Kristi and Katie.
Joined by Ryan's brother, Mike (Dan Gill) and Emily's best friend Skyler (Olivia Taylor Dudley), the family begins decorating for the upcoming holiday until Ryan and Mike discover a mysterious custom video recorder capable of capturing images that normal cameras cannot see.
Murray), mother Emily (Brit Shaw), and seven-year-old daughter Leila (Ivy George) - prepare for their first Christmas in a new house. In 2013, the Fleege family - father Ryan (Chris J. In spite of connections to the ongoing series saga, Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension could easily be mistaken for an Asylum B-movie knockoff.