‘Paranormal Activity 3’ – 4 out of 5 stars

Posted to Arts & Entertainment by Megan Suddarth at 10:04 p.m., Oct. 24, 2011

Covenants, cults and curses: the third addition to the “Paranormal” series adds more background to the story of Katie and Kristi than you could have imagined, while also confusing the crap out of you.

This pre-prequel is definitely the most whack out of the three. It catches a glimpse into the lives of the two young girls with their first encounters with the demon, now named Toby by little Kristi, who thinks she’s befriended it. The entire storyline is pretty terrifying, just like the first two. Except this time instead of repeating the same effects for a third time, there’s a new twist to everything. From hair-pulling to a floating kitchen, you’ll be scared out of your wits for these little girls.

“Paranormal 3” also portrays “Toby” as a more real entity. We see little Kristi talking with it, playing tea party with it and laughing with it. Therefore, we realize this entity has already been around for a while and, as you all know, will continue to be around. I will say, though, that I was disappointed that the creepy footsteps were basically nonexistent in this installment. Those footsteps are what I thought made the first two especially terrifying. Don’t get me wrong; this one makes up for it with many new horrific tricks that will still make you jump clear out of your seat.

Then, you get to the end. This is where the movie lost the final star with me. A cult has been thrown into the mix, adding to what we learned in the second movie. However, the end is pretty much thrown at you and you’re left sitting in the theater afterwards running over what just happened and trying to figure out why. With that being said, though confusing, the end is the part that will make you cover your eyes, if you haven’t already.

Though the end takes a second to gather and make sense of, the whole movie will have you sitting with your legs up in the chair, fingers half-covering your eyes with your shoulders leaning on the person sitting next to you. “Paranormal 3” is great for a scream-inducing, stay-up-till-3-a.m., scared-out-of-your-wits kind of night.