This latest iteration of the Paranormal Activity franchise (premiering on Paramount+) doesn’t feel like it belongs to the series. It feels like a separate found footage film that they slapped the name onto. It doesn’t have any of the trademarks of the series except for some cult behavior which showed up in the later films. But that doesn’t mean it’s bad, it just means they might have tricked me into watching it.

This one is about a young woman who was abandoned as a baby. She’s discovered her family and goes to meet them with a documentary film crew recording everything. The family are Amish and welcome them into their home, despite the film cameras. But, as you might expect, Not All Is As it Seems (TM).

I’d say a good 2/3rds of this film is boring. Just a lot of tedious found footage wandering about and false scares and moments where you wonder why they are still carrying their cameras around. I was all set to give it a rotten score, but the final act livens things up and is, occasionally, quite scary. And while I credit it for not having the usual standard-issue non-ending ending, the actual ending it gives us is still a little disappointing.

It does add in a slightly unique angle of extreme slow motion on the cameras but mainly only so they can engage it randomly (but ever so conveniently) during chase sequences.

Aaaaand… what else is there to say? It’s a found footage film with many of the usual tropes. This is a bad movie saved only slightly by a solid final act. It’s better than some of the recent films in the franchise… it this is really honestly part of the franchise at all. I have my doubts.

Score: 69