So a few friends and I got the chance to see PA3 at a free advanced screening this week, so I thought I'd share some thoughts to those who may be interested.
PA3 is a bit of a prequel, in that the bulk of the film is shot in the 80s when the two sisters from the first two were young kids. The set up is pretty much the same: the mother's new boyfriend, who just happens to film weddings [and therefore has all the gear] starts to notice the girls acting odd, and strange goings on keep happening in the house. In order to solve this mystery, he sets up some cameras, and then more crazy stuff happens.
The End.
Well its actually a bit bitter than that, but its still pretty much a duplicate of the first two but with a bit more backstory to it and some new scares.
Seeing it in a packed cinema with an audience who wanted to be there is always a benefit: the atmosphere in the cinema was terrific. The way the cameras are set up also provides quite a nice touch to amping up some of the scary moments, in particular a camera that they attach to a fan which rotates from side to side, essentially making it somewhat of a security camera: things happen on screen, but then the camera pans away and it was a pretty nice touch. Built some suspense up well.
Plus it has kids, and you know they're always kind of scary.
I won't go into the main plot points because its not so important, just know that if you liked the first two, you'll like this one. If you didn't like either than you won't like this either, all purely because it's more of the same thing. There's no really big surprises, a few plot twists but its a fairly predictable ride really. What it does well is sound design: when scares happen it gets pretty loud which goes a long way towards making everything scarier.
The scares were, in my mind, less frequent than the others, but when they happened, generally they were better, so I'd rate this one above PA2 purely for that reason.
Anywho, not much in the way of a review, but thought I'd share a few impressions to those who may enjoy the franchise!
Anyways, here's the trailer below:
Also here's a clip from our screening [because it was a promoted worldwide advanced screening they filmed the crowd etc, I make an appearance in the background a couple of times, tall, red shirt, glasses [in particular behind my friend at about 1min in who gives the thumbs up]
