Paranormal Activity 3

I don't want to jinx myself into suddenly having nightmares and being scared by Paranormal Activity 3, but after seeing it yesterday the movie is just an afterthought. The first Paranormal Activity left me with minor insomnia for weeks and the second was definitely up there on the fear factor charts, but the third prequel did not measure up. I wrote a full review of Paranormal Activity 3 today for "my" paper, the Oakdale-Lake Elmo Review, and I will post it here later this week. At a glance: while I'm impressed with the franchise overall, the third installment was a big disappointment.
I didn't divulge too many details in my newspaper review, and won't here either, but I do have a few things to further point out about the plot.
First of all, while it's been a trend in the Paranormal Activity series to slowly build up to the scary scenes, it took way too long here. And I would say a majority of the moments that did make me cringe or feel like I needed to close my eyes were duplicates or very similar to scenes from the original two.
Finally, considering the warning in one television commercial that the final 15 minutes of the movie would "mess you up for life," the conclusion was pretty ho-hum.
The end is where the plot takes a twist I did not like and goes too deep to explain the demonic force that has been the center of the Paranormal Activity story since its original release in 2007.
In my review today, I recommended for people who have seen Paranormal Activity and Paranormal Activity 2 to see No. 3 and then leave it at that. I saw it because I was curious where the film's plot would go and how scary it would be and I got my answer. Maybe there will be redemption in Paranormal Activity 4, but I think I've had enough.
There are a couple scary movies coming out this year that could restore my faith in the horror genre. I am too chicken to see The Devil Inside after the trailer came on in the theater yesterday, but I might give The Awakening a try. It seems in the same vein as The Orphanage (which I highly recommend) and McNutty from The Wire is one of the stars, so how bad could it be?