Paranormal Activity 3 really surprised me. While this ghost story is certainly more of the same, I'll be damned if it still didn't generate spine tingling scares. The entire experience was like taking in a solid Spook Alley attraction. This latest installment of the enduring franchise continues the trend of having the audience experience the terror from the perspective of video cameras set up to capture the ghostly happenings, but it does so with a few creative twists. PA3 was directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman who just two years ago fashioned an underappreciated gem called Catfish. That movie purported to be a real documentary, and while I've always questioned its authenticity, I never questioned its heart. Paranormal Activity 3 knows exactly what it is and it doesn't waver. It takes what worked in the last two films and more or less makes it work again. Joost and Schulman prove to be quite adept at generating nail biting tension even though they're essentially going to the same well, and the reason they pull it off is because they have a surprisingly appealing cast and they are able to tweak the basic fundamentals of the other two films ever so slightly (there's an effective technical bit in this picture featuring an oscillating fan that's been converted to an 80's VHS video camera tripod). The movie lifts from Poltergeist on several occasions but as was the case with last year's Insidious, it never bothered me because I was totally entertained by the proceedings. In terms of story, PA3 gives us insight into the lives of sisters Katie and Kristi as children and without giving too much away, we are now privy to the reason behind their haunting. The final act of PA3 goes off the rails a bit and delves into Rosemary's Baby territory and there are certainly plot contrivances that would make some scratch their head (if you saw video footage of a poltergeist in your home, wouldn't you immediately get your family out of there?) , but overall, the scares deliver and the quiet tension is enough to make you bury your head in your lap and that's what a film like PA3 is designed to do. I wont give away the film's best creep out moment, but I will say it involves a bed sheet. Watching this flick with a packed house was loads of fun and it was one of the most entertaining movie theater experiences I've had in quite a while.