The Horror Show
Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension
by Gregory Plotkin
When it comes to the Paranormal Activity films, there are generally three categories that people can fall into: those who love them, those who hate them, and those who just decided to not even bother. It might seem super played, the fact that somehow these families continue to get mixed up with Toby the demon and his cult of followers, but I kinda sorta fell in like with the series from the beginning and saw it through to what I hope is the last film.
PA: The Ghost Dimension, much like the other films, is very different from The Marked Ones. I did a review in 2014 of the fifth film and I genuinely enjoyed it, I’m pretty sure it’s my favorite. With how mediocre PA4 was, I was pleasantly surprised with the fifth installment and I truly believed The Ghost Dimension would be a fantastic follow up.
Much like you’d expect, the film opens with a call-back to a previous PA film. If you can remember Dennis (Paranormal Activity 3) then you’ve really been paying attention, if not, no worries. I had to look it up myself because I couldn’t remember his name, ha! So the film begins with the infamous siblings Katie and Kristi watching as Toby’s spirit breaks Dennis’ back. Grandma Lois then takes the girls upstairs to talk with the creepiest man ever about how important they are.
Flash forward 25 years: Ryan, his wife Emily, his brother Mike, his daughter Leila, and family friend, Skyler, are all about to celebrate Christmas in California. While unpacking all the decorations from the garage, Ryan and Mike find a box of old video tapes and an old camera that is quite peculiar looking. The brothers decide to mess around with the camera and then check out the video tapes. As usual, nothing happens on the first night, but once the brothers delve deeper into the old tapes, they discover Katie and Kristi being questioned by this strange man and discussing Toby (our old pal). Somehow the girls become aware of Mike and Ryan’s presence as the man pushes them to use Toby and see through his eyes. Not only do the brothers discover these creepy things on the video tapes, but they also begin to witness entities in the home when using the old camera that they found. It just so happens that Skyler brings it to Ryan and his wife’s attention that Leila has been acting differently and has started talking to an imaginary friend named Toby.
At this point, obviously, any normal person would say “Okay, these tapes and camera go in this trash bag, and then we’re all going to drive out in the middle of nowhere and set it on fire.” Then, the entire family would take a nice vacation somewhere and the house would go up for sale.
But alas, this is Paranormal Activity, and good choices aren’t made in these films.
What I liked about this film is that, just like The Marked Ones, the possibility of time travel was incorporated. I think the fact that Toby and his cult of followers are able to terrorize families and kidnap children over the span of several decades is far more interesting than the simple concept of a demon trying to cross over into our realm. Unfortunately, that’s about as interesting as this film was for me. I guarantee if you’ve seen 1-4 of the PA films you will be able to guess how this one plays out.
The Ghost Dimension did bring some new things to the table, like the ability to now see Toby with our own eyes, but aside from that it was the same old song and dance. I would have appreciated the movie more if it had incorporated some of the elements of the fifth film and further expanded on the whole “marked ones” storyline. There was unfortunately nothing exciting enough to make this PA installment memorable for me; and that’s a real let down. I would have hoped that the final film in a series that’s been loved and hated by many for nearly ten years would have been something that really blew our minds. What we got instead was lazy storytelling and a predictable ending.
This will be the only Paranormal Activity film that I won’t watch more than once. The previous installments were interesting enough to watch twice in order to connect the dots with all of the other films. The Ghost Dimension, however, downright hands the answers to you, taking the fun out of it. My one hope is that they do not make another film, I’m pretty sure at this point we’re all tired of Toby.
Stevie Kopas, HMS
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