Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension

Director - Gregory Plotkin (Black Mass, Hell Fest)

Starring - Chris J. Murray (Bad Roomies, The Temp Life), Brit Shaw (Bones, Dead Draw), and Ivy George (Rhett and Link's Buddy System, Killer Therapy)

Release Date - 2015

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "For the first time you will see the activity"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     When I started this Paranormal Activity journey, I expected to find a series of films that I absolutely hated. Found footage is not a sub-genre that I actively follow and the first Paranormal Activity didn’t look that interesting to me. That’s why I put them off for so long. However, I really tried to go into them with an open mind but I’ve been fucking miserable with this franchise aside from The Marked Ones. The Marked Ones was a fantastic horror film and one of the few found footage films that I enjoy. This made me look forward to the next installment which was The Ghost Dimension. Sadly, this one decided to go back to the way the first three films were made and deliver a piss poor sequel that completely ignore what the previous film introduced. 

      The film once again follows a wealthy family that movies into the home from the first film. The father and uncle find a box of VHS tapes (that was stolen in the sequel?) and decide to give them a watch. They soon see Katie and her sister who are being taught and mentored by a man about their “imaginary” friend Tobi. Soon strange things start to happen involving their daughter and everything is caught on camera.

      The Ghost Dimension is easily one of the worst films in the franchise. It’s pretty much the same story as the first two entries where we follow a rich family who panic when pots and pans start falling off their display racks. It doesn’t work and the fact they returned to the same home, or similar home, with another group of cliched and generic white people made it feel like a forced reboot. The acting in this one is what you would expect. The cast delivers some seriously awkward dialogue and their small talk is so dreadful. I hate when found footage uses this technique to make it feel genuine but after 5 or 6 films at this point they should really focus on story instead of authenticity. The story for this one does take what was established in the first 4 films uses it as a basis for the film but it doesn’t really explore it like it should have. Instead, it reverts back to when the film was more focused on jump scares and shaking furniture. I was riding a high after The Marked Ones and this was a piss poor excuse for a story to follow that film up with. Finally, the film has some attempts at jump scares and some odd looking visual effects but nothing really stands out. We have a little more of a creature design that we don’t really have in previous films but the way it was done was not thrilling or terrifying. Overall, The Ghost Dimension was a huge waste of time for me and an even bigger disappointment. How can you give genre fans a film like The Marked Ones and then follow it up with this unimaginative dribble? Skip it.