Paranormal Activity 4: 7 Reasons It's Killing Modern Horror

2. It's Reductive

This point is behind my own dislike of where the Paranormal Activity genre is headed - yes it is remarkably difficult to change the formula for Paranormal Activity without deviating too far from what makes the franchise precisely what it is, but the longer the franchise continues, the more reductive an experience it will become. Without the traditional concerns for complex plotting or character development, or even traditional filming techniques, the films essentially only rely on the exchange between the audience and the film that happens whenever there's a scare on screen. In more and more elaborate ways, the franchise seeks to recapture the same experience that came with the successful jumps of the first film, and the trend will continue until the infinite degree, at which stage everything that makes the film a film will have been dropped, and we'll effectively be left with two hours of someone jumping out of a dark corner when we don't expect it. Fun to some, yes, but not exactly healthy for the genre, or pleasurable to those who value horror films that really get under the audience's skin. You might as well go and play hide and seek in the dark if that's all you want, and unfortunately, because the film-makers behind Paranormal Activity believe that is all you want, it's precisely what we'll be getting more and more, with each additional sequel. It's the endless search for a money shot - and we all know what that has done to the pornographic film industry. They're stripping away the experience of horror films to the bare bones, and very soon, once the impact has gone, so too will anyone's desire to go and see a horror film. And as a result of this reductive trend...
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