Paranormal Activity - The Ghost Dimension: 12 Ways It Ruins The Franchise

9. The Spirit Photography Gimmick Makes The Characters Act Stupid

There's one massive problem with how the spirit photography gimmick is handled in this film: though it theoretically turns the series on its head in a really interesting way, it also makes the characters look incredibly dumb. For one, they initially try and pawn off the spirit elements caught on camera as a technological glitch, and even when Toby begins flying around, they still don't seem overly bothered despite having tangible proof on film. Secondly, while in the other movies the characters always had the excuse that they couldn't take the film to the cops because they never had physical evidence, now they do. Sure, the cops might pawn it off as a fake, but you could absolutely invite the cops over, get them to hold a camera and they'd see for themselves. The fact that the family spends about 75% of the film in the house before finally deciding to take action despite having unequivocal proof of a supernatural entity from early on is just mind-bogglingly stupid, making them the most idiotic and least sympathetic characters of the franchise. Naturally the film didn't need to be written that way, but it was, helping squander a somewhat interesting concept.