and many of the negative reviews seem to want PA4 to be something other than it is. what's fun about this franchise for me is the limitations and how in each film they work within a pretty narrow range of possibilities.
my least favorite thing about these movies is the characters, and in each successive film they become even more annoying running at the mouth suburban hipsters yet all of that serves to make it so that you can hardly wait for them to get it from the demon princess, anything to shut them up. "Whoa! Awesome!" is about as far as they seem able to process anything that goes on around them no matter how frightening. I really liked how the blonde girl's character is shown to be so weak whenever tested. she tears off in a panic when a pretty nonthreatening middle-aged coven lady asks, "Excuse me, can I help you?" yet she doesn't even lock her door at night when she knows the spooky boy (who was pretty great) has been climbing into her bed at night and "copping a feel" in the words of the #1 annoying character in the movie, the unbearable boyfriend.
still this movie had some standout moments of stupidity that were pretty unforgivable. the very worst: when dad is confronted with a forcefully thrown knife in the kitchen in the middle of the night but is put off communicating to the wife what has just happened cause she dismisses him, "do you have any idea what time it is? come on, get into bed!"
and the ending was terribly abrupt, a 2 second shot of a bunch of witchy extras closing in then Katie lurching with pointy teeth. kind of lame...
found it amusing that at times the movie seemed to hold on to the conceit that all we see is the result of home video shooting by a fingernail, the rule very nearly violated at times. stepping outside for a minute one realizes that whatever the actual budget, this movie might have been shot for heck under $3000. in that respect one has to take off one's hat eh? no question.
anyway I agree that the first one was the best. the first one was more than anything about a man and a woman and their relationship, their power dynamics at home, for the most part. the demon story is well told but the substance of the movie is mainly the interaction between this couple.
in the end anyway I admire them for being able to keep this thing going up to the standard that they have, without much reservation. it's no mean feat!
my least favorite thing about these movies is the characters, and in each successive film they become even more annoying running at the mouth suburban hipsters yet all of that serves to make it so that you can hardly wait for them to get it from the demon princess, anything to shut them up. "Whoa! Awesome!" is about as far as they seem able to process anything that goes on around them no matter how frightening. I really liked how the blonde girl's character is shown to be so weak whenever tested. she tears off in a panic when a pretty nonthreatening middle-aged coven lady asks, "Excuse me, can I help you?" yet she doesn't even lock her door at night when she knows the spooky boy (who was pretty great) has been climbing into her bed at night and "copping a feel" in the words of the #1 annoying character in the movie, the unbearable boyfriend.
still this movie had some standout moments of stupidity that were pretty unforgivable. the very worst: when dad is confronted with a forcefully thrown knife in the kitchen in the middle of the night but is put off communicating to the wife what has just happened cause she dismisses him, "do you have any idea what time it is? come on, get into bed!"
and the ending was terribly abrupt, a 2 second shot of a bunch of witchy extras closing in then Katie lurching with pointy teeth. kind of lame...
found it amusing that at times the movie seemed to hold on to the conceit that all we see is the result of home video shooting by a fingernail, the rule very nearly violated at times. stepping outside for a minute one realizes that whatever the actual budget, this movie might have been shot for heck under $3000. in that respect one has to take off one's hat eh? no question.
anyway I agree that the first one was the best. the first one was more than anything about a man and a woman and their relationship, their power dynamics at home, for the most part. the demon story is well told but the substance of the movie is mainly the interaction between this couple.
in the end anyway I admire them for being able to keep this thing going up to the standard that they have, without much reservation. it's no mean feat!