Paranormal Activity 3, the prequel to both one and two, traces back to the origins of the sisters, Katie (star of the first movie) and Kristi (star of the second movie), and their childhood dramas that have followed them through to adulthood.

Set in 1988, the girls' family moves into a new house, and beset by what seems like an earthquake, but what shows up with some strange activity on VHS, their father Dennis (Christopher Nicholas Smith) decides to set up cameras around the house to capture and assess what's going on. 

The actors were strong for a horror flick, and the inclusion of the older Katie (Katie Featherston) and Kristi (Sprague Grayden) that we have seen in the previous two movies certainly helped with continuity and to jog the memory of what had already happened (in the future).

Once again, it is the suspense that is the most thrilling part of the movie, particularly when Dennis sets up a swivel camera made out of a ceiling fan that pans from one room (kitchen) to another (the sitting room) and back. 

Guaranteed that if you see something strange or frightening in one frame and in one room of the house, you have to wait until the camera pans back again at a slow and regular speed to see more, and that is hard to bear.

The tale centres on the young Kristi (Jessica Tyler-Brown) who has an "imaginary friend" named Toby, with increasingly sinister consequences.

This is nail-biting stuff, from the extended scenes where nothing happens to the jumps caused when it does, and I watched most of it with my hands over my face, and through splayed fingers.

Was it as scary as the first two; probably not as scary as the first, purely for the novelty factor of the original, but scarier than the second.

The reason why all the paranormal activity is occurring divulged at the end is a little disappointing for this reviewer, nevertheless, the scenes are riveting and draw plenty of screams from cinema-goers.

>> Verdict: Four out of five stars

>> Paranormal Activity 3 is at Birch Carroll and Coyle Cinemas, Central and Earlville. For session times, check out Weekender.

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