Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015) Review

"Next time I'm just gonna stay at Mom's!"
-Mike Fleege




The 6th film in the Paranormal Activity series follows the Fleege family.  After moving into a new house, Ryan (Chris J. Murray) finds a strange video camera and some tapes.  The tapes show the events of the 3rd film and what happened afterward, while the camera shows supernatural forces that are invisible to the naked eye.  As Ryan watches the tapes, he realizes that dark forces are reaching out across time and are coming for his daughter, Leila (Ivy George).


What Works:

The Ghost Dimension has one of the best protagonists of the series with Ryan.  He's smart, likable, funny, and a good father.  He realizes what is going on quickly and takes a very proactive approach to solve the problem.  It's very refreshing actually and the film makes it easy to root for Ryan.

Ivy George does a very good job as Leila and is one of the creepiest kids I have ever seen.  The scene where she refuses to leave her bedroom is chilling and it's an impressive performance.

For once, all of the supporting characters get on the same page quickly.  I'm so used to having at least one character be dismissive of what is happening for the majority of the movie.  While both Mike (Dan Gill) and Emily (Brit Shaw) have a scene or two of denial, they come around quickly to help fight the evil, which is a welcome change of pace.

Finally, I like the spooky Ghost Dimension effects we see in the first two-thirds of the movie.  They occasionally look digital, but mostly they feel eerie and I like the atmosphere they add.


What Sucks:

It's been a long time since I've seen a movie crash and burn as badly as this one.  I was enjoying myself up until the 3rd act and I can't believe how quickly this movie falls apart.  The entire 3rd act is a mess and doesn't really fit with the rest of the series.  I'm not opposed to an exorcism type scene, but it should have been executed better.

The effects in the 3rd act are pretty awful and even embarrassing.  None of the kills or supernatural effects look convincing and it feels very rushed.

I love the time travel elements the previous movie introduced and was excited to see them return here, but they don't do enough with it.  They had the opportunity to have some sort of mind-blowing twist and they failed spectacularly.

Finally, this movie does a poor job of wrapping up the series.  We still have a ton of unanswered questions.  What happened to the army of possessed from the previous movie?  That was a really exciting concept and they abandoned it completely.  This entire movie is just one big missed opportunity.  


Verdict:

The Ghost Dimension started off strong, but crashed and burned so badly that it's the worst film in the series.  The movie wastes a great protagonist, a creepy kid, proactive characters, and some interesting atmosphere thanks to a truly awful 3rd act.  I've heard a 7th movie is in the works so hopefully that will succeed where this movie failed.

 4/10: Bad

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