We have two films today and that will be the case for the rest of the month as things ramp up with just a week to go!
To quote the film Pumpkinhead (a good film I recommend it) "You gotta let it run it's course.", as it is with these seemingly endless horror franchises. The Ghost Dimension is the sixth film in the series. Up until now it was the only film in the series that I have not seen not counting the film from 2021. The film is directed by Gregory Plotkin who also directed Hell Fest that I reviewed about a week ago. Again this film features mostly unknown actors or at least those with a very limited resume. If you've seen one or two of the Paranormal Activity films you get the idea but for those unfamiliar I will fill you in. A guy finds an old box in the basement that has a bunch of old VCR tapes that he watches with his brother who has come to stay with him for a few weeks. The tapes are home movies mostly of two young girls named Katie and Kristi. The same Katie and Kristi from the first three Paranormal Activity films.
On the tapes it appears that Katie can see the people that are now watching the tapes even though the tapes were recorded in 1988 and the brothers are watching the tapes in 2012. There's also a camera in the box with the tapes and while watching the tapes the brothers see that it is the same camera used to film the home movies. So they begin to film with the same camera to see what they get. Turns out this camera can film ghosts. That's one of them in the photo just above. Things get more sinister as ghosts, witchcraft, and demonic possession are all suspected by the brothers and their family as being behind the malevolent spirits loose in the house now and causing havoc. "Tobi" is a demonic spirit mentioned in other Paranormal Activity films and is also here in both demonic and human form this time. The main story (the brothers living together with the one brother's family) occurs around Christmas so this could be a Christmas horror film you drag out every holiday season if you so choose.
I'm a sucker for time travel stories which this isn't but it is time travel adjacent. Here's the problem: 9 out of 10 found footage films, as this one is, I absolutely despise. The film quality, due to the fact you're watching video that is supposed to be from the 80's and 90's, is atrocious as you would expect. What is good is the special effects on the video tapes. The spirits look good and even if the adult acting is questionable, the little girls who play Katie and Leila are nice and creepy so no complaints there. Even the demonic spirit covered in a white sheet looks passable so I won't detract for that even though it could easily have gone really bad real quick. So for the first five films in the series I have rated them in order: 3/3.5/3/2/2.5 out of five. This one surprised me a bit as I didn't expect anything from it however it will fall somewhere in between. It's not as good as the first three but it is better than the previous installment and a LOT better than the fourth film in the series. I'll give this two and three quarter (rarely do I give the quarter or three quarter score) midwives out of five. Of course YMMV (your mileage may vary).
Yeah, you gotta like these to begin with to like the depth the sequels try to go to. I liked the first, but some of the sequels don't live up to that bar. This one I liked.
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