Now Playing

Here's a look at the slew of re-makes, sequels, and prequels now playing at a theater near you...

Paranormal Activity 3

Starring: Katie Featherstone, Sprague Grayden, Lauren Bittner, and Christopher Nicholas Smith

Synopsis: When “Paranormal Activity” was released in 2007, I didn’t buy into it as a scary film, but I did buy into it as a unique cinematic experiment. It was shot home video style. It was unexplainable. And it moved away from what horror movies have become — in your face, grizzly, and bloody — to what they used to be, which is suspense driven. The whole film set you up for a few moments of reveals. The idea was to keep you on the edge of your seat, and it worked for many fans. It’s not surprising, given the success of the first film, that sequels and rip-offs would come. Earlier this year we saw a rip off of this film with “Apollo 18,” and now we’re on the third incarnation of “Paranormal Activity.” The formula remains largely the same and, judging by the strong Box Office take opening weekend, the film remains largely successful with audiences. One of the things I thought worked well with “Paranormal Activity” is the fact that the root cause of the supernatural activity in the first film was unexplainable. It ramped up the tension, it made the idea more frightening, and it made the film more interesting. With the subsequent sequels, as a way of building an ongoing story, the root cause of the disturbances has been explained in greater detail. By this third film — which is a prequel that pushes the story back to 1988 when Kristi and Katie were little girls — the root cause of all the trouble has been identified. That works to diminish a bit of what was the most fascinating part of the series. From a cinematic standpoint, “Paranormal Activity 3” is well executed. Christopher Landon — who took over from creator Oren Peli — does a nice job laying out the story, and directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman build in as many organic scares as they can while adding touches of humor. This movie isn’t great and it isn’t deep, but it accomplishes what it sets out to do. Given the proximity to Halloween and the dearth of horror films available, this fills a niche.

Rating: R for some violence, language, brief sexuality, and drug use. Enter with caution.

Verdict: Two stars out of four.

The Thing

Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Joel Edgerton

Synopsis: This is a re-make that's kind of a prequel. That's right, when you're retreading stories you have to find a way to make it sound like it's offering something new. This is actually the third time that "The Thing" has been turned into a film. The first time was in the 1950s, but then in 1982 John Carpenter delivered "The Thing" that most fans remember. Carpenter's films stuck out because they were well made despite low budgets. They were the ultimate "B" horror films. The mistake made here is trying to rely on special effects to tell essentially the same story. The characters aren't compelling and the new effects, while impressively shocking, don't really add a lot to the narrative. This film is OK, but there's nothing really new or special. And, for my money, it lacks the charm of the Carpenter-Kurt Russell version. This is a re-make/prequel that didn't need to be made.

Rating: R for strong creature violence and gore, disturbing images, and language.

The Three Musketeers

Starring: Milla Jovovich, Orlando Bloom, Matthew Macfadyen, Logan Lerman, Ray Stevenson, Luke Evans, and Christoph Waltz

Synopsis: By now everyone is familiar with the story for “The Three Musketeers.” The film is based on the classic novel by Alexandre Dumas, but this version puts a radically new spin on the story. This version of “The Three Musketeers” was directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, the director responsible for “Alien vs. Predator” and the “Resident Evil” franchise. This version of “The Three Musketeers” certainly shares the cinematic sensibility of those films, including the way action sequences are shot and choreographed in much the same fashion as “Resident Evil,” which seems odd given the period piece nature of this film. Another major change is the focus of the film — which is not only on the three musketeers (Athos, Porthos, and Aramis) as well as D’Artagnan, but also focuses on the traitor and assassin Milady de Winter (Milla Jovovich). There just isn’t much to like about this film. The acting and writing are all over the board. The costumes are beyond garish and the plot doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense. It would be good to say this is “loosely” adapted from Dumas’ novel. Mostly, it feels like scenes of plot, dialogue, and exposition exist solely to bridge the gap between outlandish action sequences. And the action sequences weren’t that good. This film is a mess. It’s hard to tell exactly what the goal of this adaptation was, and it’s unsettling that the film appears to have been set up for sequels/a franchise. There isn’t much to like here. Doubtless the goal was to take this classic story and adapted it for the modern, video-game-playing audience. It just doesn’t work. There isn’t enough of a coherent story to help the audience get past the odd way the film is constructed.

Rating: PG-13 for sequences of adventure action violence.

Verdict: One star out of four.

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