The scares — and there have been some good ones — in the Paranormal franchise depend on what's not happening. The fear creeps around the corners of darkened empty rooms, embodied by the dead, panning eye of a camera that refuses to reveal what the audience is anxiously waiting to see. This fourth installment, directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, may have taken the concept a too far. For most of the movie, nothing happens at all, nor does tension fill the empty space. A teenage girl video-chats with her horn-dog boyfriend while her dissatisfied housewife mom vacuums and her dad throws back beers on the couch. Sure, there's the weird little kid from across the street who's clearly a little off, but this chubby blond creep isn't scary enough to carry an entire film. When the scares do come, they come fast and hard but, unfortunately, far too late. On the upside, P4 has a sense of humor about itself. Watch for a Shining reference that is — one hopes, at least — intentionally comical.
