Paranormal Activity

*** PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 Directed by: Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman Written by: Christopher B. Landon Starring: Chloe Csengery, Jessica Tyler Brown, Lauren Bittner, Christopher Nicholas Smith At: Boston Common, Fenway, suburbs Running time: 85 minutes Rated: R (some violence, language, brief sexuality, drug use) In their gimmicky, low-budget way, the "Paranormal Activity" movies reinvent cinema from the ground up. The first installment was made for about $32 and grossed over $100 million on the strength of its absurdly simple set-up: A couple hears spooky noises and...

"Paranormal Activity 3" didn't just go bump in the night. It made a ton of noise at the box office with a record-setting $54 million opening. The third film in Paramount Pictures' low-budget fright franchise had the biggest debut ever for a horror movie, according to studio estimates yesterday. It broke the record part two set a year ago with $40.7 million. It's also the biggest opening ever for an October release, topping the $50.35 million Paramount's "Jackass 3D" made last year. Last week's No. 1 release, the futuristic boxing robot adventure "Real Steel," fell to second place.

"Paranormal Activity 3" didn't just go bump in the night. It made a ton of noise at the box office with a record-setting $54 million opening. The third film in Paramount Pictures' low-budget fright franchise had the biggest debut ever for a horror movie, according to studio estimates yesterday. It broke the record part two set a year ago with $40.7 million. It's also the biggest opening ever for an October release, topping the $50.35 million Paramount's "Jackass 3D" made last year. Last week's No. 1 release, the futuristic boxing robot adventure "Real Steel," fell to second place.

***½ The Mill and the Cross (unrated), 14 ***½ Take Shelter (R), 10 *** Paranormal Activity 3 (R), 12 **½ Margin Call (R), 13 ** The Mighty Macs (G), 16 *½ Johnny English Reborn (PG), 15

***½ The Mill and the Cross (unrated), 14 ***½ Take Shelter (R), 10 *** Paranormal Activity 3 (R), 12 **½ Margin Call (R), 13 ** The Mighty Macs (G), 16 *½ Johnny English Reborn (PG), 15

Victims in horror-movie hauntings suffer like homeowners who buy vermin-infested real estate. Despite obvious, terrifying physical evidence, they refuse to consult an expert - until it’s too late. In “Paranormal Activity,’’ an invisible force bedevils San Diegans Katie (Katie Featherston) and Micah (Micah Sloat), and they battle back, chronicling the entity’s every offense with HD video equipment. “This is my house, nothing’s gonna mess with my girlfriend!’’ Micah vows, as Katie retreats to their no-longer-private bedroom.

“Paranormal Activity 2’’ has to hold some kind of a record: It’s a sequel, a prequel, and a remake all in one. The movie follows 2009’s “Paranormal Activity,’’ the bloodless no-budget ghost story that grossed more than $100 million, but the plot of “2’’ leads up to and over-explains the events of the first film. The producers being no fools, the new movie’s also a virtual carbon copy of the original in structure, feel, and carefully doled-out camcorder jolts.

“Saw 3D’’ had to go there. Well, it had to try. A few body parts make their way toward you. Drops of digital blood — there’s rarely another kind anymore — float in the middle of the screen. But, if we’re to believe posters heralding a final chapter, this is a pitiful goodbye. This series never cared for filmmaking. It never cared for human life. Now it doesn’t even care for its audience or itself, scraping together the gist of the other movies, simply in order to have something to sell for Halloween.

HOLLYWOOD - Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson are two blue-collar buddies who work as plumbers for Roto-Rooter in Warwick, R.I. But if there's something strange in your neighborhood, they're the people to call to investigate whether that house, museum, prison, ship, lighthouse, hotel, or castle is haunted. They have become the most unlikely TV stars. Over the last three years, they have brought their paranormal search to television as the stars of Sci Fi's popular reality series "Ghost Hunters," which kicked off its new season a week ago with a visit to two...

**½ CHRONICLE Directed by: Josh Trank Written by: Trank and Max Landis Starring: Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell, Michael B. Jordan At: Boston Common, Fenway, suburbs Running time: 84 minutes Rated: PG-13 (intense action and violence, thematic material, some language, sexual content, teen drinking) Thirteen years after "The Blair Witch Project" kicked it off, the found-footage genre is finally expanding its boundaries beyond ghost stories ("Paranormal Activity")

*** PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 Directed by: Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman Written by: Christopher B. Landon Starring: Chloe Csengery, Jessica Tyler Brown, Lauren Bittner, Christopher Nicholas Smith At: Boston Common, Fenway, suburbs Running time: 85 minutes Rated: R (some violence, language, brief sexuality, drug use) In their gimmicky, low-budget way, the "Paranormal Activity" movies reinvent cinema from the ground up. The first installment was made for about $32 and grossed over $100 million on the strength of its absurdly simple set-up: A couple hears spooky noises and...

“Saw 3D’’ had to go there. Well, it had to try. A few body parts make their way toward you. Drops of digital blood — there’s rarely another kind anymore — float in the middle of the screen. But, if we’re to believe posters heralding a final chapter, this is a pitiful goodbye. This series never cared for filmmaking. It never cared for human life. Now it doesn’t even care for its audience or itself, scraping together the gist of the other movies, simply in order to have something to sell for Halloween.

“Paranormal Activity 2’’ has to hold some kind of a record: It’s a sequel, a prequel, and a remake all in one. The movie follows 2009’s “Paranormal Activity,’’ the bloodless no-budget ghost story that grossed more than $100 million, but the plot of “2’’ leads up to and over-explains the events of the first film. The producers being no fools, the new movie’s also a virtual carbon copy of the original in structure, feel, and carefully doled-out camcorder jolts.

Victims in horror-movie hauntings suffer like homeowners who buy vermin-infested real estate. Despite obvious, terrifying physical evidence, they refuse to consult an expert - until it’s too late. In “Paranormal Activity,’’ an invisible force bedevils San Diegans Katie (Katie Featherston) and Micah (Micah Sloat), and they battle back, chronicling the entity’s every offense with HD video equipment. “This is my house, nothing’s gonna mess with my girlfriend!’’ Micah vows, as Katie retreats to their no-longer-private bedroom.

HOLLYWOOD - Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson are two blue-collar buddies who work as plumbers for Roto-Rooter in Warwick, R.I. But if there's something strange in your neighborhood, they're the people to call to investigate whether that house, museum, prison, ship, lighthouse, hotel, or castle is haunted. They have become the most unlikely TV stars. Over the last three years, they have brought their paranormal search to television as the stars of Sci Fi's popular reality series "Ghost Hunters," which kicked off its new season a week ago with a visit to...

IT’S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY (Comcast Movies: All Movies) Filmmakers Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (“Half Nelson,’’ “Sugar’’) go amiably soft on us with this gentle comedy about a New York teenager (Keir Gilchrist) in a psych ward. It’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’’ Lite, often charming but just as often skirting real emotional pain. With Zach Galifianakis and Emma Roberts. (PG-13; runs through June 27) TY BURR LIFE AS WE KNOW IT (Comcast Movies: All Movies)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Strapped for cash, Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell didn’t think twice about auctioning off a camera he brought back from the moon 40 years ago. But Uncle Sam thought about it - plenty. Armed with information from a New York auction house, the federal government sued Mitchell on Thursday, saying he was trying to sell property that was not his. “Defendant Edgar Mitchell is a former NASA employee who is exercising improper dominion and control over a NASA Data Acquisition Camera,’’ government lawyers wrote in the lawsuit filed in federal court.