tricks I just mentioned , and a few additional ones -LRB- they all work -RRB- , but more than the first two films , it tweaks our desire to put a face on evil . The movie is a prequel , set in September 1988 , though it does n't exactly look like an '80s period piece . The spacious , high-ceilinged Carlsbad , California , tract home in which it takes place looks a lot like the one in the more contemporary `` Paranormal Activity 2 , '' with tastefully bland furniture that might have come out of the Raymour & Flanigan suburban-gothic collection . This time , the family consists of Dennis -LRB- Christopher Nicholas Smith , who 's like a skinny young Gary Dell ` Abate -RRB- , a wedding videographer who has banks of monitors and editing equipment in his home studio ; his big-haired sexy wife , Julie -LRB- Lauren Bittner -RRB- ; and her two preteen daughters from a previous marriage . They are Katie -LRB- Chloe Csengery -RRB- , who will grow up to be the Katie Featherstone character in the first film , and angel-faced Kristi -LRB- Jessica Tyler Brown -RRB- ,
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- It would be no exaggeration to say that we spend the 89 minutes of `` Paranormal Activity 3 '' waiting -- taut with tension -- to see a face . Not just any face , mind you . A face of nightmare terror and shivery awe , one that will shoot a scary volt of revelation right through us . We 're never entirely sure if that face is going to arrive , but the anticipation is everything . The movie sets us up for it early on , with an amazing shock as a closet door is opened . Of course , we 're also waiting because , with two other `` Paranormal Activity '' films behind it , `` Paranormal Activity 3 '' implicitly understands that we 've been through enough tricks in these movies -- the doors that open and slam shut , the thuds and booms and scratchy skitters on the soundtrack , the kitchen utensils that fall with a crash , the spectral shapes that you can almost make out -- to now want to see something more . `` Paranormal Activity 3 '' features variations on every one of the