Directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, known for their controversial Sundance film “Catfish,” are working from the same essential bones as the previous two “Paranormal” movies — a family suspects a threatening, supernatural presence has invaded their home, and so they begin to videotape themselves around the clock in hopes of capturing proof. But there is a fresh, active energy here largely missing from the rather lumbering maneuvers of the earlier “found footage” fright flicks.

The “Paranormal” trilogy centers on two sisters who seem to be cursed by some sort of demon. The first film focused on one adult sister and the second on the other, so for this third film (written by Christopher Landon, also a screenwriter on “Paranormal Activity 2”) the story goes back to the time when the siblings were children and answers some of the questions that have hovered over the series. (Namely, why them?) - Mark Olsen