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Anna Faris is wisely absent from this belated fifth entry in the horror-spoofing series, a laughter vacuum whose race to parody the likes of Mama and the new Evil Dead remake didn’t stretch to writing actual jokes.

Instead we get lots of moronic pratfalls, bewildering celebrity cameos (Mike Tyson, Snoop Dogg) and the unedifying sight of Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan exploiting their tabloid notoriety.

Though Paranormal Activity is the primary target here, this flat-footed farce from director Malcolm D Lee’s (who had better luck with 2002 blaxploitation send-up Undercover Brother ) also aims blunderbuss broadsides at Inception , Black Swan and Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes .

That every jibe lands woefully wide is no surprise, though we’ll give leading lady Ashley Tisdale credit for giving her all to a film that mercifully won’t be around long enough to do any lasting damage to her post- High School Musical career.

Neil Smith is a freelance film critic and writer who contributes regularly to Heat, SFX and Screen International. He's a long-time member of the London Film Critics’ Circle and was a contributing editor at Total Film for many years.