After a burglary, Kristi (Sprague Grayden) and her husband Daniel Rey (Brian Boland) install security cameras throughout their house. The cameras capture footage of Daniel firing the maid (Vivis Colombetti) for burning sage to ward off “evil spirits” and a visit from Kristi’s sister, Katie (Katie Featherston). They also capture doors opening and closing by themselves, a dog barking at nothing, and a possessed Kristi ominously staring at her newborn son, Hunter.
Paranormal Activity 2 begins a few weeks before the start of the first Paranormal Activity. By the end, the two movies have caught up with each other and the audience learns what Katie did after she killed Micah. The film also reveals what specifically led to the spirit going after Katie in the first place. (Daniel, you idiot.)
Considering that the sequel repeats the found-footage format and recreates many of the same scares from the first film, it’s surprising just how well it works. The stakes are a little bigger here, in that it’s established that the evil spirit is after baby Hunter. In the first film, nobody cared about Micah, but in this film we actually do care about Kristi, the baby, and Kristi’s stepdaughter, Ali (Molly Ephraim). We don’t care about Daniel because he’s a jerk. Kristi and Katie appear to have really bad judgment when it comes to picking a mate.
Lisa has already done an excellent job reviewing the third, fourth, and fifth films in this series. So I’ll be jumping forward to the sixth film tomorrow.
Katie (played by Katie Featherston) believes that an evil spirit has been following her ever since she was a child. Her boyfriend, a day trader named Micah (played by Micah Sloat), decides to set up cameras all over the house so that he can record any strange things that happen. A psychic (Mark Friedrichs) tells Micah that this is a really bad idea because the demon is intent on tormenting Katie and that it gets off on creating negative energy. Micah doesn’t listen because he’s dumb.
Reading Lisa Marie’s review of The Blair Witch Project reminded me of the other great found-footage horror phenomenon of our lifetime, Paranormal Activity. The whole movie is made up of “found footage” that was recorded on the stationary cameras set up around the house. Because the cameras were all supposed to be sitting on tripods or other surfaces, this eliminated the question of “Why would anyone still be filming at this point?” It gave the first Paranormal Activity film a plausibility that, in my opinion, The Blair Witch Project lost the minute Heather and Michael decided not to turn off the camera and just make a run for it. It also helped that night vision is automatically creepy. Though there have been far too many sequels, the first Paranormal Activity shows what you can do with loud noises, dark rooms, and lots of atmosphere.
Of course, most of my friends had the same reaction to Paranormal Activity. They wonder how someone like Micah could have ever hooked up with someone as hot as Katie in the first place. Paranormal Activity briefly gave hope to dorky guys everywhere, or at least it did as long as you ignored what happened to Micah at the end of the movie. I have yet to meet anyone who watched Paranormal Activity and felt bad for Micah. There’s a lot of sympathy for Katie, but everyone seems to agree that Micah brought it all on himself.
Paranormal Activity has inspired six sequels, with a seventh scheduled to come out in 2027.
Paranormal Activity 4 is the first proper sequel to Paranormal Activity. Whereas the second Paranormal Activity film showed events that were happening at the same time as the first film and the third film took place several years before the first one, Paranormal Activity 4 actually takes place several years after the conclusion of the first and second films. It also makes an attempt to further expand the franchise’s mythology but, ultimately, this film just proves that the more things change, the more they remain the same.
In Paranormal Activity 4, Kathryn Newton plays Alex, a teenager who is suspicious of both her odd neighbor Katie (played by a returning Katie Featherston) and Katie’s creepy son, Robbie (Brady Allen). When Katie is mysteriously taken ill, Alex’s family agrees to take in Robbie while Katie recovers. As soon as Robbie movies in, all of the usual Paranormal Activity stuff starts happenings. Doors are mysteriously slammed, a chandelier falls from the ceiling to the floor and nearly crushes Alex, and Robbie befriends Alex’s adopted little brother, Wyatt (Aiden Lovekamp). Alex rightly suspects that Robbie is somehow involved with everything that’s happening but she can’t get her constantly bickering parents to listen to her. So, she does the next best thing and she gets her geeky (but cute) boyfriend (played by the very likable Matt Shively) to set up every computer in the house with a webcam. Soon, even more strange things are happening and the cameras are there to record all of it…
I saw Paranormal Activity 4 at a midnight screening with my best friend Evelyn and that’s probably the best way to see it, late at night when you’re less concerned about logic and surrounded by a bunch of people who are determined to make the film an interactive experience. The worst thing you can do, while watching a Paranormal Activity film, is to start thinking about why nobody ever leaves the house or whether or not someone would actually keep filming while being chased by demonic spirits. Instead, you just have to sit back and enjoy the silly experience for what it is.
When compared to the other films in the series, Paranormal Activity 4 is better than the first two entries but nowhere close to being as good as the third installment. Kathryn Newton and Matt Shively are likable in the lead roles and there’s an adorable orange house cat who shows up at various points during the film. (The cat may actually be the smartest character in the entire film because, whenever anything weird starts happening, she does the smart thing and leaves the room.) Plus, the house in Paranormal Activity 4 is a really nice house. Seriously, if not for the evil spirits and all that, I would love to live there.
Another year means another Paranormal Activity (or, as Evelyn put it when we saw this film, “Again with this?”). Since these films all tend to have the same strengths and flaws and since they all tend to tell the same story, they can be difficult to review. You can either enjoy these films for what they are or you can just throw your hands up in the air in frustration. If you enjoyed the first three Paranormal Activities, you’ll enjoy the fourth. If you spent the previous Paranormal Activity films wondering why everyone was so busy setting up video equipment (as opposed to just leaving the house), then Paranormal Activity 4 is not for you.
After a burglary, Kristi (Sprague Grayden) and her husband Daniel Rey (Brian Boland) install security cameras throughout their house. The cameras capture footage of Daniel firing the maid (Vivis Colombetti) for burning sage to ward off “evil spirits” and a visit from Kristi’s sister, Katie (Katie Featherston). They also capture doors opening and closing by themselves, a dog barking at nothing, and a possessed Kristi ominously staring at her newborn son, Hunter.
