This fourth installment offers new creative scares, a fun gimmick and an expanding storyline, keeping itself relevant and scary.
- Scare factor: ★★★☆☆
- Entertainment factor: ★★★★☆
- Occult factor: ★★★★☆
- How shaky is the camera? Not shaky, except for the hand held camera that is sometimes a bit shaky when running.
Paranormal Activity 4 is the fourth installment of the franchise and for the first time we go forward in time instead of back in time. We find out what happened to Katie and Hunter after she first killed her boyfriend Micah, her sister Kristi and her husband Daniel and took their baby Hunter.
It stars Kathryn Newton, Aiden Lovekamp, Brady Allen, Matt Shively, Katie Featherston, Alexondra Lee, Stephen Dunham. Directed by Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman. Written by Christopher Landon, Chad Feehan, Oren Peli.
Duration: 1h 28m
Plot
It’s 2011 and we follow the Nelson family in Henderson Nevada. Teenager Alex lives with her mother Holly, her father Doug and her little brother Wyatt. She has a boyfriend named Ben with whom she video chats a lot. She also has a video camera that she uses often.
One day paramedics show up at the neighbor’s house and the mother is taken away with an ambulance and has asked Holly to take care of her 6-year-old son Robbie. Robbie is the same age as Wyatt and he stays in Wyatt’s room for the next couple of days. But Robbie is a strange kid and when weird things start to happen, Alex wants to know if there is something in the house with them that Robbie brought with him.
So Ben installs several laptops around the house and sets the camera on record. There’s one overlooking the living room and stairs a part of the kitchen and one in the kitchen that also has a small view of the living room. They set one up in Wyatt’s room and in Alex’ room. Her suspicions are confirmed when Robbie gets out of bed each night and even crawls into Alex’ bed. He also sneaks downstairs and talks to someone. That someone is visible with night vision and the Xbox Kinect tracking dots.
Slowly Robbie takes control over Wyatt’s behavior and Alex is really worried. Her parents have marital problems and don’t believe her. Her father even thinks that they have manipulated the footage. When Alex looks up the symbol that Robbie drew on Wyatt she discovers that it has something to do with demons. She wants to stop it. But then Robbie’s mother comes home.
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Short Review
This fourth installment might not have the same suspense as the first movie or the creative scares from the third film, but the tracking dots seen with night vision give a very creepy effect. If someone or something sits or stands very still, you hardly can see them, but when they move they suddenly seem to appear. That is a great novel effect and a fun addition to the found footage franchise.
Thus far we have learned what happened at Katie’s, then at Kristi’s and how it all began and which whom and why and we even got to know Tobi the terrifying demon. Now it’s been 5 years since Katie has killed her family and took Hunter and nobody knew were they went. Until now. First we get to know Robbie, who’s a very weird kid. His behavior is off and Alex doesn’t trust him from the start. But he seems to have taken in Wyatt.
The film offers some fun scares, some very unexpected jump scares, a new great creative scare, while the story gets more explored. The universe of the Paranormal Activity franchise slowly expands with every film adding a piece of the puzzle. It’s a smart choice while the atmosphere and suspense of the first film can’t be repeated, to ad on new tricks to play with in found footage and with images and screens in general, with different effects. With a story that gets bigger, the franchise still manages to keep the scares fresh while they also keep coming back to the first three movies to connect all the films together.
SPOILERS:
The first thought you might have, is that Robbie is Hunter. Especially when we learn that Katie is his mother. But then Robbie reveals to Wyatt that he is adopted and that Wyatt is adopted too and that Wyatt’s real name is Hunter. So it’s no coincidence that Katie and Robbie moved across the street from them. In fact, at the end Alex is closed in by a large group of malicious looking women, the cult that made a pact with a demon.
They have probably put Hunter with the Nelsons and kept track of him the whole time. Now Robbie is preparing Wyatt/Hunter to accept Tobi. Who the group of women exactly is, becomes clear in the fifth film Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones. Whose child Robbie is and if he is a child promised to Tobi just like Wyatt is unclear.
That Katie is Robbie’s “mother” is a big surprise and Katie herself is responsible for some jump scares and some very surprising scares as well. Also new in the franchise is the demonic face Katie gets when she attacks Alex. Her distorted face seems to break protocol and style of the franchise but it can also seen as something new and prepares the way for the next film.
Read more about the Paranormal Activity franchise:
- Paranormal Activity (2007) review
- Paranormal Activity 2 (2010) review + explained
- Paranormal Activity 3 (2011) review + explained
- Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014) review + explained
- Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015) review + explained
Did You Know I Also Make Art and Designs?
you can buy my designs on apparel or stationary, mugs and more. You can learn more about it on my art & design shop page or go directly to one of my shops.