TheParanormal Activityfranchise began in 2007 and quickly became a cornerstone of Blumhouse Productions. The low-budget found footage film captured audiences and kept them up at night, while revitalizing the found footage sub-genre. With a minuscule budget and a simple but effective approach to the haunted house trope, the first movie became a huge hit.
Now, 15 years later, the franchise has been flagging in popularity. The last few entries in the series have been badly received by critics and fans alike, with the most recent entry, 2021’sParanormal Activity: Next of Kin,even receiving a damning review from the founder ofBlumhouse Productions Jason Blum, who called it terrible. So, what went wrong with the series, and is it recoverable?
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Releasing in 2007,Paranormal Activitywas an almost one-man show from filmmaker Oren Peli, who wrote, directed, and shot the film. The plot centers around the young couple Katie and Micah, who begin to experience supernatural occurrences in their home, which escalate to a frightening intensity. In order to prove what is happening around them, the couple begins to record what is happening in their home with stationary and handheld cameras.
The first film was made for only $15,000, and ended up totaling $193 million in earnings.A sequel was inevitable. In 2010,Paranormal Activity 2, both a sequel and a prequel, was released, and the Japanese language filmParanormal Activity: Tokyo Nightwas also released.
The second film takes place in the months leading up to the events of the first film and follows Kirsti, the sister of Katie, and her husband Daniel. Similar events occur to those that happen to Katie and Micah with escalating intensity, until the timelines of the films overlap. The through thread linking the films together is the demonic entity that has been plaguing Katie and Kirsti their whole lives, now returned to torment them again.
The third film takes place 18 years before the events of the original, beginning in 2005 when Kirsti delivers a box of old home videos to Katie. The videos tell the story of the initial demonic events that happened when the sisters were children in 1988. The film expands more on thedemonic aspect of the supernatural, with more focus on symbols, summoning, and the entity that the girls have named Tobi. It also brings witches and brainwashing into the lore of the films, and is when the series begins to decline in quality for many fans.
In the fourth film, it is 2011 and a new family is experiencing paranormal events. The main targets are the younger brother of the family, Wyatt, and the neighbors' son Robbie. Robbie has an imaginary friend named Toby, and some troubling behavioral quirks like hiding in closets and whispering to himself and arguing with thin air. He turns out to be the son of Kirsti and Daniel, adopted after the events of the first film.Demonically possessed Katiereturns along with a group of women, presumably witches, to take Robbie back.
This fourth sequel garnered hugely negative reviews from critics and fans, with the entry being dubbed as playing it safe and boring. The film ended up with a score of 23 on Rotten Tomatoes and performed the worst out of the series so far. Despite this, a fifth entry titledParanormal Activity: The Marked Oneswas released, focusing on a new family. This film doubled down on the witch sub-plot with the daughter of Kirsti and Daniel being used as a means of exposition. Towards the end of the film, it is explained that a coven of witches, called “The Midwives,” are brainwashing women to give up their firstborn sons to them. Ultimately, their goal is to create anarmy of possessed men.
The ending of the film also inexplicably features time travel, with the character of Hector going through a strange door and ending up in Katie and Micah’s house on the night of Micah’s murder. While this installment fared slightly better with critics and audiences, with a score of 39 on Rotten Tomatoes, it still failed to thrill like the initial entries in the series did. Despite the change of setting freshening things up somewhat, it was still straying too far from what made the original great and adding too much nonsensical lore to the series.
In the sixth film, titledParanormal Activity: Ghost Dimension,another new family takes the stage and also finds thebox of videotapesfrom Kirsti and Katie’s childhood. The new family begins to experience similar events to those in the tapes, with their daughter claiming to have an imaginary friend named Tobi. It turns out their house is on the site of the house that the young Kirsti and Katie lived in. Katie, as an adult sold them the house, which was built by The Midwives coven.
The poorest performing film of the series by far, it received a score of only 14 on Rotten Tomatoes. It also performed the worst financially. Despite this, a seventh stand-alone sequel was released in 2021 titledParanormal Activity: Next of Kin.The film follows a crew of documentary makers trying to make a film centered on a remote Amish community. Of course, not all is as it seems in the isolated commune, and the filmmakers soon find themselves in a terrifying situation filled with demons and possessions.
This most recent entry in the series has been almost universally poorly received. When asked about the franchise in a recent interview,Blumhouse Productions producer Jason Blumbranded the film as terrible, and said he personally wouldn’t make another one. Despite that, a sequel is in the works and set to release next year.
Moving too far away from what made the original great has undoubtedly hurt the franchise over time. Of course, new ideas have to be introduced into a long-running franchise to keep it fresh, but making it too convoluted and pulling it further out of the realism it was grounded in has only hurt the overall effect of the series. What made it scary and engaging was the realistic aspect of it, and that’s what’s missing now.
With another sequel on the way, it remains to be seen if the franchise can regain the popularity and genuine scares that made it alandmark series for Blumhouse. However, without the confidence of the studio head, it will be difficult for any filmmaker to have confidence in whatever they make. Hopefully, if further entries are greenlit, they can get the backing of Blum and inject some much-needed freshness and real scares back into the series.
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