Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)

We’re starting to push against the limits of the Paranormal Activity franchise, which I’ve been talking about this month as part of Paranormal Octoberty, insert shameless plug here. The first Paranormal Activity was about Katie, 2 was about the her sister Kristi, and 3 was about the two of them as children. All dealing with an invisible demon, yes yes yes, but we’ve focused on the same family for three films now. So it makes sense to jump ahead in the timeline and focus on another family! It’d also make sense if this was the end of the franchise, but whatever.

After reminding us about Katie, Kristi, and baby Hunter, this movie announces that it takes place in 2011, focusing on a (seemingly) unrelated family. We’ve got the dad, Doug (Mr. Stephen Dunham, AKA the rival treasure hunter from 1999’s The Mummy), the mom, Holly (Mrs. Alexondra Lee), and… wait, what? The two actors were actually married? I use past tense there because he died of a heart attack before this movie even came out?! Holy shit, that’s… huh. So, uh… there’s also the son, Wyatt (Aiden Lovekamp), and the sister, Alex (Kathryn Newton, AKA Cassie Lang #3 from Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania), who is our main character. Some paranormal activity starts up with creepy neighbor kid Robbie (Brady Allen) starts hanging around, leading to Alex and her boyfriend, Ben (Matt Shively), setting up all the family laptops to record 24/7. Ignore any privacy concerns and stuff like bringing the laptop into the bathroom–like when child Wyatt takes a bath–and definitely don’t think about it too much! The demonic haunting centers around Wyatt, who is revealed to be Hunter right after we meet the family’s neighbor, Katie, who is also Robbie’s mom. The addition to the lore of the cult manifesting Toby is that their icon is a Hattusac (Hittite Empire during the Bronze Age) symbol of fertility, the demon’s goal is to possess Hunter, and that there’s a progression to the possession. The escalation of horror is very dramatic when Katie kills the mom and boyfriend, then drags Dad to his death and kidnaps Wyatt/Hunter. The movie ends with Alex getting overwhelmed by, like, a hundred cult members.

Before I get to the parts of the movie that drive me absolutely crazy, shouldn’t the franchise be over? Katie got Hunter back and he seemed to be completely under the sway of the cult. The steps of possession detailed in the film were actuation (showing preturnatural abilities), affirmation (proving abilities in front of Toby), and sacrifice (spill the blood of an inviolate/virgin). We didn’t overtly see him ritualistically cut his sister, but steps one and two are done and three isn’t that difficult. Evil has won, the end. What’s left? And why do I keep talking about time traveling witches? OH, WE’LL GET THERE NEXT WEEK…

On to why this movie is not very good! Who the fuck was Robbie? Katie’s adopted son, yeah yeah yeah, but like… who the fuck was he? So you’re telling me the story is Katie kidnaps Hunter, gives him up for adoption, adopts some other kid at some point, then moves across the street from her nephew all in an attempt to get him back… which she has to do because she gave him up. Why couldn’t she raise him? Or if not her because she’s possessed, what about the dozen of cult members who show up at the end? And back to Robbie, he completely disappears from the movie around the time Wyatt/Hunter’s true identity is revealed. Some people think he was a manifested demon, but that’s pure speculation. Not even the Paranormal Activity wiki–because of course this franchise has one–has a clue who that kid was. Oh yeah, I broke my rule of avoiding delving into the lore not presented into the movies to figure out who this kid was, and apparently nobody has any idea. Baffling. It haunts me whenever I think about this movie, and I expect it to haunt me until the day I die.

Also, IMDB credits Brendon Eggertsen as Derek, and I have no clue who that is. I’m writing this post two days after rewatching the film and he is not bringing up even the faintest of memories. I’m sure he was fine.