Paranormal Activity is the fourth instalment from the Paranormal Activity sequel, and perhaps the most haunting. This new horror film was released in October 2012, directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman and written by Chad Feehan and Christopher Landon. Produced by Room 101, we can already assume that this film is rather low budget as I did not recognise this producing company – however, this doesn’t mean it wasn’t an effective and thrilling cinematic experience for horror lovers. This fourth instalment bases itself around a new family, with the threat being a new kid who moves in just across the street – which just happens to be around the time mysterious and supernatural events begin to occur. This film is set five years after the disappearance of Katie and Hunter (previous main characters of the sequel).
If we compare this film to Todorov’s narrative structure of horror films which say each film has a distinctive narrative to it (equilibrium, event, recognition of event, attempt to fix, new equilibrium) we can see that it both follows and challenges it as some structures are not fully completed throughout this film. An example of a feature which challenges Todorov’s theory is the very beginning of the movie which shows us the very end of the previous film with possessed Katie taking Hunter from his home after killing I believe her sister’s husband. This very first scene in Paranormal Activity 4 gives us a sense of foreboding (knowing something is going to happen before it does).This is also a good example of unrestricted narrative, as it builds suspense for the audience and lets them know more than the characters (that there is a threat about to be opposed on them). The next stages of the film do happen to follow Todorov’s theory as the event of Robbie staying with the family whilst his mum is supposedly out of town and strange things start to happen such as opening doors, chandeliers falling, and seeing figures move when using the x-box kinect in the darkness. The recognition of the event would be the main girl and her boyfriend realising the supernatural events and the ‘attempt to fix it’ would be them researching historic myths about demons and possessed children. As the film progresses, more and more threats start to occur and suspense is held for a lot longer to engage with the audience. The film ends with Katie killing all the family members and the boyfriend, leaving Alex to fend for herself whilst trying to save her younger adopted brother who now believes he is Hunter. The last shot is of many possessed civilians and the handheld camera falls to the ground as we assume Alex has been killed. This therefore challenges Todorov’s theory as there is no new equilibrium – it just suddenly ends horribly.
The audience expectation for this film I believe would be to witness a similar film to which they’ve already seen, but still be expected to be scared and nervous about viewing it. Sometimes with sequels the story can be too predictable, however, even though Paranormal Activity 4 is one of these, the storyline and editing effects hold their own as this is the most horrifying film of them all so far. As I’m not a massive horror film fan, and had already previously seen the other Paranormal Activities, I went into this film knowing what to expect although keeping an open mind. Saying this, I am glad I did as this film delivered in using the typical horror conventions to frighten me.
Paranormal Activity 4 is classed as a supernatural horror, which focuses on the events of the unknown. As this film is not a horror-comedy, slasher, gore or sci-fi horror, I believe it would be hard to create as there is no ‘real’ threat to be shown to the audience. However, not being able to visualise the threat gives the audience a more chilling and daunting experience as they are unaware of what will happen next or who/what is causing the harm. What makes this movie fit into the genre of horror is the fact that it uses certain conventions within such as the possessed child, a demon, supernatural events, death and ghosts to entice the audience in. I would say that the final girl theory is used in this film, however Alex the main female character is not connoted as strong and willing, although she does carry some features which may disagree such as; her name (unisex), the fact she researches into the threat, her strong mind set and her strong will to survive the attacks on her and her family. If she would have not been killed at the end of the film, I would say she would be the ‘final girl’ as she would’ve been the only one left standing and she is seen as the innocent virgin.
I would say the era of this film which fits into the history of horror would be around the 1960’s – where ghosts and the unknown became a huge part of the horror genre at the time to frighten and leave the audience in a fear of the unknown. Although, having only been released this year, and the starting film only in 2007 (five years previous) this shows us that the ghostly and supernatural aspects of horror are still just as popular as they used to be.
In every horror film, there are always certain character types whether it be; the victim, the possessed, the helper, the hero or the villain or so on. Within Paranormal Activity 4, we see the victims (the family members), the possessed (Robbie), the helper boyfriend (Ben) and the virgin main girl (Alex). All of these stereotypes help the audience engage with the characters, knowing who is who and what the threat exactly is. Other than these types, I cannot seem to discover any other major stereotypes included within this film, although having too many may distract the viewer from the main plot.
In most films (not just horrors) we are sure to see a few features of binary opposition and I believe Paranormal Activity’s main one would be the classic ‘good vs. evil’. This binary opposition is shown throughout most of the film, however much more unbalanced than usual – as the evil seems to rule the film and the characters do not seem to have any hope of escaping/surviving. We see the ‘good’ (Alex, her family, her adopted brother and Ben) and we see the ‘evil’ (Robbie and Katie). Another aspect of binary opposition I came across when watching this film was the simple one of ‘known vs. unknown’ and is quite clear throughout which is which.
In conclusion, although Paranormal Activity 4 is the fourth instalment of the sequel and I went into it kind of guessing and knowing what to expect, I found myself pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed it (especially not being a huge horror fan). The entire plot is brilliant, the characters are easy to recognise and the held suspense when viewing the recordings during the night are well directed – as it had me frightened and nervous about events which were about to happen. Overall, a successful and enjoyable horror film – worthy of being the best film of the Paranormal sequence so far.
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