Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)

It has been five years since the disappearance of Katie and Hunter, and a suburban family witness strange events in their neighborhood when a woman and a mysterious child move in. 

Directors: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman

Writers: Christopher Landon (screenplay), Chad Feehan

Cast:

• Kathryn Newton as Alex Nelson
• Matt Shively as Ben
• Brady Allen as Robbie Featherston
• Aiden Lovekamp as Wyatt Nelson
• Alexondra Lee as Holly Nelson
• Stephen Dunham as Doug Nelson
• Katie Featherston as Katie Featherston

Production:

Paramount Pictures announced on January 2, 2012 that Paranormal Activity 4 was in the works. Information on the characters had been rare, stating that Brady Allen was set to play a character named Robbie. Katie Featherston reprised her role as Katie, who was still possessed from the ending of the first two films. Other cast and characters that appeared in the film had been kept extremely tightly under wraps in order for fans to not know the plot. Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman returned to direct the film.

On June 23, 2012, it was confirmed that the fourth film had begun filming. A trailer debuted on August 3 in front of Total Recall. The first theatrical trailer was released for the film on August 1, 2012. The trailer showed that the film is a sequel to Paranormal Activity 2, following the story of possessed Katie and kidnapped Hunter after their disappearance at the end of the second film. The movie also featured a new scare technique, of footage being shown from a laptop in a video chat, that the directors felt would rival the 'fan cam' from the previous movie and that because of it being familiar technology it was "built for a horror movie". The movie also featured the Kinect, a Macbook, smart phones and a Cannon XA10. After Katie is suddenly taken to a hospital, Alex's mom takes Robbie into their home, which leads to strange phenomena occurring inside the house.

 

Plot:

In 2011, Alex (Kathryn Newton) films her younger brother Wyatt's soccer match. At Alex's house, she shows her boyfriend Ben (Matt Shively) the treehouse in the garden. Here they discover Robbie, the neighbor's child. Puzzled as to why he is there, she takes him back to his own house across the street. In the early hours of the next morning, Alex hears an ambulance outside at Robbie's house. That day, Robbie turns up at the house after Alex's mom Holly (Alexondra Lee) offered to look after him for a few days, while Robbie's mother is admitted to hospital. Later on, Alex finds Wyatt and Robbie in her treehouse talking to Robbie's invisible friend.

In the evening Wyatt plays multi-player on the Kinect by himself, while Robbie sits on the sofa. Ben asks who Wyatt is playing with and Robbie answers that it's the invisible friend from the tree house. Ben turns the lights off and shows Wyatt the infra-red tracking dots. As Alex, Ben and Wyatt dance in the dark, Robbie sits on the sofa, where the camera detects an unknown figure moving next to him.

The next day Ben reveals to Alex that his computer automatically records their webcam chats, and in the middle of the night while Alex was sleeping, Robbie came in and slept next to her. Baffled by his odd behavior, Ben offers to install laptops around the house to record any other strange occurrences. Over the next couple of days, the computer records strange events around the house, including Robbie waking up in the middle of the night to talk to the TV, and Robbie and Wyatt chasing the silhouette of a small child figure throughout the house. Robbie draws a strange symbol on Wyatt's back, which Alex later finds to be part of an old cult (first appeared in Paranormal Activity 3).

Late one night Alex notices several black cars outside Robbie's house across the street; upon investigating, she discovers several women in black garb entering the house. She is confronted by one of these women and flees the scene. The next day Alex is home alone, and after hearing noises, follows them to the hallway, where the chandelier falls from the ceiling and smashes into the floor, almost striking her. Although her father Doug (Stephen Dunham) blames the light fitters, Alex is suspicious of Robbie.

The following day, Alex sees Robbie and Wyatt entering Robbie's house across the street. Alex follows them to discover that Robbie's mother Katie (Katie Featherston) is actually home, and shows no sign of illness. Wyatt tells Alex that Katie told him he was adopted, like Robbie. Alex questions her parents about Wyatt's real parents but they refuse to say anything. Later that night, Wyatt begins talking to an invisible figure, insisting that his name isn't Hunter. During this conversation a figure approaches him, but is interrupted when Doug enters the room.

One night during Wyatt's bath, Holly leaves the room to answer the phone, leaving Wyatt in the tub. He is violently pulled underwater by an unseen force, where he remains for a long time. He reemerges moments later, but is unnaturally calm and sedate, thereafter referring to himself as Hunter. That night, he appears in Alex's room, where she levitates off the bed while sleeping.

The next day, Holly is alone, and begins to hear strange noises. A possessed Katie enters the house undetected, and heads upstairs. When Holly enters the lounge an unseen entity suddenly picks her up and violently throws her against the walls, before dropping her on the floor. Katie returns to drag her body away. Ben later arrives to discover no one is home. He goes to view the footage in Alex's bedroom but Katie appears and snaps his neck.

Alex and her father arrive, and he thinks he sees Alex's mother with Wyatt walking to Katie's house. As he goes to explore Alex goes home to discover Ben's body. She runs out of the house and over to Katie's house to warn her dad, but witnesses him being dragged violently through the house by the unseen entity. She runs to a bedroom at the far end of the house but can't find his body. As she turns around to head back out Katie appears who storms forwards, demonically screaming to Alex. Alex quickly runs and climbs out of the window where she discovers Wyatt standing outside. She pleads with him to run away with her, but he stands there, blank faced and unmoved, just as numerous blank-faced people appear in Katie's garden. Alex turns the other way only to be attacked by a screaming Katie before the camera cuts out.