Jump to content

Paranormal Activity 4: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Reverted to revision 633332905 by ChamithN (talk): Violation of the MOS. (TW)
Stevehim (talk | contribs)
185 edits
shortened plot synopsis; manually reverted to version from 08:58, 29 March 2014
Line 24: Line 24:
==Plot==
==Plot==
{{plot|date=September 2014}}
{{plot|date=September 2014}}
On October 9, 2006, Kristi Rey and her husband, Daniel, are killed by her demon-possessed sister Katie (Katie Featherston). She then abducts Kristi's 1 year old son, Hunter. A text states that Katie and Hunter's whereabouts remained unknown.
On [[Paranormal Activity 2#Plot|October 9, 2006]], Kristi Rey and her husband Daniel are killed by her demon-possessed sister Katie ([[Katie Featherston]]). She then abducts Kristi's one year old son, Hunter. Text states that Katie and Hunter's whereabouts remained unknown.


In November 2011, a teenager named Alex ([[Kathryn Newton]]) lives in suburban [[Henderson, Nevada]] with her mother Holly ([[Alexondra Lee]]), her father Doug ([[Stephen Dunham]]), and her little brother Wyatt (Aiden Lovekamp). Alex and her friend Ben ([[Matt Shively]]) discover their new neighbor's child, Robbie (Brady Allen), is hiding in their family treehouse. The next day, Robbie's mother falls ill and is taken to the hospital, leaving Robbie in the care of Alex's family. Robbie begins mentioning an invisible friend, whose presence is captured by a series of cameras set up by Alex and Ben. Over the next few days, the family experience paranormal activity in their home. Strange noises are heard, objects move by themselves, and a knife mysteriously disappears while Holly is preparing dinner. One night, Alex notices several cars outside Robbie's house, but flees after being confronted by a woman. Meanwhile, Robbie draws a green symbol on Wyatt's back, which Alex later determines to be associated with witchcraft and [[demonic possession]].
Alex (Kathryn Newton) films her younger brother, Wyatt's (Aiden Lovekamp), soccer match. At Alex's house, she shows her boyfriend Ben (Matt Shively) the tree house in the garden. Here they discover Robbie (Brady Allen), 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 shows up at her house after Alex's mom, Holly (Alexondra Lee), offers to look after him for a few days, while Robbie's mother is admitted to a hospital. Later on, Alex finds Wyatt and Robbie in her tree house talking to Robbie's invisible friend who Robbie calls Toby. 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 Toby 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.


The paranormal activity continues, becoming more deadly. A chandelier falls from the ceiling and almost lands on Alex, and the knife that disappeared in the kitchen almost falls on Doug. Robbie takes Wyatt to his house. Alex follows them and finds Robbie's mother, who is actually Katie. Meanwhile, Wyatt talks to an invisible being, seemingly pleading that his name is not Hunter. The next day, Wyatt confides in Alex that Katie told him he was adopted, like Robbie, and that his birth family needs him. After being violently pulled underwater in the bath by an unseen force, remaining underwater for a long time, Wyatt emerges, now referring to himself as Hunter. At night, he goes into Alex's room and levitates her while she sleeps. The next morning, Alex tries to check the footage on her computer but can't get the files to open.
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 killing her. Although her father Doug (Stephen Dunham) blames the light fixtures, Alex is suspicious that Robbie did it.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 is actually home, and shows no sign of illness. That night, Doug experiences paranormal activity himself when one of Holly's missing knives falls from the ceiling almost hitting him.


The next night, while alone in the house with Wyatt, Alex video-chats with Ben about her parents being mad at her for questioning Wyatt's adoption, and hears the garage door open by itself. She goes down to close it but gets locked in. Katie appears in the house and goes upstairs to Wyatt's room, where he is hiding in his closet. Katie calls for Hunter, saying he is "almost ready" and she'll be here 'till he's ready. In the garage, Alex remains trapped as the family car turns on by itself and begins spewing carbon monoxide exhaust. She escapes by breaking into the car and crashing out through the garage door. When her parents get home, they don't believe her account of what happened. The next day, Holly is alone in the house and begins to hear strange noises. Katie enters the house undetected, and goes to Wyatt's room. Holly is picked up and violently thrown against the ceiling by a hissing invisible entity. She crashes to the floor with a loud snap. Katie drags her body away. Ben later arrives to discover nobody is home. He leaves Alex a phone message, telling her that he has been searching the Internet and discovered some information about the symbol, linking it to a coven. Ben goes to view the footage on the laptop but Katie appears behind him and snaps his neck.
On another 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. Holly gives Wyatt a bath and leaves him alone when he is violently pulled under water; after a couple minutes he comes back up calm and sedated, now referring to himself as Hunter. 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. That night, Wyatt walks into Alex's room and watches as she levitates above her bed. The next day, Alex is home alone talking with Ben on the computer when suddenly the garage door opens. She goes to close the door and goes back to the kitchen when the garage door opens again. She goes back to the garage and suddenly the garage door slams shut and so does the other door and the car turns on, filling the garage with carbon monoxide. Meanwhile, Wyatt is hiding in the bathroom as Katie walks in and asks him to come out, using the name Hunter. She then tells him that she'll wait for him until he's ready. In the garage, Alex is suffocating from the carbon monoxide so she picks up a golf club and smashes one of the car windows; she goes into the car and drives it through the garage door, giving herself fresh air. Her parents come and aren't convinced by her story.


Alex and Doug arrive home, and he thinks he sees Holly with Wyatt (or Robbie with Katie) outside Katie's house. As he goes to explore, Alex goes to her room and discovers Ben's body. She suddenly gets attacked by an invisible entity and gets dragged out of her bedroom. She then breaks free from it, runs to Katie's house and finds Doug being dragged violently by the unseen entity. She looks in the rooms to find that Doug's body isn't there, she goes to see a window with Spanish newspapers stuck to it. She then hears Wyatt calling for help. As she turns around, Katie appears and storms towards her, roaring demonically. Alex quickly climbs out of the window, where she discovers Wyatt standing still. She pleads with him to run away with her, but he stands there, face blank. As Alex looks up, she sees dozens of demon-faced women, wearing necklaces of what seemed to be the witchcraft symbol, marching towards her. She turns the other way only to be encountered by a demonic Katie. The camera then abruptly goes dead, leaving the fate of Alex ambiguous
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 wall. The unseen force drops her to the floor with a snap, killing her. 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 behind him and breaks his neck. Alex and her father arrive, and he thinks he sees Holly and Wyatt walking to Katie's house. As he goes to see, Alex goes home and discovers Ben's body.


⚫
In a [[post-credits scene]], two Spanish-speaking men in Mexico with a camera go into a mysterious store. After looking around, thinking that the store sells "witchcraft", they decide to leave, but an old and scared-looking Mexican woman encounters the two and states "esto es solo el comienzo", translated from Spanish, that ''"This is only the beginning"''. Frightened by her, the men abruptly leave the store and the camera cuts out, setting up the events for ''[[Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones]]''.
Alex runs out of the house and over to Katie's house to warn her dad, but witnesses him being dragged through the house by the unseen entity. She runs into a bedroom at the far end of the house with Spanish Newspapers on the windows, when she hears Wyatt scream her name. As she turns around to head back out, Katie appears at the other end of the hallway; she lets out a demonic scream, and charges towards her with a demonic face. 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 women appear in Katie's garden wearing the same symbol Robbie drew on Wyatt. Alex turns around only to be encountered by Katie, who kills her.

⚫
In a post-credits scene (seen only in cinemas), two men with a camera go into a roadside store. Soon after entering the store and seeing a collection of crosses, candles, and religious figures, one of the men exclaims in Spanish that the store deals in witchcraft, and they decide to run to the exit. An old woman suddenly appears and says in Spanish, "this is only the beginning". Frightened, the men flee from the store and the camera cuts out, setting up the events for [[Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones|The Marked Ones]].


==Cast==
==Cast==

Revision as of 07:37, 23 November 2014

Paranormal Activity 4
Theatrical release poster
Directed byHenry Joost
Ariel Schulman
Screenplay byChristopher Landon
Story byChad Feehan
Produced byJason Blum
Oren Peli
StarringKathryn Newton
Matt Shively
Aiden Lovekamp
Brady Allen
Stephen Dunham
Alexondra Lee
Katie Featherston
CinematographyDoug Emmett
Edited byGregory Plotkin
Production
companies
Blumhouse Productions
Solana Films
Room 101, Inc.
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • October 19, 2012 (2012-10-19)
Running time
88 mins[1]
96 minutes (unrated cut)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$5 million[2]
Box office$140,706,358[2]

Paranormal Activity 4 is a 2012 American supernatural horror film, directed by Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost, directors of Paranormal Activity 3, and written by Christopher Landon from a story by Chad Feehan. The film features Katie Featherston, who starred in the first film, and had cameos in the other two. The film was released in theaters and IMAX on October 17, 2012 in the United Kingdom and was released on October 18, 2012 in the United States, by Paramount Pictures. It is the fourth installment in the Paranormal Activity series, and a sequel to Paranormal Activity 2, set several years later. Paranormal Activity 5 will be released in March 2015 in the US.

Plot

On October 9, 2006, Kristi Rey and her husband Daniel are killed by her demon-possessed sister Katie (Katie Featherston). She then abducts Kristi's one year old son, Hunter. Text states that Katie and Hunter's whereabouts remained unknown.

In November 2011, a teenager named Alex (Kathryn Newton) lives in suburban Henderson, Nevada with her mother Holly (Alexondra Lee), her father Doug (Stephen Dunham), and her little brother Wyatt (Aiden Lovekamp). Alex and her friend Ben (Matt Shively) discover their new neighbor's child, Robbie (Brady Allen), is hiding in their family treehouse. The next day, Robbie's mother falls ill and is taken to the hospital, leaving Robbie in the care of Alex's family. Robbie begins mentioning an invisible friend, whose presence is captured by a series of cameras set up by Alex and Ben. Over the next few days, the family experience paranormal activity in their home. Strange noises are heard, objects move by themselves, and a knife mysteriously disappears while Holly is preparing dinner. One night, Alex notices several cars outside Robbie's house, but flees after being confronted by a woman. Meanwhile, Robbie draws a green symbol on Wyatt's back, which Alex later determines to be associated with witchcraft and demonic possession.

The paranormal activity continues, becoming more deadly. A chandelier falls from the ceiling and almost lands on Alex, and the knife that disappeared in the kitchen almost falls on Doug. Robbie takes Wyatt to his house. Alex follows them and finds Robbie's mother, who is actually Katie. Meanwhile, Wyatt talks to an invisible being, seemingly pleading that his name is not Hunter. The next day, Wyatt confides in Alex that Katie told him he was adopted, like Robbie, and that his birth family needs him. After being violently pulled underwater in the bath by an unseen force, remaining underwater for a long time, Wyatt emerges, now referring to himself as Hunter. At night, he goes into Alex's room and levitates her while she sleeps. The next morning, Alex tries to check the footage on her computer but can't get the files to open.

The next night, while alone in the house with Wyatt, Alex video-chats with Ben about her parents being mad at her for questioning Wyatt's adoption, and hears the garage door open by itself. She goes down to close it but gets locked in. Katie appears in the house and goes upstairs to Wyatt's room, where he is hiding in his closet. Katie calls for Hunter, saying he is "almost ready" and she'll be here 'till he's ready. In the garage, Alex remains trapped as the family car turns on by itself and begins spewing carbon monoxide exhaust. She escapes by breaking into the car and crashing out through the garage door. When her parents get home, they don't believe her account of what happened. The next day, Holly is alone in the house and begins to hear strange noises. Katie enters the house undetected, and goes to Wyatt's room. Holly is picked up and violently thrown against the ceiling by a hissing invisible entity. She crashes to the floor with a loud snap. Katie drags her body away. Ben later arrives to discover nobody is home. He leaves Alex a phone message, telling her that he has been searching the Internet and discovered some information about the symbol, linking it to a coven. Ben goes to view the footage on the laptop but Katie appears behind him and snaps his neck.

Alex and Doug arrive home, and he thinks he sees Holly with Wyatt (or Robbie with Katie) outside Katie's house. As he goes to explore, Alex goes to her room and discovers Ben's body. She suddenly gets attacked by an invisible entity and gets dragged out of her bedroom. She then breaks free from it, runs to Katie's house and finds Doug being dragged violently by the unseen entity. She looks in the rooms to find that Doug's body isn't there, she goes to see a window with Spanish newspapers stuck to it. She then hears Wyatt calling for help. As she turns around, Katie appears and storms towards her, roaring demonically. Alex quickly climbs out of the window, where she discovers Wyatt standing still. She pleads with him to run away with her, but he stands there, face blank. As Alex looks up, she sees dozens of demon-faced women, wearing necklaces of what seemed to be the witchcraft symbol, marching towards her. She turns the other way only to be encountered by a demonic Katie. The camera then abruptly goes dead, leaving the fate of Alex ambiguous

In a post-credits scene, two Spanish-speaking men in Mexico with a camera go into a mysterious store. After looking around, thinking that the store sells "witchcraft", they decide to leave, but an old and scared-looking Mexican woman encounters the two and states "esto es solo el comienzo", translated from Spanish, that "This is only the beginning". Frightened by her, the men abruptly leave the store and the camera cuts out, setting up the events for Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones.

Cast

Production

Paramount Pictures announced on January 2, 2012 that Paranormal Activity 4 was in the works. Information on the characters had been scarce, 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, but other cast and characters that appeared in the film were kept under wraps. Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman returned to direct the film.[3][4][5]

On June 23, 2012, it was confirmed that the fourth film had begun filming.[6] 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 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".[7] The movie also featured an Xbox Kinect, a MacBook Pro, smartphones and a Canon XA10.[8]

The end credits of the film include a dedication to actor Stephen Dunham, who played Alex's father Doug. Dunham died shortly after filming was completed, suffering a heart attack on September 14, 2012, which was his 48th birthday.[9][10][11][12]

Release

Box office

As of December 23, 2012, the film has grossed $53,851,000 in North America and $86,855,358 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $140,706,358.

Paranormal Activity 4 did not perform as well as Paranormal Activity 2 or Paranormal Activity 3 as it debuted with $4.8 million in midnight showings. That made it the third highest in midnight grosses for a horror film behind only its predecessors, Paranormal Activity 3 ($8 million) and Paranormal Activity 2 ($6.3 million).[13] It then grossed $15 million in its opening day, also lower than the third film ($26.2 million) and second film ($20.1 million), bringing its total to $29 million in its opening weekend.[2]

A movie theatre chain in the United Kingdom, Cineworld, showed screenings of the film, Paranormal Activity 4 rather than the DreamWorks animated film, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, leaving children traumatized.[14][15] A similar event happened in the US in 2007, with screenings of The Hills Have Eyes 2 instead of The Last Mimzy, and in 2010 with screenings of Saw 3D instead of Megamind.[16]

Home media

The film was released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on January 29, 2013.

The post-credits scene teases Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, which is a Latino spin-off of the Paranormal Activity series released on January 3, 2014.[17] The post-credits scene was taken out of the film when the DVD was released.

Critical reception

The film received mixed to negative reviews. At Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 24% based upon 103 reviews with an average rating of 4.3/10, indicating negative reviews.[18] The website's consensus stated that "While it does manage to wring a few more screams out of the franchise's surprisingly durable premise, Paranormal Activity 4 provides fans of the series with dismayingly diminishing returns." At Metacritic the film has a score of 40 out of 100 based on 22 reviews, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[19] Drew McWeeny gave the film a C+, saying that while he felt that the film "played it safe", he still found the film to be shameful. Shaun Munro also reacted negatively, saying that he felt that the film would only be enjoyed by the "die-hard" fans of the previous films in the franchise. Ryan Lambie reacted negatively, giving the film a rating of 2/5, and saying that the film did not introduce any new ideas. Scott Weinberg gave a positive review, saying that there was "some fun" to be had in the film, however also felt that the film would likely only be enjoyed by fans of the previous films. Fred Topel also gave a positive review, saying that the film included iconography from some classic horror films.[20][21]

Accolades

Year Award Category Recipient Result Ref.
2013 Young Artist Award Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actress Kathryn Newton Won [22]

Sequels

Paramount announced that Paranormal Activity 5 will be released in 2015.

A spinoff of the franchise called Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones was released on January 3, 2014.

References

  1. ^ "Title « British Board of Film Classification". Bbfc.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
  2. ^ a b c "Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)". Box Office Mojo. 2012-10-28. Retrieved 2012-11-24. Cite error: The named reference "bom" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  3. ^ Miller, Daniel (January 1, 2012). "'Paranormal Activity 4' Will Hit Theaters October 19". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
  4. ^ Sullivan, Kevin P. (January 1, 2012). "'Paranormal Activity 4' Confirmed By Paramount". MTV.com. MTV Movie News. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
  5. ^ "Paranormal Activity 4 Is Official". EmpireOnline.com. Bauer Consumer Media. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
  6. ^ "Paranormal Activity 4 Begins Filming - IGN". Uk.ign.com. 2012-06-19. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
  7. ^ Sullivan, Kevin P. (2012-08-29). "'Paranormal Activity 4': Five Secrets Revealed - Music, Celebrity, Artist News". MTV.com. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
  8. ^ Sullivan, Kevin P. (2012-09-27). "'Paranormal Activity 4' Trailer #2: Five Key Scenes - Music, Celebrity, Artist News". MTV.com. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
  9. ^ "Actor Stephen Dunham dies at 48". Variety. Retrieved 2012-09-19.
  10. ^ Lee, Youyoung (2012-09-18). "Stephen Dunham Dead: 'DAG' Actor Dies At 48". Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2012-09-19.
  11. ^ "Actor Stephen Dunham dies at 48". chicagotribune.comaccess. 2012-09-19.
  12. ^ "Actor Stephen Dunham Bowers dies at age 48". Blog.zap2it.com. Retrieved 2012-09-19.
  13. ^ McClintock, Pamela (2012-10-19). "Box Office Report: 'Paranormal 4' Scares Up $4.5 Mil in Thursday Night Shows". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2012-11-24.
  14. ^ "Cinema shows Paranormal Activity instead of Madagascar 3 - Yahoo! Movies UK". Uk.movies.yahoo.com. 2012-10-23. Retrieved 2012-11-24.
  15. ^ Hoffer, Steven (2012-10-23). "Nottingham Movie Theater Shows Paranormal Activity Instead Of Madagascar, Scares Hell Out Of Kids". Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2012-11-24.
  16. ^ "Children see 'Saw 3D' at 'Megamind' screening after cinema mix-up | Film & TV News". Nme.Com. 2010-11-18. Retrieved 2012-11-24.
  17. ^ http://screencrush.com/paranormal-activity-4-post-credits-scene/
  18. ^ "Paranormal Activity 4". Rotten Tomatoes. 2012-11-23. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
  19. ^ "Paranormal Activity 4 Reviews, Ratings, and Credit". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2012-10-22. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  20. ^ Ryan Lambie (2012-10-05). "Paranormal Activity 4 review". Den of Geek. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
  21. ^ McWeeny, Drew (2012-09-28). "Review: Paranormal Activity 4 treads water instead of pushing forward". Hitfix.com. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
  22. ^ "34th Annual Young Artist Awards". YoungArtistAwards.org. Retrieved 2013-03-31.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Paranormal_Activity_4&oldid=635072179"