Line #8 YMMV/ParanormalActivity


1	* AccidentalAesop: For ''Paranormal Activity 2'': [[spoiler:Never foist your problems on your in-laws.]]
2	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: The demon in the first one. Despite what is revealed about it in the later installments, more than one watcher thought to themselves that they would probably kill Micah too, if they were demons and he stayed in the place they lived all day and yelled at them for moving stuff or doing anything aside from sitting quietly and never moving or making any noise.
3	* CommonKnowledge: The demon is... well, just that, a demon. A lot of viewers and even professional critics, however, believe the demon to be a ghost. The fact that the sixth movie is titled ''The '''Ghost''' Dimension'' doesn't really help.
4	* CompleteMonster: [[EvilOldFolks Grandma Lois]] is secretly a cold-blooded {{wi\|ckedWitch}}tch and the head of the Midwives coven, that bargained with the invisible demon, [[ItsAllAboutMe in return for personal gain]], to surrender the first male member of the family to the demon, knowing it would pursue her bloodline until a male child is conceived. In the third film, Lois [[OffingTheOffspring orchestrates the death of her own daughter Julie]] when she refuses to have a son and watches Julie's boyfriend's brutal death when the man tries to rescue her granddaughters from her and the demon. Lois then manipulates and erases the memories of the girls to brainwash them into having a male child, leading to her descendant Hunter being taken by the demon to use his blood to successfully create a physical body to wreak havoc in. Fully aware of the pain and suffering that would come with her deal, Lois is a heartless monster willing to sacrifice her entire family for personal {{greed}}.
5	* EnsembleDarkhorse: Arturo from ''The Marked Ones'' is getting some love from fans for [[spoiler: using a shotgun to kill some witches.]]
6	%%** Randy from ''3'' and Ben from ''4''.
7	* FanNickname:
8	** Fans now call the demon Toby thanks to Kristi calling him as such in ''[=PA3=]''. In the later films, the name became canon, and apparently [[IHaveManyNames one of several names the demon has used]].
9	** ''Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones'', due to its mostly Hispanic cast, has been called ''Paranormal Activity: The Marked [[{{Pun}} Juans]]''.
10	* FirstInstallmentWins: Though the third film is the best reviewed out of all the films in the series, the first film is the one you'll hear talk about and praise the most.
11	* FanonDiscontinuity: Some viewers prefer the ''original'' ending to the first series instead of what was publicly released.
12	* FranchiseZombie: Fans are already considering the series to be the next ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' or ''Film/FinalDestination'' now that a sixth movie has already been released. And now even more since an eighth film is in development.
13	* HarsherInHindsight:
14	** Katie's "I'm not really evil, but I can be evil" comment at the start of ''2''.
15	** On a similar note, in ''3'', when Katie is beating the hell out of a piñata at her birthday party, Dennis jokingly comments that "(Katie's) a little monster".
16	** Katie's shrieks of terror at the end of the first film are frightening enough. Then came the ending of ''The Marked Ones'' which reveals that [[spoiler:Katie wasn't in control of herself while screaming for Micah, as it originally seemed - it was the demon using Katie to lure Micah downstairs.]]
17	** The death of Doug (Alex's father) in ''4'' becomes somewhat harder to watch with the knowledge that his actor, Stephen Dunham, died shortly before the film was released.
18	*** Even worse was that his wife was Alexondra Lee, who played Holly (Alex's mother). So seeing her die before Doug is sadder when in real life, Stephen was the first to go.
19	* HypeBacklash: Much like ''Film/TheBlairWitchProject'' before it, getting so many reviews dubbing it one of the scariest movies of all time ensures that some people will watch it and end up unimpressed.
20	* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: An already common criticism of ''Paranormal Activity 2'' and the following sequels is that it too frequently uses familiar scenes from the first movie. However, out of the sequels, ''3'' is the best reviewed.
21	* JerkassWoobie: Micah; arguably Dan as well. Yes, they are unsympathetic for a lot of viewers, but eventually Micah all but abandons his {{Jerkass}} and ItsAllAboutMe attitude and shows that he really does care about Katie. In the case of Dan, while his act of [[spoiler:transferring the demon to Katie]] is seen by some as a MoralEventHorizon, he does it out of his desperation to protect his wife and son. [[spoiler:Unfortunately for him and his family, it doesn't work.]]
22	* {{Narm}}:
23	** While the footage of Robbie climbing into bed with Alex is supposed to be creepy, many people found it more adorable.
24	** Some people can find some of the hauntings more amusing that creepy. For instance, the demon feels the need to play with the lights which comes across as superfluous since the victims are usually too fast asleep to be frightened by the event until the video is reviewed.
25	* NightmareRetardant:
26	** Although the movie is quite terrifying, close examination of its premise actually leaves quite a bit of hope for the viewer: Any evidence of [[spoiler:demonic possession]] in your family? No? You're free, go out and enjoy life! [[NightmareFuel Not that it helps much when you're trying to sleep, of course.]]
27	** The fourth movie coming up kindly removes this-- while the hauntings center on [[CreepyChild Robbie]], the targets are Alex and her family, his new neighbors who didn't know any better.
28	* ParanoiaFuel: The movies are basically engineered to play on fears of odd noises in your house at night.
29	* RealismInducedHorror: Some viewers found Micah and Katie's gradually detiorating and increasingly toxic relationship in the first film to be far more terrifying than any of the supernatural hauntings.
30	* SignatureScene:
31	** For the first film, either the foot drag scene or the ending.
32	** For the third film, the scene where Toby uses a bedsheet to mess with the babysitter.
33	* SpecialEffectsFailure: Many of the CGI effects in ''The Ghost Dimensions'' are REALLY bad, looking more like the kinds of effects you'd expect to see from a cheap [=3D=] amusement park ride.
34	* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: ''The Marked Ones'' seems to be less divisive than ''2'', ''3'' and ''4'' with some fans and critics feeling it to be up to par with the first film and enjoying the expansion to the series' mythology.
35	* TooBleakStoppedCaring: It doesn't seem to matter how much you grow to love the characters, [[spoiler: they all die in the end because the cult is a God-Mode Sue that's nearly ''impossible to stop''. After five movies with this pattern, are you hoping for an ending where the good guys finally come out on top? Nope, that doesn't happen either.]]
36	* TookTheBadFilmSeriously: Creator/KathrynNewton's sympathetic performance is regarded as the highlight of the otherwise forgettable ''4''.
37	* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: [[spoiler:Toby's semi-corporeal form, a tall, vaguely-humanoid mass of smoke and tendrils, is suitably impressive and unsettling.]]
38	* TheWoobie: Ali in ''2''. First her parents don't believe her when scary things begin to happen, [[spoiler: one day her stepmother wakes up acting like a cross between a wolf and a serial killer. Then, oh, things are looking up! No horror for three weeks! Until you come home to find your family brutally murdered and your baby brother missing.]]
39	** Any heroic dog in a horror movie is almost contractually obligated to be the most sympathetic character in the movie. Hence, Abbey. [[spoiler: But thankfully she lived.]] The same goes for Chavo from ''The Marked Ones''. [[spoiler: The poor little guy ends up getting tortured by his now possessed owner.]]
40	** Dennis in the third film. [[spoiler: He deeply loved his stepdaughters and wife and wanted to find out about the demon and save his family. Yet his wife dies in front of him and he is killed by his mother-in-law. All while trying to save his stepdaughters.]]
41	** Kristi. The events of ''2'' and ''3'' would have been prevented had they just listened to her. Also, Dan (in the second) and Katie (in the third) are mean to her for little reason.
42	** Katie. Imagine being haunted constantly by a demon [[spoiler: and spending the rest of your life possessed by it, where you have killed several people including your own sister with no control. '''AT ALL''']].
43	** Alex from ''4''. It wasn't her fault that she and her family [[spoiler: adopted the one boy the demon was after]].
44	** Hector from ''The Marked Ones''. [[spoiler: He's forced to watch his best friend slowly become a monster in spite of his efforts to save him, and ends up getting killed by him after spending several minutes fleeing in sheer terror. Not only that, but he also discovered the corpse of his other friend Marisol.]]
45	** Irma from ''The Marked Ones''. [[spoiler: She loves Jesse and risks her life to try and exorcise the demon from his body, only to have her possessed grandson push her down the stairs for her efforts, resulting in her hospitalization.]]

Context YMMV / ParanormalActivity