Film / Paranormal Activity

aka: Paranormal Activity 2

What happens when you sleep?

Paranormal Activity is a supernatural found footage horror film franchise that began in 2007. Off of the immense success of the first installment, the films played an instrumental role in turning found footage into a prominent and profitable horror subgenre from the end of the 2000s onwards, with many comparing its impact to what The Blair Witch Project did for the subgenre at the end of the 1990s.

The first film chronicles a woman named Katie who's spent most of her life haunted by a supernatural presence, the efforts of her and her boyfriend Micah to set up a video camera to discover what it is, and the paranormal activity that ensues — with dire consequences.

Written, directed, shot and edited by one man (Oren Peli), it was filmed in a week for $15,000 and had a modest festival run, after which it was given a Steven Spielberg-approved limited theatrical release in late 2009 and eventually received a wider release a month later thanks to an effective fan-driven marketing campaign. It has since made over $193 million, making it — number verifiability and possible exclusion of marketing costs aside — the single most profitable film ever made.

This gave way to a full franchise, with numerous sequels (almost all prequels) centering around Katie's childhood, the origins of her haunting and her connections to similarly haunted family members. The only two entries in the franchise that don't feature Katie are The Marked Ones, featuring an entirely new set of Latin-American characters, and Next of Kin, the most recent entry and the first after a six-year gap. There was also a Japanese-exclusive sequel to the original film, Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night, released about a month after the American sequel; it follows a completely new story and is not considered canon.

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The series consists of:

• Paranormal Activity (2007/2009^note debuted at festivals in '07, was released in theaters and gained wider recognition in '09)
• Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)
• Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night (2010) ^note considered non-canon to the main series
• Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)
• Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)
• Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014)
• Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015)
• Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin (2021)

This page contains heavy spoilers and tropes for all seven films.

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As a series, these films provide examples of:

Series wide

• Agent Mulder: Katie in the first film and Ali in the second. In the third film, it's actually Dennis and his friend Randy. In the fourth film, it's Alex and her friend Ben.
• Agent Scully: Micah in 1, Dan in 2, Julie in 3, Alex's parents in 4.
• Anachronic Order: To watch everything in chronological order, you have to watch 3, 2, 1, 4, The Marked Ones, then The Ghost Dimension. But since the movies use bits and pieces from earlier-made films, a completely accurate viewing would require watching parts of one movie, then watching most of another movie, then going back to the original movie, etc.
• Arc Words: "[Character]'s whereabouts remain unknown".
• Asshole Victim: Micah and Dan, to some degree (if you hold him accountable for the passing of the demon to Katie).
• The Bad Guy Wins: Every film ends with the demon getting its way.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Early on, Micah is eager to try and encourage the supernatural occurrences so he can get some interesting footage. Boy, did he get that footage.
  • In 2, Ali is quite excited at the prospect of a "ghost" in the house and even hopes that it may be her deceased mother. She changes her mind very quickly.
  • In 3, the kids, and Randy, play Bloody Mary. They didn't get to see it, but it did give them a really good scare...
• Behind the Black: Many scares, especially in 2, 3 and 4 (which each use multiple or moving cameras) are set up just outside the frame, or are obscured by the characters in front of it, so that the audience is freaked out by their sudden appearance when the camera focuses on them, even though the characters should be able to see them from their own perspective.
• Berserk Button: The demon does not like to be touched.
• Big Bad: The demon, aka Toby.
• Camera Abuse: A trademark of the films.
• Catapult Nightmare: Katie, in the first film, does this one time when waking up. Ali does this in the second film as well. Both are due to the demon's influence (Katie is being fed gruesome nightmares by it; Ali wakes up after it looms over her).
• Creator Provincialism: Except for 4, the series never once ventured outside of California (or the West Coast for that matter), the home state of the series' main producer, Jason Blum. 1 takes place entirely in San Diego, while 2 is similarly set entirely in Carlsbad. Most of 3 is set in Santa Rosa, except for the prologue (set in Carlsbad) and the third act (in Moorpark), The Marked Ones is set in Oxnard and Moorpark, while The Ghost Dimension doesn't specify its location until halfway through, in which it is revealed that the house is built on the site of Katie's childhood home, and thus Santa Rosa all over again. The only exception, 4, is set in Henderson, Nevada, which is still located in the Southwest, anyhow. The series seems to have an allergy towards everywhere but the Southwestern US.
• Cult: The Midwives, a coven of witches who worship Toby and are responsible for the events of each film.
• Cutting Off the Branches: Paranormal Activity 2 naturally confirms the wide-release theatrical cut's ending as canon.
• Deal with the Devil: Never completely confirmed, but heavily implied that this is the ultimate source of the haunting.
• Demonic Possession: It's suggested (and outright confirmed in the DVD commentary) that in the first half of 1, Katie is possessed by the demon when she can not remember anything happening. The final day ramps this up to eleven...
  • In Paranormal Activity 2, Kristi is dragged down the staircase and into the basement, after which she gets possessed, then exorcised. Three weeks later, possessed-Katie (from the end of the first movie) returns to Kristi's house on the final night, kills both Dan and Kristi, and walks off with Hunter.
  • By the end of the third movie, Dennis and Julie are the only ones who don't get possessed at some point; instead, they're both killed.
  • In the fourth movie, it's never made clear whether Robbie is possessed or not, though he is definitely lifeless and uncanny.
  • In The Ghost Dimension, Leila slowly succumbs to Toby's influence. She doesn't get better.
• Developing Doomed Characters: Almost all the films qualify for this.
• Dramatic Spine Injury: In the final moments of the third movie, Dennis is frightened by a possessed Katie, falling over backwards and apparently hurting himself. As he crawls across the floor, he's confronted by the witch Lois; he falls to the floor twitching, and then his torso is suddenly and sharply folded backward, snapping his spine and killing him.
• Downer Ending: Regardless of what ending you get for the first film, someone ends up dying. In two of them, both of the people you've just spent an hour and a half trying to relate to die. In the last one, you just get horror.
  • On the final night of Paranormal Activity 2, Possessed-Katie enters the house. And leaves nothing living inside. All except for Hunter, who she kidnaps and Ali who was out on a school trip.
  • On the last night in Paranormal Activity 3, the demon strangles Julie, snaps Dennis' spine in half, and the grandmother and her cult friends essentially hand Katie and Kristi over to the demon.
  • All the main characters in Paranormal Activity 4 are killed and the now possessed Katie takes Wyatt/Hunter with what appears to be the cult, far larger in number.
  • Every main character in Ghost Dimension except Leila is brutally killed and Toby gains a corporeal form.
• Fate Worse than Death: Possession, and whatever it is the demon plans to do if it gets the baby. 4 implies the demon desires to utilize Hunter/Wyatt as a new host, but Ghost Dimension shows that it needs his blood to make itself a corporeal human body of its own.
• Fluffy the Terrible / Tom the Dark Lord: A partial example. The demon's real name (assuming it has one) hasn't been revealed, but Kristi, as a child, refers to it as "Toby". Robbie also refers to it by that name.
• For the Evulz: The demon, especially in the first film. Honestly, it slams the door shut then bangs on the other side of it just to fuck with them.
  • Indeed, Katie even acknowledges this trope when she asks "Do you think that thing would have left footprints if it didn't want to? No. It did it because it wanted to. It wanted you to find my photo."
• Found Footage Films: One of the more successful franchises of this type of film. The framing device of the movies is the footage was recorded by the people in the videos, either by handheld cameras or security cameras, and edited together by someone else to figure out what happened.
• "Friends" Rent Control: At first glance, it appears that this is the case, but a passing reference is made in the first three movies to the "sudden" acquisition of wealth by Katie and Kristie's great-grandmother, in conjunction with descriptions about how deals can be brokered with demons for just that, usually in exchange for a first-born son. The upshot is that the family is filthy rich with ill-gotten demon-money, and Toby has haunted them for five generations, waiting to collect his collateral.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Grandma Lois, being the person who started the contract with the demon in the first place.
  • The Midwives Coven itself, of which Lois is a member, which is revealed to have been active since at least The Middle Ages.
• Hell Is That Noise: The assorted noises the demon sometimes makes, ranging from faint whispering, growling, snorting, and full-blown howling.
  • The ominous rumbling sound that accompanies the demon, which can get really loud when it's getting serious.
  • The loud, stomping footsteps the demon makes.
  • Katie's screams during the ending of 1.
  • Hunter's train toy when it starts to move by itself in 2.
• He Who Must Not Be Heard: Aside from a few animalistic growls, roars and snorts, the demon is never heard to speak. When other characters (such as Kristi and Wyatt) communicate with it, the audience only hears their end of the conversation, hinting that Toby can communicate telepathically.
• He Who Must Not Be Seen: The demon. It demonstrates Visible Invisibility at times, but otherwise remains unseen... until The Ghost Dimension.
• Home Porn Movie: Subverted in the first and third movies. Micah wants to record Katie and himself having sex, but she refuses. Dennis and Julie try this, but they're interrupted by some tremors from an earthquake.
• Humanoid Abomination: In The Ghost Dimension, when it grows powerful enough, Toby eventually forms into a lanky human-ish monster shrouded by shadows with an utterly inhuman face and Glowing Eyes of Doom. It finally becomes this fully when it gains a corporeal body of its own.
• I Did What I Had to Do: As it turns out, the events of the first movie are a result of Dan doing this.
• Idiot Ball: Almost everything Micah does in the second half of the first film is obviously counterproductive. In his defense, however, he is a skeptic and this stuff really stresses him out and frays his good sense.
  • It seems to be a trait of the men in these movies, as Dan refuses to believe or accept the idea that there is anything wrong in his house,
    • Surprisingly, in the third movie, Dennis is the one who realizes that something very fucked up is going on and Julie denies it. She holds the ball for most of the movie until the demon decides to fuck her up.
• Inescapable Horror: Once the demon latches on to you, it will not stop until it gets what it wants.
• Intangible Man: The demon's intangibility is apparently selective at its discretion.
  • It slashes up Micah in a photo of the couple without removing the glass (although it has five nice, neat cracks on it over his face).
  • It leaves footprints in the powder, just because it wants to.
  • Kristi runs across the bedroom unimpeded but Katie—who is right behind her—slams into something with an audible thump. Shortly afterwards, it lifts Katie off the ground by her hair.
  • In the third movie, an earthquake causes bits of dust and plaster to fall on the demon, revealing its outline. A second later it all falls to the ground as if nothing was there.
  • Then in the fourth movie, there's the mother who backs-up into Toby. Toby is not pleased.
• In-Universe Camera: Played to its fullest effect to turn a Haunted House story into one of the most terrifying horror films in recent memory.
• Invisibility: The demon. The fact that it is never properly shown on-screen (until the sixth movie, at least) doesn't make it any less terrifying.
• Jerkass: The demon itself. Honestly. The shit it does is what a schoolyard bully or an older brother would do... except for the killing, maybe.
  • Micah, out of a combination of selfish curiosity and being Too Dumb to Live.
  • Dan in Paranormal Activity 2, particularly when you find out his ultimate solution to the haunting.
• Jump Scare: Many and varied, although the trope is subverted on a few occasions - the attic scene in 1, for example, is set up so that the audience is expecting something to jump out at Micah, but it never does.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: By the time of the fourth film, it's pretty much common knowledge (and even included in the synopsis) that Katie becomes the demon's host and abducts Hunter five years prior.
• Leave the Camera Running: Arguably the whole movie is this trope taken to extremes; entire nights are shown on fast-forward for the sake of a minute or two of action.
  • Justified in the second film, as it's filmed through security cameras. However, the film purposefully repeats the same angles (front door, pool, kitchen, living room, front door, Hunter's room) for the first batch of nights, both to imitate security TV footage and to screw with the viewer.
  • Used too much in the third film. At times, Dennis is recording himself reviewing video footage. Then, toward the end, when they're at the grandmother's house, he sets up the camera in the bedroom when he has no reason to believe a ghost has followed them. Then, when the shit hits the fan, he carries the camera around with him, even picking it up when he drops it when he's in danger. Given the nature of people and their camera phones now a days, he was really just before his time. And to be fair, the house is dark and he's essentially using the camera as a flashlight.
  • For the fourth film, they introduce the camera phone and laptop.
• Meaningful Background Event: During the ending of 2, possessed-Katie can be seen standing behind Dan without his knowledge. During the ending of 3, Lois is standing in the darkness, just watching Dennis, as he retrieves the camera in the bedroom.
• Monochrome Casting: A noticeable example, notwithstanding the Minimalist Cast. As mentioned above, most of the series is set in California, one of the most cosmopolitan regions on earth, and yet four of the six films in the series have casts as white as snow. The remaining two mainly feature Latinos, with White supporting characters.
• Musical Spoiler: Well, sort of. When the demon is present and active, a low, ominous, ambient rumbling can be heard, which can get pretty loud when its getting serious.
• Neck Snap: Possessed-Katie snaps Dan's neck in 2. In 3, the demon snaps Dennis' neck and back, commando-style. Happens again in 4 when Possessed-Katie kills Ben at the computer, and in The Ghost Dimension when the now-corporeal Toby strangles Emily before snapping her neck.
• Never Trust a Trailer: In the final frame of one trailer for 2, you can see the family dog in Hunter's room barking at something unseen in the doorway. The crib is empty, however creepily enough in the mirror's reflection you can see baby Hunter standing in it. This never happens in the film.
  • The DVD cover shows the opposite — Hunter is in the crib, but he cannot be seen in the mirror. This also doesn't happen in the film.
  • Also in 2's trailer, there is a part where the chair in Hunter's room begins to rock on its own, and a scene where Katie's silhouette suddenly appears in the doorway. Neither of these things happen in the film.
  • Trailers for the third movie feature a number of clips that never happen in the movie: Julie being pulled into her bedroom and the doors slamming shut behind her, Katie and Kristi huddling in a corner in the kitchen, their house on fire, et cetera.
  • The teaser for the third film featured the girls invoking Bloody Mary in their bathroom. The scene does happen, but with completely different characters.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Where do we start?
  • In the first film, the psychic who stops by near the beginning says that, when dealing with a demon, there are three things you should never do, as they give the demon more power: don't try to talk to it, don't antagonize it, and avoid a buildup of negative energy. Over the course of the film, Micah repeatedly attempts to communicate with and taunts the demon, against Katie's wishes; as a result, their relationship begins to deteriorate, which of course leads to negative emotions all around. By the time the psychic returns, it's gotten so bad, he bailed out, suggesting the couple do the same. Of course, they had to stay one more day...
  • In a more subtle example from the first film, Katie, practically catatonic and in the very last stages of her humanity, is found by Micah clutching a crucifix. Micah later burns it along with the photo discovered in the attic. In the commentary, Oren Peli states that the crucifix, although having little effect on the demon, was the last thing to just barely keep her safe from it.
  • In the second film, Dan fires Martine, whose smoking candle ritual actually did seem to be able to keep the demon at bay (listen to the familiar ambient noise).
  • Dennis (in 3) is one of the only characters who seems Genre Savvy and tries to figure out what the hell's going on without causing problems. Randy, on the other hand, just gets out while he still can. The same can probably be said about the babysitter. Julie was the one who took up the Idiot Ball. They also practically delivered the kids to the masterminds of the whole thing, but that's excusable, since they had no way of knowing Julie's mom was behind the whole thing, and it also seems that the demon deliberately encouraged them to leave the house in the first place.
• Nightmare Face: Those possessed by the demon occasionally take on demonic facial features. Exaggerated during the ending of the fourth film.
  • The demon itself has an inhuman face with features that are vaguely skeletal.
• No Ontological Inertia: As mentioned at the beginning of 3, Lois passed away some time ago - unfortunately, the curse she started is still active.
• Nothing Is Scarier: The majority of each film's content. The "nothing" was so strong on test screenings for the first film that people left the cinema out of fear - making it appear more marketable to the execs.
  • From the first film: were you expecting a Stinger? ...or credits at all, for that matter?
  • The fact that the demon is never shown or heard (aside from a few examples of Visible Invisibility and the odd vocal noise, such as growling or faint whispering).
• Offscreen Teleportation: Those possessed by the demon appear to be capable of this.
• Playing with Fire: Implied for the demon; it most likely burned down Katie's childhood home, and then sets fire to an Ouija board for no reason other than to be terrifying.
  • The extended version of the second film includes a scene where the stove is turned on and soon engulfs a pan in flames.
• Prequel: Paranormal Activity 2 is actually this instead of a sequel, as many believed; Katie even drops a Red Herring early on when she says that "Micah wasn't up for hanging out today". Every night-time event takes place before the first movie, except for the last five minutes of the film.
  • The third movie takes place eighteen years before the first two.
• Reality Has No Soundtrack: The films don't have any actual background music in them. The closest to such is the ambient rumbling that can be heard whenever the demon is present.
• Red Herring: There are several references in the first film to a demonologist named Dr. Johan Averies who never actually appears in the movie, mostly thanks to Micah.
  • With the greater understanding of what the demon wants following the second film, the entire what-happened-to-Diane subplot of the first film is implied to be more-or-less a fakeout by the demon.
• Retcon / Rewrite: In the first movie, Micah makes an off-hand joke that Katie's mother shouldn't visit them any more, despite that we later learn she's been dead for years.
  • Also, it was established in the first movie that the demon has been following Katie for years and was implied to have haunted her before, yet the second film has Dan foist the demon upon Katie via a curse as an explanation as to why she is haunted in the first film. There is also no indication that Katie has a sister or that the demon wants anything more than Katie herself.
  • Most egregiously, the burned photograph in the first movie is very clearly implied to have burned in the house fire during Katie's childhood, with her even saying she hasn't seen the photo in 15 years and that its existence should be impossible. Yet in the second movie, the photo is in Kristi's house and it is Dan who burns it.
  • 2 implies that the break-in early in the movie was done to steal a gift Katie made/bought for Hunter. 3's scenes-from-2 make it clear that that whoever ransacked the house was looking for the tapes of the girls as children.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Dr. Fredrichs in his last scene in 1. He enters the house, reads the metaphysical writing on the wall, stays long enough to dash their remaining hopes, then gets the fuck out.
  • Both Randy and the babysitter in 3 promptly leave after being terrified by the demon. Randy urges Dennis to watch the tape and realizes that he's out of his damn league on this one.
• Slasher Smile: Just before Possessed-Katie lunges at the camera in 1's theatrical ending, she sports an ear-to-ear smile. Her smile when she's laying on the bed after her Voice of the Legion kicks in may also qualify as she is smiling for all the wrong reasons.
  • After Possessed-Katie kills Dan and Kristi in 2, she sports the same smile while holding Hunter.
  • The fully-formed demon in The Ghost Dimension flashes an evil grin at least once at the camera.
• Speak of the Devil/Elephant in the Living Room: Apparently Katie and Kristi have always known of the demon, but just refused to acknowledge it.
  • The third film implies that a demonic cult has been tampering with their memories for hell knows how long throughout their childhoods.
• Stopped Numbering Sequels: The films in the series are given subtitles instead of numbers starting with the fifth entry, The Marked Ones.
• Story Breadcrumbs: The over-arcing story is told in this fashion. Each movie reveals a little bit more and the only way you get any idea of what's going on is the watch them all. The first movie introduces Katie and the demon, the two central figures of the haunting. The second film reveals why the demon went after Katie, expands upon Katie's family, and gives the first few hints about the source of the haunting. The third movie more-or-less confirms the source of the hauntings, reveals what happened to Katie and Kristi's parents, and shows where this whole thing started. The fourth film then explores on the fates of Katie and Hunter, while the fifth film reveals the Coven and Toby's endgame. The spin-off film The Marked Ones shows how widespread the Witches Covenant is and how others besides Katie are marked for possession by the demon.
• Super-Strength: Those possessed by the demon gain greatly increased strength. Katie, for example, is able to throw Micah's body across the bedroom (after heaving it all the way upstairs), snap Dan and Ben's necks with ease, and send Kristi flying with a single shove (an act which also kills the latter). In The Marked Ones, Jesse unwittingly sends some would-be muggers flying after hitting out at them, and later stops a shopkeeper's baseball bat mid-swing with his hand.
• Trailers Always Spoil: Lots of the scariest nighttime segments are in trailers, not to mention the Camera Abuse ending.
  • Completely averted with the third film, in that a majority of the scenes in trailers and commercials aren't in the actual movie. It rivals Half-Life 2's box^note  No, this isn't some dirty phrase. Half-Life 2's original box was filled with screenshots, but not a single one of them was in-game., in this respect.
    • Unfortunately, a commercial advertising a showing of the third film on the FXX network played it completely straight, spoiling Lois killing Dennis.
  • One of the screenshots on back of the DVD of Paranormal Activity 2 is a possessed Katie lurking ominously behind Dan, spoiling part of the ending, as well as the general fact that the film shifts from being a prequel to a semi-sequel. Despite their face being semi-obscured in darkness, anyone who's seen the first movie would easily figure out who this is and when this scene happens in the chronology, both due to the clothing worn by the character in question.
  • The trailer for The Ghost Dimension shows clips of Toby's visible, Humanoid Abomination form.
• Unnaturally Blue Lighting: Just look at those posters.
• Visible Invisibility: Invoked by Micah in 1, who spreads talcum powder all over the upstairs floor to catch the demon's footprints. Sometimes the demon casts a shadow.
  • In the third film, dust from an earthquake briefly settles on the demon's body.
  • In 4, the Kinect's tracking dots show the demon.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Each time the demon's appearance is teased to the audience, it seems to take a different form each time. In 1, it leaves bird-like footprints. In 3, it appears to have an adult, humanoid form. In 4, it resembles a human child. In Ghost Dimension its finally shown that the demon's true shape starts out as a swirly mass of dark energy tendrils that can configure itself into whatever shape it wants, but tends to prefer a Humanoid Abomination shape taller than a human being.
• White Shirt of Death: After Katie becomes possessed and kills Micah, his blood is splattered over her light-coloured pyjamas. She is still wearing them when she returns to Dan and Kristi's house the following night.

Paranormal Activity

Tropes applying to the first Paranormal Activity:

• An Arm and a Leg: If one pauses the movie to read the article about the Diane Mercer case, it states that the possessed Diane gnawed her own arm off while restrained. Additionally, a quick shot of the grisly damage is visible for a second or two when Katie and Micah watch the video footage of her exorcism.
• Asshole Victim: Let's be honest, does anyone like Micah?
• Bullying a Dragon: Micah goes out of his way to antagonize an invisible demon. This proves...foolish.
• Camera Abuse: The ending has Micah's body being thrown at the camera, knocking it off its tripod.
• Chekhov's Gun: Subverted. The audience sees Micah wielding a butcher knife near the beginning of the film, and in the original cut this became important later, but the edited ending excises it.
• Exact Words: Deconstructed. Micah promises not to buy a Ouija board. So, he borrows one instead. Great lengths are taken to show how much of a violation of trust it would be to pull this trope on someone.
• Foreshadowing: The footsteps of the demon 'walking' down the hall during the preliminary hauntings turn out to mirror the shuffling noises we hear just before the Jump Scare in the last scene.
  • During one night, the demon "tests" its possession of Katie - the familiar rumbling noise when Micah is talking to Katie on the swing is a further hint that she is not herself. The final day takes this up to eleven. In addition, during the first scene in which this happens, Katie's shadow moves towards the door by itself.
  • The damage to the photo of Katie and Micah - Micah's face is scratched, Katie's isn't. On the final night, Micah is killed by the demon.
  • Near the start, Micah does a "slash the throat" motion towards the camera when talking about how to "respond appropriately" to what's going on. In the one of the alternate endings, Katie slashes her own throat.
  • Early on, when Dr. Fredrichs is at the house, he says that there may have been some kind of trigger for the supernatural events plaguing Katie to suddenly start occurring again. In 2, we find out it was due to Dan cursing Katie to save his family.
• The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: Just before the now possessed Katie lunges at the camera, she stares directly into it while sporting a truly unsettling Psychotic Smirk.
• Freak Out: Towards the end, Katie has a tearful breakdown after Micah yells at her for bringing the demon into the house.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: The first time Katie gets out of bed and stands motionless in one spot, look carefully at the shadow she's casting. It starts to move towards the hallway about a second before she does.
• From Bad to Worse: This film can be summarized with, "Boyfriend and girlfriend hear noises. Boyfriend buys camera. Things go downhill."
• Hijacked by Jesus: Micah is seen flipping through a book on demons, which features an article on Baphomet - in actuality this was a medieval European swipe at Muslims (Baphomet - Mahomet), and supposedly the 'demon' worshipped by the Knights Templar. In real life, Baphomet is often mistaken to be a demon, so it's likely the fault of the book's author, not necessarily the film makers.
• Improv: Much of the dialogue was unscripted, with Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat improvising most of it. Also, in some scenes, they weren't told when anything scary was about to happen in order to get a genuine reaction out of them.
• It's All About Me: Micah is more concerned about the demon haunting what he considers his than for Katie's safety. In the end, when the hauntings have begun to truly take their toll on Katie's emotional well being, he grows out of it. At this point, however, it's too late, because Katie has started the beginning phase of being possessed.
• Jerkass: Micah constantly disrespects Katie's wishes and doesn't really take her concerns seriously, constantly tries to antagonise the demon, and is pretty rude to Dr. Fredrichs. By the time he realises just how bad things have gotten, it's sadly too late.
• Jump Scare: The ending, in which Micah's body is thrown at the camera, especially with his body suddenly appearing out of the darkness.
  • At one point, Katie and Micah wake up during the night, thinking they can hear strange noises. They sit upright, listening intently... and then there's suddenly a loud, demonic roar followed by a huge banging sound.
• Mr. Exposition: The psychic is only onscreen for a couple of minutes, but in that time he clearly explains what has been happening, what's happening now and what's going to happen until the movie is over. Needless to say, Micah and Katie (but mainly Micah) ignore his advice.
• Nervous Wreck: As the paranormal encounters get worse throughout the movie Katie becomes more and more emotionally unstable.
• Nightmare Face: At the very end of the film, Katie's face becomes noticeably more demonic as she lunges at the camera.
• Now You Tell Me: Katie didn't bother telling Micah that she's had a demon spirit bugging her for most of her life until she moved in with him. She retorts that it'd make her seem absolutely insane if she gave out such info on the first date, which he then counters with the fact she could've told him just before living together.
• Revised Ending: The movie has three endings. The theatrical version is the canon one.
• Rewatch Bonus: Dr. Fredrichs telling Katie that there may have been some kind of trigger for the demon to start harassing her again takes on a whole new meaning after watching 2.
  • The ending has some extra meaning to it after watching the ending of The Marked Ones.
• Say My Name: MIICAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!
• Shout-Out: In the original European mythology, demons were depicted as having the feet of birds, and bird footprints show up in the talcum powder Micah sprinkles on the floor. They were given cloven hooves when the Church attempted to demonize pagan gods like Pan.
  • Micah: "What is your quest? What is your favourite color?"
• Slashed Throat: Possessed-Katie slits her own throat in one of the alternate endings.
• Too Dumb to Live: The psychic and Katie repeatedly warn Micah against communicating with/antagonising whatever is in the house. Micah decides to spread talcum powder around, buy a Ouija board, and yells at the demon to do its worst. And to top it all off, he takes Katie's crucifix, the one remaining thing that could've given her any protection from the demon, and throws it in the fireplace. By the time he realises that antagonising the demon is a bad idea, it's already too late.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Micah, but only at the very, very, VERY end.
• The Unintelligible: At one point, the demon can be heard whispering very faintly, something the camera is able to pick up. Micah listens to it over and over again, but doesn't recognise the language.
• Voice of the Legion: "I think we'll be okay now." Somewhat easy to miss, since it's only at around the "okay now" part.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: According to Word of God, the bird-like footprints shown are not necessarily indicative of the demon's true form. It simply chooses to have the footprints appear that way.

Paranormal Activity 2

Tropes applying to Paranormal Activity 2:

• Adults Are Useless: Dan until the very end where he saves the day. Then again, his actions result in Katie being possessed, and Micah, Kristi and himself all dead.
• Badass Normal: Kristi's been the only character so far who has been able to fight off the demon's dragging ability even it was only for a little bit.
  • Dan managed to fight off his demonic wife and he won.
• Big Damn Hero: Dan rescuing Hunter from a demonic Kristi.
• Bilingual Bonus: Most of Martine's dialogue is in unsubtitled Spanish.
  • Also, a creepy example lies in the marks that possessed-Kristi scratches into the basement door. Particularly the marks that form a single word: "MEUS", which is Latin for "mine".
• Break the Cutie: Despite the demon not particularly interested in her specifically since the worst she ever is to it is an impediment in getting what it wants, there is no possible way that Ali makes it through the events of 2 unbroken.
• Call-Forward: Early on, we see the same photo of Katie from the first film, and again later when Dan and Martine are using it to pass the curse on to Katie.
• Decoy Protagonist: With Kristi being Katie's younger sister the audience was lead to believe that she would be the protagonist, but Kristi spends much of the movie trying to ignore the hauntings in the hope it will go away. It's Ali who notices all the paranormal activity and is the one doing the investigating, and then when Kristi gets possessed Dan has to save her and Hunter.
• Determinator: Kristi's resistance to the demon's dragging ability was valiant, but pointless.
• Evil-Detecting Dog: Abby.
  • This gives you reason to be worried when your pets stare at corners...
• Evil Is Petty: In the extended version, the demon cranks the pool's temperature to boiling hot before Dan jumps in. Cue Dan leaping out of the pool in pain and asking for a pack of frozen peas to apply to his groin.
• First-Name Basis: Ali calls Katie "Katie," even though Kristi always refers to her as "Aunt Katie" in front of her.
• Foreshadowing: At one point, Dan is messing around with the camera's night vision in Ali's room. Later, he utilises the night vision to find his way around when the demon blows the electricity in the house.
  • Early on, Abby is seen scratching at the basement door on several occasions. Said basement becomes an important location later on.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: During one night, the mirrored cupboard in Hunter's room suddenly and slightly distorts. It isn't immediately obvious at first glance, given that the viewer could be focusing on either Hunter or Abby at this moment.
• Improbable Infant Survival: You think the sequel would be an aversion, but in the end the only ones left alive and unpossessed are Hunter and Ali, though the ending doesn't exactly leave one with much hope for Hunter.
  • Zig-zagged, It's revealed in 4, he (somehow) was adopted and renamed Wyatt. Although, in the same movie, he is pulled under water seemingly possessed and calls himself his original name: Hunter. Then, he leads his sister to get attacked by his possessed aunt, Katie. However, both their whereabouts are currently unknown.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: It's clear that Dan does not believe in the demonic haunting whatsoever so when strange things start happening the only thing he can do is blame the people around him. He fires Martine, blames Ali and Brad for various abnormal occurrences, and gets short with his family for even bringing up anything supernatural. However, when the proof of what's happening is presented right in front of him he drops this behavior and immediately searches for a way to save his family. The way he achieves saving the souls of his family rubbed a good chunk of the audience the wrong way.
• Mama Bear: Kristi manages to escape the demon's dragging ability, for a little bit at least, to rush back into Hunter's room to make sure he's alright.
• Missing Mom: Ali's birth mother, having died prior to the film's events.
• Nerves of Steel: In contrast with Katie who always has a little freak out after every single supernatural event, Kristi is incredibly calm and mature about the hauntings. She's scared, but she doesn't let her fear affect her family. Until she gets possessed. The difference between how these two characters act towards the demon is expanded in Paranormal Activity 3 where Katie's freak outs are even worse, while Kristi is even calmer with the demon.
• Nice Girl: Kristi and Ali. Kristi does her best to shield and protect her baby from the haunting and Ali is trying to find a resolution to it all.
• Nightmare Retardant: Dan and Ali actually treat the pool cleaner scene this way, laughing about its erratic behavior.
• Prequel: Starts off as one to the first film and then becomes a semi-sequel by picking up after Katie's possession.
• Papa Wolf: Dan resorts to cursing his sister-in-law Katie, to save his infant son.
• Pragmatic Hero: Dan saves his wife and son by cursing his wife's older sister. It works, until Katie gets possessed by the same demon to take Hunter like it originally intended to do.
• Pyrrhic Victory: The exorcism of Kristi. Unfortunately, the demon simply took control of Katie and returned to finish what it started.
• Sole Survivor: Ali is the only member of the family that survives because she was on a field trip the night Possessed-Katie murders her father and step-mother, and abducts her baby brother.
• Supernatural-Proof Father: Dan plays this annoyingly straight for the first 2/3 of the movie. After viewing the recording of Kristi being dragged down the stairs, however, he quickly changes his mind.
• Token Minority: Martine the housekeeper, a Latina in a sea of whites. That's still better than not having any minority at all though, as the other films except for The Marked Ones do.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Abby the dog was last mentioned staying the night at the vet's. Flash forward three weeks, and she's apparently absent for Katie's rampage.

Paranormal Activity 3

Tropes applying to Paranormal Activity 3:

• Bedsheet Ghost: Played straight, surprisingly enough, and actually pretty damn creepy.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Lois comes across as a nice, caring grandmother at first, even if she does make some disparaging remarks about Dennis behind his back - then it's revealed that she's a witch and the reason for the curse in the first place.
• Brainwashed: The cult is strongly implied to have started brainwashing Katie and Kristi from a young age, which is why they can barely remember anything from the events of this film.
• Creepy Doll: You know how every kid that grew up in the 80s and early 90s had one of those Teddy Ruxpin dolls? You know how they were the creepiest damn things ever? Yeah. The filmmakers for the third movie remembered them too.
• Deliberate VHS Quality: Makes the film seem like it really was recorded on a 1980's camcorder.
• Determinator: Dennis, who really does give it his all to get out of that house at the end.
• Disappeared Dad: Katie and Kristi's birth father is nowhere to be seen. Lois mentions that the children 'miss their father' but who he is and if that's even true is not explored.
• Evil Old Folks: Lois, as well as her fellow coven members who appear in the climax.
• Face-Revealing Turn: At the end of the film, Dennis tries approaching Katie whose back is facing him. Unfortunately after turning around we learn she's possessed and she sends him flying across the room.
• Foreshadowing: Towards the end, Dennis tries to explain to Julie about the cult and how it relates to the symbol he found in their house. This comes up later when he sees the same symbol in Lois' house.
  • At Lois' house, Kristi is messing with a painting and is warned not to mess with it. No points for guessing that there will be a reveal when that painting comes off the wall... the aforementioned cult symbol, in fact.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: At the very end, just before the credits start rolling, a quick shot of what appears to be a bed on fire can be seen, possibly a nod to Katie and Kristi's old house burning down.
• Imaginary Friend: Kristi "befriended" the demon as a child. His name is Toby. People tell Kristi that he's imaginary, but he's not. A few night time scenes show her speaking directly to him.
• Laughing Mad: Randy lets out a few bursts of terrified laughter when the demon terrorises him and Katie.
• Nice Guy: Dennis in contrast to Dan and Micah is a pretty friendly and likeable guy trying to help his girlfriend's daughters.
• Obnoxious In-Laws: Julie's mother rags on Dennis behind his back and pressures her daughter to have more kids—a son, in particular. In truth, her motives are far more sinister than the usual grandma-itching-for-more-grandbabies-to-spoil.
• Offing the Offspring: Lois orchestrates the death of her own daughter in order to give Toby what he wants.
• Papa Wolf: Dennis loves Katie and Kristi unconditionally and gives it his all to protect them in the finale. Unsurprisingly but sadly, he is unsuccessful.
• Prequel: 18 years before the first two films.
• Product Placement: Downplayed, and almost a Stealth Parody in that these are used as part of the Period Piece trappings. Most of the prominently shown products are obsolete at the time the film was made, but were heavily promoted via Product Placement in the 80's: The Teddy Ruxpin, the Light Bright, and the briefly seen Sega Master System are just a few examples.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The babysitter Lisa immediately leaves when she witnesses a demonic occurrence. Also, Randy is the only main character who gets the hell out while he still can.
• Shout-Out: Dennis and Randy have a debate on what the title of Back to the Future should have been.
  • After being thoroughly terrorised by Toby, Randy angrily tells Dennis that whatever is in his house isn't "Casper the Friendly fuckin' Ghost".
• Sigil Spam: After you're brought to awareness that the triangle symbol is associated with the creature, you realize it's all over the place. The walls of the closet, the walls of Grandma's house, the Light-Brite at the back of the room, the pictures of the witches...
• Supernatural Proof Mother: Julie, until the entire kitchen drops from the ceiling in front of her. Unfortunately for her, she is well past the point of being able to help the situation.
• The '80s: The film is set in 1988 and really does have quite an 80's feel. Teddy Ruxpin, the Sega Master System, Light-Brite, the babysitter's clothing and hairdo...
  • Hell, the film closes with the Paramount logo used during the time period.
• You Can't Fight Fate: In any other film genre, Dennis would've been an Action Survivor. Poor, poor, Dennis.

Paranormal Activity 4

Tropes applying to Paranormal Activity 4:

• Adults Are Useless: The grownups are completely unhelpful (or part of the coven and outright evil). Alex and Ben do all the investigative work.
• Action Girl: Alex is honestly the most proactive protagonist in the series, more than likely due to her and her boyfriend being a little Genre Savvy. She even attempts to save her father and brother from Katie.
• Alternate Reality Game: Sometime after the film came out a YouTube account controlled by a man named Jacob Degloshi showed clips of him and his daughter being haunted by the demon as he reviewed clips from a VHS showing parts of the second and third films. As things went on, his daughter Sarah (moving in with him from his ex-wife) was being haunted more by the demon to the point where she carved the coven symbol into her arm and killed her pet bird. The campaign ends on a (now finished) livestream where Jacob reviews the sixth tape only for his house to go out and him to be killed before his possessed daughter and ex-wife. It's implied his exwife was a member of the coven who asked the demon to help her get her daughter back and make her join the coven.
• Badass Normal: Alex trying to rescue her father and brother from a demonic Katie was incredibly impressive considering how frightened and vulnerable she was at the time.
• Berserk Button: The only time Alex shows any true anger towards Robbie was when he convinced Wyatt not to talk to her.
• Big Sister Instinct: The film opens with Alex distracting Wyatt from their parents failing marriage, throughout the film she continues to do her best at keeping him out of trouble and harm's way, she catches on pretty quick that Robbie is a bad influence on him, and in the end Alex dies trying to rescue Wyatt from a witch army.
• The Cameo: Alex's friend Sarah, who is shown in one scene at the beginning of the film, is the deuteragonist in Jacob Degloshi's viral campaign videos in which she is the target for the demon's haunting. Her somber behavior at the beginning of the shorts implies that her story takes place after her friend Alex dies.
  • Also applies to Kristi in the opening scene.
• Cassandra Truth: Alex's parents refuse to believe her, even when she's almost killed and she has the footage to prove it.
• Cat Scare: Lampshaded. The family cat makes frequent appearances and strolls around the house at its leisure, so the audience knows to expect it.
• Chekhov's Gun: The kitchen knife.
• Cool Big Sis: Alex is this for Wyatt, but after Robbie shows up he purposely puts himself in-between her and Wyatt and manipulates him into being distant with her. Alex caught onto this and quickly voiced her displeasure.
• Credits Gag: The extended version has a scene near the beginning with a kid named Jake dressed as Luke Skywalker. In the credits, he's named as "Jake Skywalker".
• Creepy Child: Robbie, the child living with Katie from across the street. Given that he's presumably been raised by the cult, it's not too surprising that he is the way he is.
  • Alex's brother Wyatt also counts, as Robbie and Katie gradually manipulate him and introduce him to Toby. Especially after The Reveal that he, and not Robbie, is Hunter.
• Curiosity Killed the Cast: Ben comes into the house while there's (apparently) no one home, and stays long enough to hear noises upstairs. He decides to investigate, which causes him to stay and leave cult-related reading material on Alex's computer. Cue Katie...
  • Subverted with the rest of the cast since Alex and her parents never figure out exactly why they are being haunted. This directly contrasts with all the other PA movie protagonists.
• Determinator: Much like Dan in 2 and Dennis in 3, Alex gives it her all to rescue the target of the demon's hauntings.
• Falling Chandelier of Doom: One falls in front of Alex while she's walking in her house investigating odd noises. When she looks up she sees Robbie looking at her.
• Flat Character: Alex's parents exist only to disbelieve her claims of supernatural events. And to get killed by the demon.
• Foreshadowing: Robbie tells Ben that his "imaginary friend" doesn't like him. When Ben asks who wouldn't like him, Robbie replies with "You'll find out."
  • The windows of the house across the street are covered up with Spanish-language newspapers, hinting that the owners spent time in Mexico or near the border. Cue The Stinger, which hints at the coven having been there already...
  • About halfway through, Alex notices a lot of cars pulled up outside Robbie's house. At the end, she comes face-to-face with a lot of coven members at the same house.
  • During their research, Alex and Ben read up about a virgin sacrifice as part of a ritual. Alex is implied to end up as said sacrifice.
• From Bad to Worse: Robbie is left to live with Alex and her family for a short time when Katie goes missing. The hauntings obviously go worse from then on.
• Happily Adopted: Wyatt. Unfortunately, his adoption is all part of the demon's plan.
• He Knows Too Much: The reason Katie goes after Ben. Of course, other than the fact the demon disliked him already.
• Misapplied Phlebotinum: Ben sets up all computers in the house to record the odd happenings and goings-on while the family's not around or is asleep. While they do remember to check the footage a few times, most of the truly supernatural occurrences go completely unnoticed. And the events that Alex records personally are never revisited, even when she threatens to show it to her parents.
• Nice Girl: Alex is a very cheerful and friendly girl who cares deeply for her younger brother.
• Nothing Is Scarier: Much like 3, the film opens with no logo or subtitles.
• Product Placement: A pretty creative use though, as the use of the Kinect motion sensor with the infrared camera allows for some good moments of seeing the demon move. It is also the first time in the franchise we see the demon itself, or, at least, outlined in IR dots. Kinect Sports is also played throughout the film, and some evidence of a demonic happening shows with the blank, white face on one of the boxing minigame's characters.
  • All computers and smartphones are Apple products. Ben sets up the former to record video which he then converts into Quicktime MOV files, which he mentions by name.
  • "Fucking Prius!"
  • Cans of Pepsi can be seen being consumed by the characters all throughout the film.
• Ramming Always Works: When Katie and/or Toby try to asphyxiate Alex in the garage with a running car, she breaks into it and, instead of simply shutting the engine off (which would still leave her trapped in a toxic environment,) she backs it up and smashes through the garage door in order to escape into fresh air.
• Red Herring: We're lead to believe that Robbie is really Hunter throughout most of the movie, until it's revealed to be Wyatt.
• The Reveal: Robbie isn't Hunter at all, it is in fact Wyatt, Alex's adopted brother.
• Ship Tease: Alex and Ben aren't officially girlfriend and boyfriend despite what Ben might think.
• Shout-Out: Wyatt rides his Fisher Price tricycle around the house, in a manner extremely reminiscent of Danny in The Shining.
  • During the beginning, which takes place during Halloween, Wyatt's friend is dressed as Luke Skywalker.
• Sequel: This film is the first true sequel in the series as it actually takes place five years after the events of 2.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog: The family never finds out anything about what's happening, or why it's happening. The closest they come is Ben finding out "freaky shit" about the demon's sigil and the coven, but nothing more than what we, the audience, already knew about it from previous films By the end of the film, all that has been accomplished is that Hunter/Wyatt has been raised as a normal boy and then broken and reclaimed, the entire family has been killed, and that the coven has grown A LOT.
• Smash to Black: This film ends even more abruptly than the previous installments as possessed-Katie lunges at Alex, presumably smashing her phone in the process.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Katie and Robbie LOVE doing this.
• The Stinger: After the credits, there is a scene in a store of Santería artifacts, set in a South of the Border ghetto. As the cameraman and an unseen companion discuss the store's contents as "witchcraft," the female store owner, dressed in black, comes out of nowhere and says "It is the beginning," freaking out the cameraman so much he and his friend flee. This being a tease for The Marked Ones.
• Supernatural-Proof Father: As mentioned above, even when shown video, Alex's parents don't believe anything weird is going on. Towards the end, it seems like her father might be coming around to the idea, but is killed before he can find out more.
• Undying Loyalty: Alex never gives up on Wyatt, even when her life is in peril.
• Virgin Sacrifice: Part of the demonic ritual requires one. Alex is strongly implied to be the sacrifice.
• Wham Line: "He looks just like his mom." and "My name is not Hunter!"
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Robbie just disappears from the rest of the movie after we learn that Wyatt is Hunter.
  • We do see a ghostly child outline in the Kinect dots after that. It's vaguely suggested that he was never really a child.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Alex's mother, frustrated with her staying up and making up stories, gives her sleeping pills. Alex is 15. Her father is none too pleased with his wife's actions.

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones

Tropes applying to Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones:

• Adults Are Useless: Despite being worried about the changes in his son's behavior, Cesar seemingly does nothing to help him and is absent most of the time.
• And I Must Scream: This film confirms that possessed people can be aware of their actions. Jesse, after terrorising a shopkeeper and a customer, says that he knew what he was doing but was completely unable to stop himself.
• Batter Up!: Marisol knocks a possessed Jesse out with a baseball bat while he's trying to kill Hector. Earlier on, a shopkeeper tries to defend himself with a baseball bat against a highly aggressive possessed Jesse. It doesn't work.
• Bilingual Bonus: Jesse's grandma, Irma, only speaks in (unsubtitled) Spanish. Given that the film is set in a Hispanic neighbourhood, quite a few other characters occasionally do so as well.
• Black Eyes of Evil: Oscar, another marked one, has these when Jesse finds him in the occult apartment. Jesse himself gets these when his demon fully takes over.
  • Time-displaced versions of Katie and Kristi as children also sport these when Jesse comes across them in Ana's basement.
• Body Horror: Jesse's Demonic Possession starts with a bite mark on his arm. He starts looking more and more sickly as time goes on. At one point, he pulls long strands of hair out of the corners of his eyes.
• Call-Back: Hector discovers the word "meus" written in what appears to be blood on Jesse's bedroom wall. The last time we saw this word was in Paranormal Activity 2, scratched into the basement door.
  • The house that the "final ritual" is performed in is Lois' old house.
• Car Fu: Towards the end, Hector and Marisol are driving away with a subdued Jesse in the back seat when the car is suddenly rammed into by another vehicle. By the time they've recovered from their shock, they realise that the crash was deliberate, and that Jesse has been taken by the occupants of the other vehicle.
• Chekhov's Gun: Hector's baseball bat. It's first seen and discussed in the back seat of his car early on, and is later used by Marisol to subdue Jesse.
• Continuity Cameo: Ali Rey from the second film turns up in a scene to talk about and explain how the demons work.
  • Katie and Micah turn up at the end.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: One of the signs that Jesse's possession is getting worse is him getting violent after he sees Marisol talking with another guy.
• Death Is the Only Option: Oscar tells Jesse that the only way to save themselves from being possessed is for them to kill themselves.
• Decoy Protagonist: During the first half of the film, the movie is centered around Jesse. After the demon fully takes control over Jesse, his best friend Hector becomes the protagonist trying to save him. Of course, he fails.
• Does Not Know His Own Strength: Jesse first discovers his newfound Super-Strength when he tries to fight off some muggers. He hits out at them, only to be astounded when he ends up literally throwing them aside with brutal force.
• Driven to Suicide: Demon Oscar has enough humanity left in him to kill the witch Ana and then fling himself off a building.
• Dying as Yourself: Oscar kills himself before the demon can fully take over his body.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Arturo is a dangerous and heavily-armed career criminal who cares deeply for his younger brother and obsessively investigates the events that led to his downfall.
• Evil-Detecting Dog: Jesse's loving dog Chavo becoming aggressive and frightened of him is an early sign that something is very, very wrong.
• Evil Old Folks: Ana, the witch who cursed Oscar.
• Eye Scream: As part of his physical transformation after becoming possessed, Jesse pulls long, thick strands of hair from the corners of his eyes at one point.
• Fanservice: Jesse and Hector lower their camera down an air duct to spy on the apartment below them. Hector is really pleased to find a naked young lady facing their camera.
  • Fan Disservice: Then a naked old lady (Ana) walks into view and starts painting a symbol on the young lady's stomach.
  Hector: I lost my boner, man.
• Foreshadowing:
  • As Jesse is checking himself in the mirror, the lights flicker and his reflection turns demonic for a split second . In the end, the demon completely takes over Jesse and turns him demonic.
  • While the trio is reading the journal they found, they read about doors that allows Time Travel to unholy places. While running from Demon Jesse in the witches' house, Hector goes through an ominous door and ends up in the house of Katie and Micah from the first movie. Demon Jesse follows him through it.
• Gilligan Cut: There's a funny one near the beginning involving Hector, the camera, and a laundry basket.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Jesse and Hector.
• Hope Spot: When the gang-bangers prepare to storm the cult's lair with heavy firepower it looks like the witches might finally get what's coming to them. Arturo takes a few down, but not enough to affect the outcome.
  • At first, the "cleansing" ritual seems to have worked when Jesse passes out. It hasn't.
• Kick the Dog: While possessed, Jesse bullies the denizens of the local grocery store and tortures his own dog simply because he can. He also very cruelly sneers at Hector that he isn't his friend. Later, it gets much worse when he pushes his grandmother Irma down the stairs, resulting in her hospitalisation.
• Kick The Son Of A Bitch: The two would-be muggers who end up getting brutally flung aside by Jesse's new demonic Super-Strength.
• Lovecraftian Superpower: Jesse gains psychic powers as a side effect of his demonic possession. At first he thinks it's cool, but then his possession gets worse.
• Missing Mom: Jesse's mother died giving birth to him, and he has been raised by his father and grandmother. It is later implied that she died due to Jesse being marked from within the womb by the cult.
• Monochrome Casting: Nearly every character is Hispanic/Latino as the setting is in a Hispanic neighborhood.
• Mugging the Monster: A very literal example occurs. Two thugs try to steal Jesse's backback and start beating the crap out of him, only for Jesse's demonic Super-Strength to kick in and brutally fling his attackers away.
• Mundane Solution: It turns out that regular shotguns are a highly effective way of dealing with witches.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Oscar killing the witch Ana.
• Ominous Visual Glitch: When Hector enters the mysterious door at the end, the picture glitches and goes black for a few seconds.
• Ouija Board: The trio use a Simon electronic matching game as one to communicate with the demon. Green is for yes, red is for no.
• Protagonist Journey to Villain: Jesse, as he gradually succumbs to his Demonic Possession.
• Revenge: Oscar murders Ana because she is the witch that marked him for possession.
  • On the other hand he might've thought that the demonic possession would end if he killed the witch that marked him.
  • This is Arturo's motivation against the witches after the death of his brother.
• The Reveal: The coven that worships the demon is revealed to be called "The Midwives".
• Sequel Escalation: The film required a more polished look and better effects than the other entries since the story is told through high definition camcorders rather than security cameras and webcams.
• Stable Time Loop: As part of the strange, time travel abilities of the cult. Hector ends up in Micah and Katie's house from the first film, in the same timeframe as Micah's death.
• Toilet Humor: Hector craps his pants after he eats a burrito.
• Token Evil Teammate: Arturo and Santo.
• Two Guys and a Girl: Jesse, Hector, and Marisol.
• Uncertain Doom: Irma ends up in hospital after suffering a nasty fall down the stairs thanks to possessed-Jesse. It's never revealed if she survives her injuries.
  • Arturo is last seen blasting through hordes of witches with his shotgun. It's never revealed if he was eventually overpowered and killed or if he managed to escape.
• Undying Loyalty: Marisol's resolve never wavered from rescuing Jesse from his possession, while Hector's faith was shaken by Irma's hospitalization.
• Wham Shot: After Hector enters the mysterious door whilst trying to escape from possessed-Jesse, as the camera regains focus, it quickly becomes clear that he's in Katie and Micah's house from the first movie - and in the exact same timeframe as possessed-Katie's murder of Micah.
  • When Jesse and Hector are exploring Ana's apartment early on in the movie, they come across a box of old videotapes - one of which is marked "Kristi and Katie - 1988".
  • During another exploration of the apartment, the group come across an altar in the basement. Among other things, they find some photos on top of it - photos of Jesse. The last photo, however, is of Jesse's mother, pregnant with him at the time... and posing with Katie and Kristi's grandma Lois.
  • At the end, Hector and Marisol travel to a house that, according to Ali, is where the "final ritual" will be performed and seems to be the coven's base of operations (or one of them, at least). Upon their arrival, the audience can see that this house is the same one that Lois lived in.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Chavo the dog is not seen again following the scene where Hector tries to get Jesse to stop tormenting it with his powers.
  • Irma is left hospitalized by the demon-possessed Jesse and her fate is left unknown.
  • Arturo's fate is unknown. He was last seen gunning down witches with his shotgun when Hector and Marisol run into the house. It is possible that he is the one seen getting thrown up against a window that Hector walks up to.

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension

Tropes applying to Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension:

• Ancient Conspiracy: The Midwives Coven is revealed to date all the way back to the The Middle Ages.
• Bad Black Barf: During the climax of the movie the briefly possessed Skyler vomits an black substance that burns Mike to death on contact.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Easily the closest Toby has ever come to a loss, and possibly the only film where his victory wasn't inevitable. But, he still pulled it off.
• Black Eyes of Evil: Leila gains these while possessed by Toby.
• Call-Back:
  • The spirit camera shows the demon standing next to Leila's bed staring at while she sleeps, for hours, in exactly the same manner as possessed Katie did in the first movie.
  • In the same scene as above, Toby moves to stand at the foot of Leila's bed. In the first film, Katie describes seeing a shadowy figure standing at the foot of her bed during her childhood.
  • Father Todd mentions that an exorcism would be completely useless in this situation. Dan learned than lesson at the end of the second movie.
  • During his research, Ryan mentions that police attributed the deaths in the fourth movie to Katie.
• Continuity Cameo: Young Kristi and Young Katie show up via the tapes of 3 and some new ones. They show up in person in the last scene.
• Creepy Child: Leila becomes this as Toby gains influence over her. Young Kristi and Katie are also shown to be this as the coven brainwashes and manipulates them.
• Demonic Possession: As usual, Toby takes control of Leila at various points during the movie. He also uses this ability to survive the Extermination Ritual during the climax of the movie, by jumping into Skyler.
• Demon Slaying: Father Todd concludes that an exorcism won't do any good, so they must attempt to destroy the demon with a ritual of Extermination. Even though they come close, they fail.
• Extremely Short Timespan: Unlike the previous movies, where the haunting unfolds slowly over the course of several weeks, the events of this movie play out in less than a week.
• The Faceless: At the very end, all we see of Toby in his corporeal form are his legs and hand.
• Facial Horror: Mike gets some Bad Black Barf in the face, courtesy of a possessed Skyler, which burns the poor guy's face off.
• Fantastic Catholicism: Father Todd is the most helpful ally any of the protagonists in the series ever get, being the first one to ever come up with a viable plan to fight the demon through what appears to be a combination of Geometric Magic and Catholic ritual. And it almost works!
• Full-Frontal Assault: At the end, Toby, in his corporeal form, appears to be naked as he snaps Emily's neck.
• Geometric Magic: Part of the ritual of Extermination involves drawing the Seal of Solomon on the floor of the living room and surrounding it with a circle of salt, in order to trap the demon within and then attempt to destroy it.
• Grand Finale: Claims to be this for the franchise, answering the major questions the previous films had left and ending with Toby in a corporeal human body, making it impossible for him to continue the kind of hauntings featured in the franchise.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: The spirit camera that the cult leaves for the family to find allows them to put up a better fight against Toby than any of the protagonists of the previous films. Toby is still too powerful to be defeated, though.
• Hope Spot: For a few seconds it seems like the Extermination Ritual has worked and Toby has been destroyed... then the camera turns to Skyler.
• Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: The film's events are set during the Christmas period.
• Lean and Mean: Toby is usually seen taking the form of a very tall and thin humanoid.
• Ms. Fanservice: Skyler, the family friend/house-guest spends most of the movie in flimsy blouses that show off her impressive assets.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The fact that Toby forgoes his usual MO of escalating harassment and psychological torture in favor of a more direct approach against this family is a sign for the audience that something ominous is going on.
• Porn Stache: Uncle Mike sports an impressively bushy mustache that is ridiculed by most of his family.
• The Reveal: The movie provides answers to most of the key questions created by the previous films:
  • What is Toby's endgame? To acquire a corporeal human body of his own.
  • What did he need Hunter for? Hunter's blood and Leila's blood are the key ingredients in the ritual to give Toby the corporeal body he wants.
  • What does Toby look like? Toby's true form evolves as he gains strength. At first he manifests as diffused tendrils of dark energy floating around, which later coalesce into a very large cloud capable of interacting with the environment and assuming a vaguely human-shaped form. The cloud becomes more and more dense until it becomes a dark Humanoid Abomination with a terrifying face about 2 meters tall.
  • Who was watching the tapes from Kristi and Katie's childhood seen in the third movie? It was Ryan Fleege, the father from this movie. The cult left them in his house along with the spirit camera for him to find.
• See-Thru Specs: The family finds an old camera in the basement that can allow them to see spirits.
• The Tape Knew You Would Say That: Kristi says bless you when Leila sneezes while watching a tape of Kristi's training.
• Timey-Wimey Ball: The cult's plan to get their hands on Leila and complete their ritual involves bringing Hunter and Leila back to 1992 when Kristi and Katie were children, as well as seeing into the future thorough Toby's eyes. This is most notorious when dealing with the tapes. and then there's the fact that Toby is running around in his incorporeal demonic form in 2013 even though the successful ritual to give him a human body takes place in 1992.
• 20 Minutes into the Past: The movie came out in 2015 but the action takes place in December of 2013.
• The Un-Reveal: Even though the film provides answers to most of the key questions created by the franchise, it leaves unanswered many of the small ones:
  • Why was Time Travel necessary to achieve the Coven's endgame?
  • What's the purpose of the many possessed people implied by The Marked Ones? And why were the boys possessed with their souls apparently erased while the girls like Katie and Christie simply brainwashed?
  • Why did the Coven give Hunter up for adoption between the events of 2 and 4?
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: The plan to capture and exorcise Toby is screwed from the start as soon as Father Todd explains it in detail in front of the camera.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Though young Katie makes a cameo, adult Katie never appears in the movie making this the first film of the series not to feature actress Katie Featherston. As such, her final fate is left unknown.
  • The movie does imply, however, that Katie posed as a real estate agent and led the Fleege family to the house.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Father Todd brings up the often mentioned advice from the previous movies that moving out won't do any good since demons don't haunt places; they haunt people so Toby would just follow them. In this case he happens to be wrong, since this particular house is a key part of the Coven's plan, being the place where the Time Travel portal can be opened. Getting Leila as far away from that house as possible would've delayed the bad guys plan.

Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin

• Creepy Child: The children on the farm, like Samuel's brother Eli and the little girl that Margot talks to, are weird, emotionless kids.
• Disney Villain Death: Jacob falls to his death down the hole where the creature is kept.
• Downer Ending: Dale is killed by the creature before it proceeds to slaughter most of the cult. The creature then possesses Samuel, who makes two cops commit suicide before driving into town where it will no doubt claim more lives. The only upside is that Margot and Chris manage to escape.
• Eye Scream: One of the cultists has his eyes gouged out near the end when chaos breaks out at the farm.
• Product Placement: Denny's, Froot Loops, Go Pro, TikTok and Walmart all feature heavily and their merits are discussed at length by the characters.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: The cult wants to make Margot the newest host for a demon. That would be pretty bad if it weren't for the fact that not doing this leaves the demon free to possess whomever it wants while killing indescriminantly.

Paranormal Activity Dai-Ni-Sho: Tokyo Night

Paranormal Activity Dai-Ni-Sho: Tokyo Night is a Japanese spin-off of the American series. It revolves around siblings Haruka and Koichi. During a trip in America, Haruka had a car accident where she hit Katie and suffered multiple fractures in her legs returning to Japan in a wheelchair. After their father goes to a business trip to Singapore, Haruka and her brother Koichi are haunted by the demon.

Tropes applying to Tokyo Night:

• Canon Discontinuity: Tokyo Night ignores 2 and kills off Katie.
• Foreign Remake: Tokyo Night is often argued of being this instead of a spin-off.

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