Director: William Eubank
Notable Cast: Emily Bader, Roland Buck III, Dan Lippert,
Henry Ayres-Brown, Tom Nowicki, Colin Keane, Jill St. John, Alexa Shae Niziak
Paranormal Activity is back. It’s a franchise that
has always held a special place for me that was fascinatingly created almost
completely in retroactive continuity between entries. In fact, just this
October the Blood Brothers cousin podcast, No Franchise Fatigue, spent three
entire episodes digging through the films of the series. You can listen to
those episodes at the following links: Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3.
Nonetheless, it’s a series that is far more interesting as a whole than people
usually give it credit for even when the quality of individual films waivers
immensely.
However, after an unmemorable and misguided “finale” to the
Katie and Kristi Meet Tobi the Demon saga of the first six entries, Paranormal
Activity was in desperate need of an injection of life. After six years,
the seventh entry, under the title Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin, has
been uploaded to the streaming service Paramount+ for our enjoyment. The latest
entry represents an interesting shift in style and an entirely new story as a
reboot of the series. It’s ultimately a mixed effort, but it does showcase the
potential of the future for the long-running series.