Franchises are a very important part of the horror genre. Off the top of your head, I bet you could list at least five major ones. Maybe movies like Halloween, Friday the 13th, Saw, Jaws, Hellraiser spring to mind? Boy, that was easy! A lot of times in horror the first installment of a franchise is awesome; a great villain, badass scares, a tightly wound and innovative story that has you on the edge of your seat. That movie makes a huge splash and tens of millions of dollars, probably on a tiny budget, the studios say, “Bring me another one!†and volia! A franchise is born. But, it’s often the case that the sequel is less than awesome and five movies later the critics hate it and the fans are bored.
Last week The Hollywood Reporter published an article mostly about CineEurope and Paramount’s major tentpole releases due out this summer (Transformers 4, Hercules and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are the big three) but the article also went on to list titles due out in the next two years, revealing that Paranormal Activity 5 has been pushed yet again, this time from 2015 to 2016. There have been a lot of shake ups in the franchise over the last few movies including a less than stellar Paranormal Activity 4, the Latino spin-off Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones and the departure of longtime collaborator Christopher Landon, who wrote and directed The Marked Ones before leaving the franchise to direct Scouts vs. Zombies, also for Paramount.
So with a lot of the future of the Paranormal series up in the air, where should the franchise take the fifth installment? My suggestion: prequel, but not just any prequel, I’m talking going all the way back to Kristi and Katie’s grandmother prequel. I want the Grandma Lois backstory.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Paranormal Activity is my favorite horror franchise. After the original indie flick made for roughly $15,000 went on to gross over $100M domestically, of course a sequel was greenlit. But instead of taking the same formula and applying it to a brand new couple in a brand new house, the producers decided to build the franchise around the mythology of a single family and audiences discovered that Paranormal Activity 2 was a sequel that wasn’t actually a sequel. Parts of the second film overlap with the events of the first and family history that was alluded to in the first two films was explored more deeply in Paranormal Activity 3, a prequel that showed Kristi and Katie’s relationship to their mom and finally introduced audiences to their grandmother, the woman who appears to be a major driving force in the entire Paranormal Activity legacy, Lois.
As far as I’m concerned, the first three Paranormal Activity movies make a very successful horror trilogy. Directors Henry Joost & Ariel Schulman got really creative in PA 3, not only with the found footage aspect but with the technology of the time period, as well. The scares were fresh, the characters were great and the film really pushed the important parts of the backstory through, giving fans insight into the universe that Kristi and Katie belong to. When we got Paranormal Activity 4, however, the team behind the series made their first big misstep because, at the end of the day, nothing new happened. The overall story wasn’t furthered in any way and as far as we could tell, the big reveal at the end of the fourth movie essentially meant nothing to the overall mythos. Producers put plans for PA 5 on the back burner and instead shifted the focus for the next installment to The Marked Ones, a spin-off that still incorporated a few of the characters that we have followed through all of the films, but mostly focused on a new story that culminates in a finale that clearly indicates that the franchise setting its sights on a much bigger story.
While I enjoyed The Marked Ones and felt like it was a step in the right direction after PA4 stalled the series, I will say that it was decidedly less scary than the first three, feeling more like a dark adventure or origin story a la Chronicle than the tight, slow-burn horror films fans had come to expect from PA 1-3.  As a fan, I’m going to need Paranormal Activity 5 to go back to the family saga and begin to tie up those loose ends.
If I were Paranormal Activity 5, I would do a couple of things. First of all, just forget PA 4 ever happened. Continue to unfold the story I’m already invested in and don’t waste time trying to make up for that distraction. I’m a fan, I forgive you. Next, maybe it’s time we abandon the found footage angle in order to go back far enough to see Grandma Lois when she was a young woman getting busy with the coven of witches. There’s a hint in Paranormal Activity 2 that Grandma Lois’ mom was probably the one who made the original pact with the demon that “cursed” the family in the first place. However Lois, unlike Kristi and Katie or their mother Julie, seems to have gone full Grand Supreme as opposed to being a victim or vessel of “Toby” the demon. This means Lois made the choice at some point to go along with all of this instead of fighting against it, which would be a side of the story that we have yet to see. Once we resolve more of the backstory before Katie and Kristi come into the picture, we can begin to reestablish the “rules” of the universe and start to answer all of the burning questions that still remain in the franchise — like what happened to Kristi and Katie after the events of PA 3? What’s the story on their house burning down? How does Grandma Lois finally die (which explains the box of video tapes and mementos being delivered to the house as adults)?
In the end, Paranormal Activity needs to go back to the story at hand and continue to peel back the layers. What we do not need is a reboot. Do you hear me, Paramount? Do not restart the entire franchise just because the last one didn’t do so hot. I will never forgive you if you just stop everything and start all over, so don’t even think about it. Now that you have more time on your hands to really think about how to get the franchise back on track, why not let Christopher Landon finish Scouts Vs. Zombies and invite him back to help you out? When I spoke with Landon back in January during the release of PA: TMO I asked him specifically about the Grandma Lois topic and this is what he said:
“So, there’s a full — which I don’t know if we’re ever going to do anything with it — but I wrote a full treatment on that exact topic [Grandma Lois’ backstory]. And it was actually a really, really, really cool one… It was a really fun one so I hope that we do go back and revisit that storyline but I don’t know.”
Landon has proven himself to be a huge asset to these movies. Maybe the folks behind the scenes need to do their best to lure him back.
Are there any other fans of the Paranormal Activity franchise out there? What do you think producers should focus on in the next chapter? Sound off in the comments!
I couldn’t agree more, another few movies shall do it one of the grandmothers upbringing, maybe not from childhood really but a few pics here and there of it. Just where this all started with her family you know. Okay from the looks of it they get others like anna to get people “Kids” or teens of age or when they come of age to go with them or to get possesed whatever… This is done via a blood transfusion which would make one in blood relation to this entity or the family of these people… and yeah it is like a virus and or parasite so there’s that which.. means there is a way to fight it off and win .. so there is going to be that. A parasite is just that a damn bug so pfff. If anyone cares to know we all are infect or rather live with said parasite… there name is mitochondria.. 🙂 and they are good but once a mutation or such happend via getting sick, the can form bad genes and alter the body make up and or such other things so that would explain the powers these things have … so NO DEMONS it’s just a cover. People always fear what can’t or they.. can’t explain so there explained. You mito can be altered to do good things like heal and such it’s just well… Parasite eve was a long long long time ago and yeah she was black native africain. In fact the mito lived inside of use but always OUTSIDE of our cell membranes it took many centuries for them to finally penetrate the cell membrane wall.. not sure on all that but that was her the PARASITE EVE she was the first… gaining speed… mass muscle .. brain operation and so on the mito changed us forever. They have enabled us to live our lives with ease so much so .. heh other ares of our bodies have been shut down or off in jesse’s case they are turn way on.. Overly on. A bad mutation used only for brute force … so say one who turns theirs on by … becoming aware.. like waking up and slowly evolving them.. so that they would not undergo rapid growth and not become like jesse… jesse was forced to become such as he was bite.
think of it like DOOM but only they think they are something STUPID .. like DEMONS… Remember back when they thought the earth was FLAT.. FLAT! think about that. Now look at these so called demons.
I am sure the rituals are a nothing more than making things comfy for whatever they are doing making things in the right atmosphere for the said parasite to enter like a sacrifice that would contain blood contamination so the parasite would have a toxic environment to go into.. being prepped like all the things that happen to jesse and his friends. Going into those environments The Said ” Unholy ” places these are contaminated zones where dormite parasite would lay in wait only active with others mito’s that come into contact with them.. remember matter can not be DESTROY … [ It’s like when an outbreak occurs it transfers to liquid to air born to blood .. ah ha yeah getting it now. 😛 ] the only thing that seems to Completely OBLITERATE matter of any sort and this is real scientists have found this … is anti matter or idk the stuff from a black hole basically
I’m another huge fan of the franchise, and probably the only person who likes 4 as much as the other 3. PA4 is the only movie where we have a character (Alex) who understands from the very beginning that there is a danger and who is there throughout the film — unlike Martine, who was banished from the house. We see how Hunter is seduced into choosing the coven over his sister, who has spent the entire film trying to protect him. To me, it’s a power and very sad story.
As for the next one, I’d like to know what happened to Julie — who is mentioned in both PA and PA2 as being alive. I’d love to see the Lois backstory. I’d like to know how Hunter got to the Nelson family. And there are hints in PA4 that Alex’s mom is cooperating with Katie and knows more than she’s telling. I’d like to know if that’s true.
I’ve always had a really big movie boner for possession/demon/horror movies. The first PA scared me so much, I had to watch it over and over. When these movies end, I’m always wondering what happens when the recording stops. What are we not seeing? Where are all those women coming from when the farm house seems completely empty? Are they just hanging out in the woods, breathing heavily and watching their hapless victims bumble around in the dark? Can they all somehow communicate telepathically and that’s why we never hear them speak? I have so many questions! And I need answers!
I love the franchise too, although I think it could be even better. The movies always start out good but then just get almost to weird to comprehend at the endings. Like some books it seems like they don’t know where to take the ending and end up being such a letdown. Why is it so hard to make a great scary movie?
You’re probably going to get a lot of crap for posting such a positive review of the franchise but I am right there with you, I love it, I felt like the 4th one wasted our time, TMO was interesting but definitely getting stale and the finale set the stage for a lot of big potential plot lines to come. I don’t care if I am the only person sitting in the movie theater I will keep seeing these movies until they are just completely awful.
The problem with doing a movie only based on the Grandmother’s back story is that it breaks the mold for the franchise of the found footage and it disconnects the current plot of what are the witches and ‘Toby’ building towards. The franchise is already becoming stale to a lot of people and another prequel alone would doubtfully do well on its own. I would love to see a movie that ties back to the Grandmother’s back story but also continues to propel the main storyline forward as far as what Katie and the witch army is doing, what is Ali doing, etc. I am fearful they can’t pull it off without Landon but I will still keep seeing them regardless. I love the lore and how the story keeps progressing throughout the franchise, I feel that people who don’t appreciate that aspect of the movies are missing out.
I hope the writers of the next film employ the K.I.S.S. method with 5 like they did with the first three.
The best part about those movies, and what kept me up at night, wasn’t the jump scares, but the quietly horrifying parts. The still you used at the top of this post was, hands down, one of the creepiest things I’ve ever seen in a movie.
Keep it simple, stupid. Please.
I like Jason’s idea, that’d could work and be a lot of fun! Personally I saw they go bigger and use this giant witches coven to start bringing forth the apocalypse! Work up to a huge disaster movie!
The Marked Ones introduced time travel, right? In the ending’s big reveal? So why not have characters with camcorders or camera phones go back in time to tell your story. Have the recording devices be dug up far in the future and still work. Bammo.