The Paranormal Activity franchise started out strong with the low-budget found-footage first installment in 2007. Audiences were blown away by the successful marketing campaign of the movie and the gripping fear the film was able to portray with limited effects and funding. The film was such a success that three more movies got made that kept the overall chilling tone from the first film. However, after Paranormal Activity 4, the franchise took a significant dive it hasn't been able to recover from.
Some of what made the first four Paranormal Activity films the best in the franchise was the recurring trend of keeping all the creepy events limited to a single location. Using different cameras, they captured some terrifying moments from various angles. And the concept that unknowing victims were surrounded by paranormal activities created a specific style of storytelling that kept the first few films scarier than their descendants. But a lot more went into it, so let's look at all the ways the first four Paranormal Activity movies left a mark on the horror genre.
Paranormal Activity Utilized Its Strongest Points to Redeem a Low-Budget
The original Paranormal Activity made an incredible profit when considering the low initial investment into production. The actors weren't given an official script for the movie, so they improvised much of the dialogue that made the film seem more realistic to the occurrences happening on screen. And since there was little time and budget, most of the fear came from practical effects or the mystery of what type of demon was haunting the main characters. Ultimately, that growing tension, especially during the scenes where the human characters weren't present, added to the intense ending.
Paranormal Activity 2 Increased the Stakes by Putting a Family in Danger
The second film of the franchise, Paranormal Activity 2, seemed to have a bigger budget with a few more actors present. The scary elements of the movie also seemed to happen quicker, which wasn't common for horror movies at the time. And where the original Paranormal Activity might have thrived from using a slow-paced story to create tension, Paranormal Activity 2 upped the stakes by adding more scares.
Two crucial additions that increased the fear meter for this movie were the toddler and the dog. Nobody wants to see an animal or child harmed on-screen, especially in horror movies. Using this aversion for viewers worked well for the movie as the increasing threat for the two defenseless characters added extra uncomfortableness for the viewers and kept the movie scary. The security camera style of this found footage film was also pertinent to the success since the tone remained gritty and real.
Paranormal Activity 3 Enhanced the Franchise by Showcasing the Sisters' Past
Since Paranormal Activity 2 had proven to Paramount Pictures that the franchise was profitable, increased funding seemed to support the production of Paranormal Activity 3, which took place in the past but still had better quality than the first two movies. One significant difference with the premise for this movie was that the "realness" of the franchise was finally beginning to tarnish. Instead of holding onto that element with full force, the franchise made the smart move by simply elevating the movie to create a more enjoyable experience for the viewers.
The horrors started much earlier for this film, and the parents were still heavily involved as main characters even though the premise for the movie focused on the sisters from the first two films as children. There were many scenes where the children said and did creepy things, showing obvious signs of possession. Many people find possessed children disturbing, so this element really diversified the film from the first two while maintaining that fearful tone.
Paranormal Activity 4 Changed the Narrative but Stayed True to the Tone
In Paranormal Activity 4, the franchise completely drifted from the original characters and focused the haunting on a different family altogether. This factor didn't hinder this particular production, but the shift in narratives does become an issue in the later films. Katie is still connected in this film as she technically lives across the street from the characters and eventually kidnaps the son of this new family. Those elements keep the story tied to the original, and the tone stays relatively the same, just with new characters.
The camera work shifts in this movie since most of the disturbances get caught on the teenager's Apple devices instead of handheld or security cameras. The violence in this movie also goes up a notch as Katie actually twists the neck to kill one of the characters. And the ending is particularly terrifying as it implies Katie is building an army of women for the demon to possess. That caused excitement for the following entries, but they didn't follow through on that original premise.
The franchise completely goes in a different direction after Paranormal Activity 4, and the army Katie was developing seems forgotten. The franchise also stopped using the found footage style in Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin. While these new installments still share the same name, the tone and fear elements are different and lack the rawness that originally scared viewers in the first film.