Paranormal Activity 5: What They Should Do Next

Paranormal Activity 5: What They Should Do Next

By Tom Fisher (www.twisted-fish.com)

I love the Paranormal Activity franchise. Well, I loved it. Now I'm not as 'in love' with it as I used to be. The first film was fantastic: it was a fresh, original idea that genuinely scared me. And I'm only semi-ashamed to admit that it took me a little while longer to fall asleep that night. Then there was the second film. It was at this point the creators thought 'Crap, we better add some kind of over-arching story to this' and so we got the whole 'demon-pact' backstory. (Oh, that was a spoiler to those who haven't seen it, oops.) The third film was better: I enjoyed the scares and we found out a teeny-tiny bit more about the girls' past and their connection to the demon, 'Toby'. By the time the fourth film came out, the creators had found their gimmick: make a movie every Halloween with some semi-decent scares and try and shoehorn in some 'demon' nonsense. And now we are expecting the fifth film - thoughtfully entitled 'Paranormal Activity 5' - in October 2014 and I believe that this is going to be the make-or-break point: if it continues in the same vein as the others then it'll fast turn into a new 'Saw' franchise; if not, then it'll 'rekindle' the love that many people, including myself, had for the original film.

So here are some of my ideas on how they should continue/end the franchise. Enjoy!

1. Tie everything together in one neat little bow.

One of the most infuriating things about this franchise is that, by the time you come to the end of a film, you have learnt next to nothing about what's going on. I mean, take Paranormal Activity 4: at the end of the film there was the 'alright-ish' twist about the son (although, many people could see that coming) and there was some more witches/creepy women. Well, in terms of the over-arching story, we knew all that witch stuff from Paranormal Activity 3. The stuff about the son was just a little twist to keep that particular film from dragging.

Remember this?

So, after 4 films, the audience are left with so many questions: 'What was the ritual the girls were going to at the end of 3?"; "Did Julie die at the end of 3?'; 'What happened to Katie and Kristi between 3 and 1?'; 'What about all those scenes that were cut from trailers (like the house fire)?'; 'What is the demon going to do now that it apparently has a boy?' I appreciate that not all these questions are going to be answered (otherwise they'd need 20 more films to do so), but in order to leave fans of the franchise satisfied, they're going to need to answer most of them.

At the moment, the franchise is starting to feel a little like 'Saw': at about film number 5 it felt as though the creators were just adding more and more 'flashbacks' to try and milk as much out of the storyline as possible. Don't get me wrong, I loved every Saw film, but I really don't want to see the Paranormal Activity franchise go down that same 'gimmick-y' route. So yeah, Mr Oren Peli, please answer some of these questions. Thanks.

2. Enough with the 'found-footage', already.

I really enjoy found footage films. They give the film a 'real' edge to them, which works so well in horror films. That's why the first Paranormal Activity was such a success: people thought it was real. But now, as we approach number 5, the novelty has worn off. In number 4, for instance, the whole Kinect idea was very well played, but when it comes to things like the Skype conversation it's just predictable stuff that we've all seen before. The most innovative camera trick in any of the PA films is the 'rotating camera' used in PA3: where the camera is strapped onto a desk fan. Everytime that it cut to one of those scenes, I could feel the tension rising. It was very well done and the franchise needs more moments like that.

Found footage presents many problems, in terms of storylines and film-making itself. The most commonly asked question from an audience is probably: 'Why would you be carrying a camera while a demon is destroying your house? Why wouldn't you just drop everything and get out of there?!' In terms of film-making, you're very limited as to what you can and can't get away with: I mean, there's only so many times we can watch a film about someone installing home security cameras before we get bored.

So, for this next film, perhaps they should move to more conventional styles of film-making. Scary films don't have to be found footage films.

3. Do something completely different.

Picture this: a film about a coven of witches 'initiating' a new member. The film (that could be done as found footage) shows the trials and tribulations of a young, innocent girl who is thrown into a life of witch-iness. She takes part in rituals and even ends up sacrificing animals as she tries to come to terms with what she's doing. We see the inner turmoil she is going through. Then, at the film's climax, it's her turn to take part in the 'most important ritual of the century': a human sacrifice to a demon. She agrees to go ahead with it, knowing that if she does, she will be a witch forever. The time comes for the ritual, then BLAM! We see Katie standing with her son, Hunter. It's them that she has to sacrifice.

Now, wouldn't that just blow your freaking mind?! To have that mahoosive twist at the end, and not knowing anything about it? I think that would be a fantastic way to end the franchise.

The thing is, when people go to see a Paranormal Activity film, they have assumptions on what they are going to see. We expect demons and things that jump out at us; we expect some form of 'big scare' at the end; we expect to be left with a cliffhanger at the end. But when people go and see a film they have little information about: they are completely open. I would love to see a film that looks as though it is no way connected to a Paranormal Activity film only to find at the end that it's actually a sequel/spinoff/whatever you want to call it.

A fantastic example of this are the films Cloverfield and Super 8. Both films feature a 'monster' of some sort. Plus, both films were the brainchild of the brilliant JJ Abrams. Now, there was much speculation on the Internet as to whether Super 8 was in fact a sequel/prequel to Cloverfield. Abrams denied this.

What I would have loved, and I mean loved is at the end of Super 8, after the father-son reconciliation and it cuts to black, just when the audience are about to stand up and leave, the following words appear:

"39 YEARS LATER"

Loads of news reports are heard. 'New York in chaos', 'Hundreds die', 'worst attack ever seen', etc. The scene cuts to a helicopter news footage of a headless Statue of Liberty (by this point the audience can guess what's coming, everyone's stomachs start tingling), it then cuts to a ground reporter in a ruined street. She tells the camera how this unexplained attack has left thousands homeless. She motions to the street behind her - 'what once were people’s homes are now just empty shells, their memories scattered across the street' - she bends down to pick something up. She holds something to the camera, explaining that this may have belonged to a little boy, Heaven only knows where he is now. The camera adjusts focus, and zooms into it. It's a locket. Joe's locket. The one that the Super 8 alien took. *beat* The monster from Cloverfield WAS the Super 8 alien!

CUT TO BLACK.

Now that would have left me shaking. I would have been speechless. Sadly, this was not the case. Don't get me wrong, both Cloverfield and Super 8 are fantastic stand-alone films, but what would have made them truly great is for a little tie-in between the two. Ah well, one can hope.

But, to get back on point, this is what the Paranormal Activity creators should do: a completely different horror film that is a decent film in its own right, but through some extremely clever writing, it manages to conclude the Paranormal Activity franchise.

*

So that concludes my little list. I hope that it not only made sense but that you agree with some of the points I made. If you have any other ideas on how they might continue with this franchise, then why not leave a comment.

Tom.