Paranormal Activity 4
Paranormal Activity 4 | |
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![]() Theatrical poster | |
Directed by | Henry Joost Ariel Schulman |
Written by | Zack Estrin Christopher B. Landon |
Produced by | Oren Peli Jason Blum Steven Schneider |
Starring | Katie Featherston Kathryn Newton Brady Allen |
Production company | Room 101 |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 88 minutes [1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $6 million[2] |
Box office | $4.8 million[3] |
Paranormal Activity 4 is a 2012 American supernatural horror film, directed by Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost, directors of Paranormal Activity 3, and written by Zack Estrin. The film features Katie Featherston, who starred in the first film, with cameos in the other two. The film was released in theaters and IMAX on October 17, 2012 in the United Kingdom and was released on October 19, 2012 in the United States by Paramount Pictures. It is the fourth film in the Paranormal Activity film series and a sequel to Paranormal Activity 2, set several years later.[4]
Plot
Alex (Kathryn Newton) films her younger brother Wyatt's soccer match. At Alex's house, she shows her boyfriend Ben (Matt Shively) the treehouse in the garden. Here they discover Robbie, the neighbor's child. Puzzled with why he is here, she takes him back to his own house across the road. In the early hours of the next morning, Alex hears an ambulance outside at Robbie's house. The next day Robbie turns up at the house after Alex's mom Holly (Alexondra Lee) offered to look after him for a few days because his mother went into the hospital. Later on in the day Alex finds Wyatt and Robbie in her treehouse talking to Robbie's invisible friend. In the evening Wyatt is playing multi-player on the Kinect by himself with Robbie sitting on the sofa.
Ben asks who Wyatt is playing with and Robbie tells him it's his friend. When Alex arrives in the lounge Ben turns the lights off in the lounge and shows Wyatt through the camera the infra-red tracking dots. As Alex, Ben and Wyatt dance in the dark and Robbie sits on the sofa, the camera picks up something moving on the sofa next to him.
The next day Ben shows Alex that his computer automatically records their webcam chats and in the middle of the night while Alex was sleeping, Robbie came in and slept next to her. He suggests that he can set up laptops around the house to record everything. Over the next couple of days strange occurrences happen around the house, such as Robbie waking up in the middle of the night and talking to the TV, Robbie and Wyatt running around the house in the early hours of the morning chasing a silhouette of a small child figure. Robbie draws a strange symbol on Wyatt's back, which Alex later finds to be part of an old cult (first appeared in Paranormal Activity 3). One night Alex notices several black cars outside Robbie's house across the street; upon investigating, she discovers that there are several women in black garb entering the house. She is confronted immediately by one of these women and flees the scene. When alone in the house Alex hears noises and follows them to the hallway where the chandelier falls down from the ceiling and smashes into the floor. Her father Doug (Stephen Dunham) later blames this on the light fitters, but Alex is suspicious of Robbie.
The next day she sees from her bedroom window that Robbie and Wyatt have run across to his house. Alex follows them to discover that Robbie's mother is actually home, who is Katie (Katie Featherston). After Alex takes Wyatt back home he tells her that Katie told him he was adopted like Robbie. Alex questions her parents about Wyatt's real parents but they refuse to say anything. Wyatt later on then talks to an invisible figure, we only hear Wyatt's responses but Wyatt says that his name isn't Hunter. During this conversation a small invisible person (visible due to the tracking dots) is approaching him. He later insists that his name is Hunter. At several points, Katie sneaks into the house to talk to Hunter, telling him she'll be with him until he's "ready." In the evening Wyatt appears in Alex's room and Alex levitates into the air while sleeping.
The next day when Alex's mother is downstairs alone in the house and starts to hear strange noises. Katie appears in the house and heads upstairs. When Alex's mother enters the lounge an unseen entity suddenly picks her up before dropping her onto the floor, instantly killing her. Katie comes back downstairs and drags her body offscreen. Some time later Ben arrives at the house to discover no one is home. He goes to view the footage in Alex's bedroom but Katie appears and snaps his neck. Katie finds Wyatt in the house and tells him that he is Hunter.
Alex and her father arrive back home, and he thinks he sees Alex's mother with Wyatt walking to Katie's house. As he goes to explore Alex goes home to discover Ben's body. She runs out of the house and over to Katie's house to warn her dad, but witnesses him being dragged violently through the house by the unseen entity. She runs to a bedroom at the far end of the house but can't find his body. As she turns around to head back out Katie appears who storms forwards, demonically screaming to Alex. Alex quickly runs and climbs out of the window where she discovers Wyatt standing outside. Just as she is about to run away with Wyatt, numerous blank-faced people appear in Katie's garden. Alex turns the other way only to be attacked by a screaming Katie before the camera cuts out.
A post end credits scene filmed in Mexico shows a man with a video camera filming inside a voodoo store, calling the items "witchcraft". Just as he's about to leave, an elderly blank-faced woman appears saying "it's only the beginning" before the man walks out.
Cast
- Kathryn Newton as Alex
- Matt Shively as Ben
- Brady Allen as Robbie
- Aiden Lovekamp as Wyatt
- Alexondra Lee as Holly
- Stephen Dunham as Doug
And
- Katie Featherston as Katie
Production
Paramount Pictures announced on January 2, 2012 that Paranormal Activity 4 was in the works. Information on the characters has been very little, stating that Brady Allen is set to play a character named Robbie. Katie Featherston will also reprise her role as Katie whilst still possessed from the ending of the first two films. Other cast and characters that will appear in the film have been kept extremely tightly under wraps in order for fans to not know the plot. Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman will return to direct the film.[5][6][7]
On June 23, 2012, it was confirmed that the fourth film had begun filming.[8] A trailer debuted on August 3 in front of Total Recall. The first theatrical trailer was released for the film on August 1, 2012. The trailer shows that it will be a sequel to Paranormal Activity 2, following the story of possessed Katie and kidnapped Hunter after their disappearance at the end of the second film. The movie will also feature a new scare technique of footage being shown from a laptop in a video chat, that the directors felt would rival the 'fan cam' from the previous movie and that because of it being familiar technology it was "built for a horror movie".[9] The movie will also feature the Kinect, a Macbook, smart phones and a Canon XA10.[10] After Katie is suddenly taken to a hospital, Alex's mom takes Robbie into their home, which leads to strange phenomena occurring inside the house.[11][12][13]
Reception
Pre-release reviews for the film have been mixed to negative. The film currently holds an overall approval rating of 31% based upon 26 reviews with an average rating of 4.8/10 on Rotten Tomatoes, indicating negative reviews.[14] As of October 17, Metacritic gave the film a score of 44 out of 100 based on 4 reviews, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[15] Drew McWeeny gave the film a C+, saying that while he felt that the film "played it safe", he still found the film to be shameful. Shaun Munro also reacted negatively, saying that he felt that the film would only be enjoyed by the "die-hard" fans of the previous films in the franchise. Ryan Lambie reacted negatively, giving the film a rating of 2/5, and saying that the film did not introduce any new ideas. Scott Weinberg gave a positive review, saying that there was "some fun" to be had in the film, however also felt that the film would likely only be enjoyed by fans of the previous films. Fred Topel also gave a positive review, saying that the film included iconography from some classic horror films.[16][17]
Box office
Paranormal Activity 4 did not perform as better as Paranormal Activity 2 or Paranormal Activity 3 as it debuts with $4.8 million in midnight showings. That made it the third best midnight grosses for a horror film behind only behind its predecessor, 3 ($8 million) and 2 ($6.3 million).[3]
References
- ^ "Title « British Board of Film Classification". Bbfc.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
- ^ http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-box-office-paranormal-activity-alex-cross-20121018,0,4134379.story
- ^ a b http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/box-office-report-paranormal-4-380319
- ^ "Paranormal Activity 4". EmpireTheatres.com. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
- ^ "'Paranormal Activity 4' Will Hit Theaters October 19". The Hollywood Reporter. January 1, 2012. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
- ^ Sullivan, Kevin P. (January 1, 2012). "'Paranormal Activity 4' Confirmed By Paramount". MTV.com. MTV Movie News. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
- ^ "Paranormal Activity 4 Is Official". EmpireOnline.com. Bauer Consumer Media. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
- ^ "Paranormal Activity 4 Begins Filming - IGN". Uk.ign.com. 2012-06-19. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
- ^ Sullivan, Kevin P. (2012-08-29). "'Paranormal Activity 4': Five Secrets Revealed - Music, Celebrity, Artist News". MTV.com. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
- ^ Sullivan, Kevin P. (2012-09-27). "'Paranormal Activity 4' Trailer #2: Five Key Scenes - Music, Celebrity, Artist News". MTV.com. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
- ^ "New 'Paranormal Activity 4′ Trailer Might Be Scarier Than the Actual Movie". Screencrush.com. 2012-07-08. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
- ^ "Paranormal Activity 4 Official Trailer #2 (2012) HD". YouTube. 2012-09-27. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
- ^ "'Paranormal Activity 4′ Trailer 2 Reveals Katie & Hunter's Fate". Screenrant.com. 2012-09-27. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
- ^ "Paranormal Activity 4". Rotten Tomatoes. 2012-08-01. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
- ^ "Paranormal Activity 4 Reviews, Ratings, and Credit". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
{{cite web}}
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(help) - ^ Ryan Lambie (2012-10-05). "Paranormal Activity 4 review". Den of Geek. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
- ^ McWeeny, Drew (2012-09-28). "Review: Paranormal Activity 4 treads water instead of pushing forward". Hitfix.com. Retrieved 2012-10-17.