Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin

Starring: Emily Bader, Roland Buck III, Dan Lippert, Jaye Ayres-Brown, Tom Nowicki, Jill Andre
Directed by: William Eubank
Rating: R
Genre: Horror, Thriller
2021

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A woman (Emily Bader) makes a documentary about her search for her birth family, which leads her to an isolated Amish community.

Review:

Tim: I've generally enjoyed the Paranormal Activity movies, although it has hit a few bumps in the road. It's been six years since the last film and Next of Kin is a fresh start for the franchise. I generally thought the film was decent- it steps away from the formula a bit, but is ambiguous enough that the mythology may still connect in the end. I honestly wonder if I was too generous with this film- but, I genuinely do find entertainment in these kinds of movies.

The film does follow the usual format of using "found footage", as the main characters are creating a documentary. It was interesting to see how the film incorporated this, as well as newer technologies- they have drones, this time around. I thought the documentary approach generally worked here, although I admit that people running for their lives while carrying cameras is oftentimes a ludicrous, idiotic idea. That hurts the movie some, but it also adds in other ways. There's something so creepy about seeing a horror movie from an individual's perspective (more or less) and I found this approach to work decently well here. In a number of situations, the characters use the camera's light to see, which sort of makes sense. The overall concept is a bit dumb, but it doesn't actively hurt the film.

I found it interesting that this movie made a deliberate choice to step away from the complicated mythology that was expounded throughout the first six films. I honestly lost the thread some towards the end and I had very little desire to do research, outside of maybe reading an article to see the connections I missed. Next of Kin may have some ties, but they are subtle enough that you can watch this film as a standalone and it still mostly works. I appreciated this- it couldn't have been the easier decision to step away from six films worth of mythology and try to branch out. However, for a franchise that was feeling a bit stale, this at least infuses some new life into it. It doesn't make this a good movie, but it felt at least watchable. The idea of placing this in an Amish community was a good one- the shunning of technology creates a unique enough experience (although they are shockingly very open to everyone filming all aspects of their life). Still, the setting worked well, if you don't think too deeply about what you are seeing.

The cast was okay. Emily Bader doesn't seem like a great actress, but it's obvious she really tried here. Her performance is incredibly uneven. Roland Buck III added a nice supporting performance, I enjoyed the energy he brought to the film. Dan Lippert was the comedic relief and he plays this role with relish. Jaye Ayres-Brown managed to give a fairly solid performance- it's one that you really want to try and figure out. As a whole, though, the cast is mostly unremarkable.

The movie wisely doesn't overstay its welcome- 1 hour, 38 minutes was a good runtime. It tells its story, following more or less the formula we've come to expect from the franchise. There are some legitimately cool sequences- the old church in the middle of the woods is great, as is the sinister secret inside. The goat birth scene was especially well done. The finale is decent- exciting, not a bad way to end the film. As a whole, Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin is a decent movie. It's certainly better than about half of the films in this franchise, but still not as good as the better films. I think trying to change the trajectory of the franchise was a good move, but it's not like this is such a shift that I have high hopes if the franchise continues. It'll likely continue to slowly peter out. The good news is that this 7th film is at least a decent (if flawed) movie.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Paranormal Activity, Paranormal Activity 2, Paranormal Activity 3, Paranormal Activity 4, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension