A film that I first saw months ago, and then had to rewatch before finalising my thoughts in review form, Paranormal Activity: Next Of Kin is a standalone instalment in the very popular horror movie series. That is both a plus and minus for it.
Emily Bader stars as Margot, a young woman who heads off to meet a previously-unknown relative, Samuel (Jay Ayres-Brown), and find some answers to questions she has about the mother who abandoned her as a child. She is also going to make a documentary about her journey, of course, which is the framing device for the “found footage” style. Samuel stays with the rest of his family in a small community that doesn’t usually spend much time with “outsiders”. Things start to get weird and creepy.
Despite me growing tired of this series some time ago, I am still compelled to watch every Paranormal Activity movie, because there’s usually at least one great moment, an enjoyably inventive scare, that stands out. This film does have that, but it saves it for the final 5-10 minutes, and suffers from showing another character who yet again somehow prioritises keeping hold of a camera that is recording everything around them while they should be focused on getting themselves somewhere more sane and safe.
Writer Christopher Landon and director William Eubank are both talented film-makers (Landon having also done some great work as a director over the past decade, including a previous instalment in this series), and they know how to deliver was viewers expect from this kind of thing. Sadly, they feel far too restrained by those expectations, struggling to develop characters well and build the scares on the way to the bonkers finale.
Bader makes a decent enough lead, and Ayres-Brown is able to play his character with a mix of amusing awkwardness and potential menace. There’s not really anyone onscreen doing bad work, although few make as good an impression as Dan Lippert, playing the soundman hired for the documentary project. Roland Buck III almost didn’t need to be involved though, feeling as if he is just there most of the time to act as the cameraman and comment on the development of the slim plot.
If you enjoy this series of films then you will find something to enjoy here, but there is something a bit disappointing about watching events unfold while realising that it remains distant from every other instalment. As much as I disliked the convoluted plotting of many other PA films, it was admittedly part of the fun to watch the dots being connected in different ways. But I didn’t fully realise that until watching this.
5/10
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