Delayed Reaction: Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin

Premise: A woman who was abandoned as an infant tracks down her biological family in a creepy Amish community.

 

I need to make something clear immediately. This is not a Paranormal Activity movie. This is a found-footage horror movie that only shares the name as a branding move. I’m sure someone can find a couple small details that link the movies, but they are superficial at best.

 

The idea is pretty cool. Margot (Emily Bader) is a filmmaker who reluctantly decides to make a documentary about her search for her family. She was abandoned at a hospital as an infant. The footage of her mother leaving her is mysterious. Through 23 & Me, she finds a relative. He’s Amish and on his Rumspringa. He agrees to bring her and her small film crew back to his community for her to learn more. As you’d expect, the community are hiding something and it eventually leads to a lot of people dying.

 

As a found-footage movie, it is fine. They cast a bunch on unfamiliar but quality actors who pull off all the scares and verisimilitude. Dale Lippert in particular is a funny and weird sound guy who releases the tension just enough. Enough money went into this to make a lot of great looking locations. However, this is WAY too edited for a found footage movie. Look, I’m fine buying into the conceit that people are leaving cameras on in situations when they normally wouldn’t. I don’t need the film to throw that in my face though. Repeatedly, this film has shots and angles that I don’t believe any of their cameras actually caught. It broke the illusion, and that’s a line a found footage movie should never cross.

 

Why calling this Paranormal Activity bothers me is in the way it’s shot and earns its scares. PA has a specific style beyond just found footage. It relies on surveillance footage. There are a lot of static or mechanical shots. The power is in the stillness. Next of Kin gets rid of almost all of that. Calling this a Paranormal Activity movie is kind of like calling THX 1138 a Star Wars movie because it’s set in a Sci-Fi world and written by George Lucas.

 

Verdict: Weakly Don’t Recommend