Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin

Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin is a 2021 American found footage supernatural horror film directed by William Eubank, written by Christopher Landon, and produced by Jason Blum and series creator Oren Peli. Serving as the seventh installment of the Paranormal Activity series, the film stars Emily Bader, Roland Buck III, Dan Lippert, Henry Ayres-Brown, and Tom Nowicki, and follows a group who attempt to make a documentary on an Amish community, only for them to discover the horrific secrets the town holds.

Although Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension was promoted as the final installment in the original series, Paramount Pictures announced in June 2019 that a seventh installment and stand-alone sequel was in development, with Blum and franchise creator Peli returning as producers. Landon was hired to write the script in early 2020, with Eubank set to direct in February 2021. Principal photography was wrapped by July 2021.

Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin was released in the United States on Paramount+ on October 29, 2021. The film grossed $81,596 in home sales.

Plot
Margot and her cameraman friend Chris want to make a documentary about Margot's past. Her mother, Sarah, abandoned her outside a hospital, and she wonders what drove Sarah to make such a decision. Through a genetics site, she and Chris meet her blood relative Samuel, who is an Amish currently going through his rumspringa. The team is joined by Dale, their documentary's soundman. Samuel leads them to Beiler Farm, where he and Margot's mother came from.

Jacob, the patriarch of the commune and Sarah's father and Margot's grandfather, welcomes the team, and they find lodging. Strange events occur; Margot finds a little girl brushing her doll's hair in the barn. The doll is named Sarah, and the girl cryptically says that Sarah is "still there." Margot later hears sounds from her mother's old room and sees a spirit.

The group interviews Jacob. He tells them about the free-spirited Sarah, who defied their practices by sleeping with a boy and getting pregnant. Instead of being forced to give up Margot to an adoptive family, she instead left her at a hospital. Sarah is now assumed dead. Margot's team finds a church that Jacob prevents them from entering. That night, the team discovers a strange ritual in the barn in which a newborn two-headed goat is sacrificed.

Determined to find out the commune's secrets, Margot and Chris break into the church. They discover paintings depicting the demonic figure Asmodeus, as well as a deep pit. Margot sneaks into Jacob's room the next day and discovers that he and Samuel had known about her being Sarah's daughter and had orchestrated her arrival. A ghoulish being attacks Margot that night. The next day, Chris and Dale find her catatonic with her sheets soaked with blood.

Chris and Dale hitch a ride into town for their car battery and are informed by the mailman that the people at Beiler Farm are not Amish. They research the demon Asmodeus: According to myth, the Norwegian village of Beskytter suffered a massacre believed to be caused by Asmodeus. They trapped the demon inside the body of a woman, and the demon continues to be passed from mother to daughter in the bloodline. Margot is next in line and this is why she was brought to the settlement.

When Chris and Dale return, Margot has disappeared. While Dale leaves to install their car battery, Chris enters the church to search for Margot. After encountering and killing Jacob, Chris rescues Margot from the bottom of the pit, but they are pursued by a skeletal creature. The creature kills Dale and pursues Margot and Chris in the barn. Margot, realizing that the creature is Sarah possessed by Asmodeus, calls her by her name. Taking advantage of her mother's weakened state, she sends Sarah falling to her death onto a spiked row of farm tools.

With the death of Sarah, Asmodeus wreaks havoc in Beiler Farm, with the residents killing each other and the livestock and homes burning. Margot and Chris flee the farm in their car. Later, police officers arrive and encounter a demonically-possessed Samuel emulating a baby's cry. Samuel forces the police officers to die by suicide before driving away in a police cruiser.

Cast

 * Emily Bader as Margot
 * Roland Buck III as Chris
 * Dan Lippert as Dale
 * Henry Ayres-Brown as Samuel Beiler
 * Tom Nowicki as Jacob Beiler
 * Kyli Zion and Kirby Johnson as the creature

Production
On June 19, 2019, Paramount Pictures announced that a seventh installment of the film series was in development, with Jason Blum and franchise creator Oren Peli. In February 2020, Blum revealed that Christopher Landon was writing the script. On February 12, 2021, it was announced that William Eubank was attached to direct the film, with the film also confirmed to be a reboot rather than a continuation of the previous films. On February 24, the film was announced to be in production with The In Between and an untitled Pet Sematary film for Paramount+. In March, Emily Bader, Roland Buck III, Dan Lippert, and Henry Ayres-Brown were cast in undisclosed roles.

Principal photography concluded in July. In September, the film's title was officially revealed to be Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin. In October, Tom Nowicki was revealed as part of the cast.

Release
Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin was released in the United States on Paramount+ on October 29, 2021. The film was originally set for a theatrical release on March 19, 2021, but was delayed to March 4, 2022, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of the theatrical release, the film was released exclusively on Paramount+. ViacomCBS CEO Robert Bakish said the film would premiere before the end of 2021. The film's release was officially moved up to October 29, 2021.

Critical response
On Metacritic, the film has a score of 37 out of 100 based on reviews from 13 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".