Paranormal Activity: Difference between revisions

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* [[Asshole Victim]]: {{spoiler|Micah and Dan, to some degree (if you hold him accountable for the passing of the demon to Katie)}}.

* [[Bedsheet Ghost]]: Surprisingly played straight in the third film.

* [[Break the Cutie]]: Despite the demon not particularly interested in her specifically since the worst she ever is to it is an impediment in getting what it wants, there is no possible way that Ali makes it through the events of 2 unbroken.

* [[Bullying a Dragon|Bullying A Demon]]: Micah goes out of his way to antagonize an invisible demon. This proves foolish.

* [[Camera Abuse]]: A trademark of the film.

* [[Catapult Nightmare]]: Katie does this one time when waking up. Ali does this in the second one as well.

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: Subverted. The audience sees Micah wielding a butcher knife near the beginning of the film, and in the original cut this became important later, but the edited ending excises it.

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* [[Downer Ending]]: {{spoiler|Regardless of what ending you get, someone ends up dying. In two of them, both of the people you've just spent an hour and a half trying to relate to die. In the last one, you just get horror.}}

** {{spoiler|On the final night of ''Paranormal Activity 2'', Possessed-Katie enters the house. And leaves nothing living inside. All except for Hunter, who she kidnaps.}}

** {{spoiler|On the last night in ''Paranormal Activity 3'', the demon strangles Julie, snaps Dennis' spine in half, and the grandmother and her cult friends essentially hand Katie and Kristi over to the demon.}}

* [[Dueling Movies]]: With ''[[The Fourth Kind]]'' for the first movie and ''[[Saw]] VII'' for the second movie.

* [[The Eighties]]: ''Paranormal Activity 3'' is set in 1988 and really does have quite an 80's feel.

* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: Guess.

* [[Evil-Detecting Dog]]: The family protagonizing the sequel owns one.

** [[Paranoia Fuel|This gives you reason to be worried when your pets stare at corners...]]

* [[Exact Words]]: Deconstructed. Micah promises not to buy a Ouija board. {{spoiler|So, he borrows one instead.}} Great lengths are taken to show how much of a violation of trust it would be to pull this trope on someone.

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* [[For the Evulz]]: Katie's demon. Honestly, it slams the door shut then ''bangs on the '''other''' side of it'' just to fuck with them.

** Indeed, Katie even acknowledges this trope when she asks "Do you think it would have left footprints if it didn't want to? Do you think it would do ANYTHING if it didn't want to?"

* [[Friends Rent Control]]: At first glance, it appears that this is the case, but a passing reference is made in all three movies to the "sudden" acquisition of wealth by Katie and Kristie's great-grandmother, in conjunction with descriptions about how deals can be brokered with demons for just that, usually in exchange for a first-born son. The upshot is that the family is filthy rich with ill-gotten demon-money, and Toby has haunted them for five generations, waiting to collect his collateral.

* [[Genre Blind]]: Micah.

* [[Home Porn Movie]]: Subverted in the first and third movies. Dennis and Julie try this in the third movie, but they're interrupted by some tremors from an earthquake.

* [[I Did What I Had to Do]]: As it turns out the events of the first movie are a result of Dan doing this.

* [[Idiot Ball]]: Almost everything Micah does in the second half of the film is obviously counterproductive. In his defense, however, he was a skeptic and this stuff really stresses him out and frays his good sense.

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* [[It Got Worse]]: This film can be summarized with, "Boyfriend and girlfriend hear noises. Boyfriend buys camera. It Got Worse."

* [[Jerkass]]: The demon itself. Honestly. The shit it does is what a schoolyard bully or an older brother would do...except for the killing, maybe.

** Micah, out of a combination of selfish curiosity and being [[Too Dumb to Live]].

** Dr. Fredrichs in his last scene. He's polite enough, but he does effectively abandon the couple in their 11th hour.

** Dan in ''Paranormal Activity 2'', particularly when you find out his ultimate solution to the haunting.

* {{spoiler|[[Kill'Em All]]}}

* [[Leave the Camera Running]]: Arguably the whole movie is this trope taken to extremes; entire nights are shown on fast-forward for the sake of a minute or two of action.

** Justified in the second film, as it's filmed through security cameras.

** Used too much in the third film. At times, Dennis is recording himself reviewing video footage. Then, toward the end, {{spoiler|when they're at the grandmother's house, he sets up the camera in the bedroom when he has no reason to believe a ghost has followed them. Then, when the sh*t hits the fan, he carries the camera around with him, even picking it up when he drops it when he's in danger.}}

* [[Loud of War]]: {{spoiler|Katie unleashes one in the third movie.}}

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* [[No Budget]]: The first film cost $15,000 to make.

* [[Nothing Is Scarier]]: What, were you expecting [[The Stinger|a Stinger]]?...or credits at all, for that matter?

* [[Now You Tell Me]]: Katie didn't bother telling Micah that she's had a demon spirit bugging her for most of her life until she moved in with him.

* [[Obnoxious In-Laws]]: Julie's mother in the third film rags on Dennis behind his back and pressures her daughter to have more kids--a son, in particular. In truth, her motives are far more sinister than the usual grandma-itching-for-more-grandbabies-to-spoil.

* [[Playing with Fire]]: Implied for the demon; it most likely burned down Katie's childhood home, and then sets fire to an Ouija board for no reason [[Rule of Scary|other than to be terrifying]].

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** Both Randy and the babysitter promptly leave after being terrified by the demon. Randy urges Dennis to watch the tape and [[Genre Savvy|realizes that he's out of his damn league on this one.]]

* [[Shout-Out]]: In the original European mythology, demons were depicted as having as the feet of birds, and bird footprints show up in the talcum powder Micah sprinkles on the floor. They were given cloven hooves when the Church attempted to demonize pagan gods like Pan.

** '''Micah''':[[Monty Python and ~~The~~ Holy Grail|"What is your quest? What is your favourite color?"]]

** '''Micah''':[[Monty Python and the Holy Grail|"What is your quest? What is your favourite color?"]]

* [[Slashed Throat]]: {{spoiler|Possessed-Katie slits her own throat}} in one of the alternate endings.

* [[Slasher Smile]]: {{spoiler|Just before Possessed-Katie lunges at the camera in the theatrical ending, she sports an ear-to-ear smile. Her smile when she's laying on the bed after her [[Voice of the Legion]] kicks in may also qualify as she is smiling for all the wrong reasons.}}

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** The third film implies that a demonic cult has been tampering with their memories for hell knows how long throughout their childhoods.

* [[Supernatural Proof Father]]: Dan plays this annoyingly straight for the first 2/3 of the second movie.

* [[Too Dumb to Live]]: The doctor and Katie repeatedly warn Micah against communicating with/antagonizing whatever is in the house. Micah decides to spread talcum powder around, buy a Ouija board, and yell at the demon to do its worst.

* [[Trailers Always Spoil]]: Lots of the scariest nighttime segments are in trailers, not to mention the [[Camera Abuse]] ending.

** Completely averted with the third film, in that a majority of the scenes in trailers and commercials aren't in the actual movie. It rivals [[Half Life]] 2's box<ref> No, this isn't some dirty phrase. Half-Life 2's original box was filled with screenshots, but not a ''single one'' of them was in-game.</ref>, in this respect.