**This review contains spoilers**
The Story- Sarah mysteriously disappears after abandoning her infant daughter, Margot at a hospital. Years later, in 2021, Margot (Emily Bader) sets out to make a documentary about her mother’s strange disappearance with Chris (Roland Buck III) and Dale (Dan Lippert). Margot connects with her blood relative, Samuel (Henry Ayres-Brown), who agrees to take the trio to the Amish community, where Sarah lived to film the documentary.
At the farm, Margot meets Sarah’s father and her grandfather, Jacob Belier (Tom Nowicki). Jacob is the patriarch, and Margot enjoys the early stages of her visit.
A series of eerie and disturbing incidents disrupts Margot’s documentary, and it’s clear sinister forces are at work. Margot learns about the dark secrets from her mother’s past, Jacob’s true intentions, and her connection to the demon Asmodeus.
My Thoughts- Emily Bader delivers a solid performance, playing a simple character. Margot is a good-hearted person, who just wants closure and a chance to bond with her family, but she’s unknowingly walking into a living nightmare.
Dan Lippert is hilarious, filling the role of the quirky comedy character in a Paranormal Activity film. Lippert is good for a handful of laughs, and Roland Buck III’s Chris is a bit more serious, but there’s also a comedic side to his character. One “well, he’s the only black guy here” joke about picking a lock, but outside of that, it’s clear Chris is someone, who will do anything to protect and save Margot.
Next Of Kin switches between different POVs, including using a drone and GoPro cameras. In certain parts throughout the movie, Next Of Kin completely abandons the found-footage POV. Slow motion? Yep. Next Of Kin uses slow motion (a feature introduced by Chris) in three scenes. It’s definitely something different for a PA film, and I’m glad they took a restrained approach to using slow motion. One scene, where Chris shows the kids how it works. Another scene for a character’s death, and one scene with Asmodeus. Make it feel like something important that only needs to be seen when it matters. That’s enough.
The documentary parts worked. You really get the feeling you’re watching a behind the scenes set up for Margot making her documentary, and the sit down interview with Jacob was a nice touch.
Music and theme music! Music makes a debut for the first time in the Paranormal Activity series. Hearing music in a PA film caught me off guard, but it’s not an annoying distraction.
Margot, Chris, and Dale eventually learn the truth about Jacob, Samuel, and the others. The Beliers are not Amish. Instead, they’re satanists, or as Dale eloquently put it, “cultish mother*******.” The opportunity to meet her family was a ruse orchestrated by Samuel and Jacob.
Asmodeus’ current vessel? It’s Sarah. Sticking to a strict pact, a woman must contain Asmodeus through the bloodline from mother to daughter, and unfortunately, Margot is up next. IF Asmodeus is not contained by a woman from the community, the demon will jump to different bodies, spreading chaos throughout the farm and the world.
A nice surprising twist. From the moment Margot, Chris, and Dale arrived at the farm, you could tell something was off. Samuel’s explanation for why Margot needs to go through with the ritual is haunting and really creepy. It’s ironic and hypocritical how Samuel is basically praising women for being strong, and the only beings on earth capable of birthing life into the world. But he also supports a ritual, where a woman is deceived and forced against her will to be a vessel for a demon.
Henry Ayres-Brown does a good job with the scene, where he’s standing in the dark and facing the wall, while telling Chris why the ritual for Margot needs to happen. I also wondered, if Samuel was conflicted about luring Margot into the trap. He’s noticeably nervous and kind of jittery throughout the movie, especially when he meets Margot at Denny’s. Maybe his conscience almost got the best of him?
The finale delivers a few solid thrills, chaos, and some believable close calls. Asmodeus’ lair in the caves is appropriately spooky, and Asmodeus/Sarah’s grotesque demonic form looks phenomenal. Brief glimpses of Asmodeus, but Asmodeus’ nasty form combined with lighting speed easily makes the demon a menacing threat.
Margot confronting Asmodeus, and temporarily disarming the demon by saying her mother’s name works as an emotional scene, followed by Margot killing Sarah, after Margot kicks her onto the bed of sharp, spiky tools. It’s something that’s teased early on in the movie, when Margot almost accidentally fell through a hole in the barn that’s right on top of the sharp tools. As soon as you see that bed of spikes, you just know something bad is going to happen in that spot at some point.
Dale is killed by Asmodeus, but Margot and Chris manage to escape from the madness of the village turning on and killing each other under Asmodeus’ influence. What about Samuel? Well, he’s possessed by Asmodeus, who uses his powers to force two police officers to commit suicide. Sam, possessed by Asmodeus, drives away from the farm to end the movie.
A possessed Samuel, using a baby’s crying voice before switching to a strained yell to get the police officer to lower his guard was truly a bizarre scene. For a brief, moment you could actually believe there was a chance Samuel survived the massacre without any problems.
It’s a strange cliffhanger that leaves some unanswered questions. Where is Asmodeus going? Is he going to find Sarah to complete the ritual? The idea of Asmodeus wreaking havoc in the real world, jumping from one body to the next has some potential.
One thing I’ll say about the ending is, at least Samuel and Jacob got what they deserved. Jacob falls to his death after a struggle with Chris, and Jacob’s mangled and folded corpse is a GRUESOME sight. And Samuel is basically just a meat sack for Asmodeus, until he decides to jump to another body.
Next Of Kin is the first Paranormal Activity film without Tobi, Katie, Kristi, Hunter, The Midwives, and there’s no imaginary friend relationships here. To take it a step further, they’re not referenced or mentioned at all for the seventh film in the series. On top of that, if we’re talking about visuals and the overall look and presentation of the movie, Next Of Kin is noticeably more clean and polished.
There’s an obvious attempt at a hard reset for Paranormal Activity, but does it work? On one hand, you could say it was time to move on from Tobi, Katie, Kristi, The Midwives, and Hunter. The storylines were dragging. Too much teasing, going in circles, and constantly sticking to a formula of a setting things up with streaky cliffhangers. And Next Of Kin is a Paranormal Activity film, where the human evildoers FINALLY get their comeuppance.
Next Of Kin takes place during the Covid pandemic. There’s only the one scene at the airport, where everyone is masked up. They talk about Covid a little bit, but it’s an afterthought, once the group makes it to the farm.
Being stuck on a farm that’s out in the middle of nowhere, without easy access to modern technology, adds to the desperation and terror for Margot and the others. The nighttime scenes are pretty good. Imagine having to navigate your way through pitch black darkness, trees, and vast stretches of land, while a speedy demon chases after you.
The scenes with the red lanterns shining through the darkness really works for a fantastic aesthetic. A few bloody scenes and gruesome freaky moments. The old lady scraping off the skin on her hand with a potato peeler, while she has this far gone look on her face definitely sticks out. And I can honestly say I wasn’t expecting the double-headed baby goat!
Next Of Kin ends with an intriguing cliffhanger. We’re not dealing with Tobi being the main threatening force for once, so it’s not so easy to predict how things will play out for the future. The lore behind Asmodeus and everything involving The White Witch feels refreshing, but Next Of Kin is weirdly missing a spark for a film that’s supposed take the series on a different path.
The jump scares and the fake-out jump scares are harmless, but Next Of Kin has too many long stretches of boredom. It’s almost impossible to shake the feeling of the movie mostly going through the motions. And what’s the deal with Eli (Colin Keane)? I wondered if they were teasing something with him randomly popping up for jump scares in two scenes, but they didn’t do anything meaningful with Eli, as the story progressed.
The Marked Ones is proof that it’s possible to make a good Paranormal film, while introducing new characters, and you can still make references to the previous films, without dwelling on the past too much. A solid cast all around, featuring two notable performances from Tom Nowicki and Henry Ayres-Brown. The problem is, with or without Paranormal Activity attached to the title, Next Of Kin is just an ordinary found-footage horror film. Next Of Kin is not horrible, or unwatchable. It’s just okay at best.
We’re seven films into the series, so coming up with new ideas or different methods to reinvent or rejuvenate the franchise was always going to be a tricky task. Asmedous is a formidable foe, but there’s always a chance they’ll hit the reset button again, so who knows if we’ll ever get to see what’s next for him.
Rating- 5/10
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