The Paranormal Activity movies are an American horror series with six movies so far in the franchise. The series was created by Oren Peli and has been subject to mixed reviews amidst positive and negative reviews which the series have received over time. The series stars Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Sprague Grayden, Brian Boland, Molly Ephraim, Lauren Bitter, Chris Smith, among others. The first movie in the series was released in 2007, with the last one so far released in 2015.
The movie follows the story of a family that is haunted by demons that terrifies and murders several members of the family and even other bystanders. Each film follows at least one family member’s encounter with a demon and how it eventually possesses them and murders people.
The movies from the series appear to be filmed from production cameras set as security cameras to make the movies look like false footage. The series starts with Paranormal Activity in 2007 and the sixth one dropped in 2015 for Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension. Even though there are currently six movies in the series, there is a seventh installment coming in October 2022.
Paranormal Activity Movies Order At A Glance
The Paranormal Activity movies in the right order of release are;
- Paranormal Activity (2007)
- Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)
- Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)
- Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)
- Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014)
- Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015)
However, following the story’s timeline, you can watch it in this order;
- Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)
- Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)
- Paranormal Activity (2007)
- Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014)
- Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015)
Paranormal Activity Movies In Order
If you’re looking to watch the Paranormal Activity series, you should either follow the pattern of release or the movie’s timeline. For the release order, you should start from the first installment with the same name, Paranormal Activity, released in 2007. The sequel to that is Paranormal Activity 2, which was released in 2010. The Third part, Paranormal Activity 3, follows and was released in 2011. The fourth installment dropped in 2012 for Paranormal Activity 4. The other two movies from the series are Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones and Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension, which were released in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
1. Paranormal Activity (2007)
The movie is the first installment in the series and was released in 2007. It is set in 2006 and follows a young couple, Katie and Micah, who are being haunted by a demon from Katie’s childhood. They soon meet a Psychic, Dr. Fredrichs, who suggests the demon is feeding off negative energy and wants to torment her.
Katie then places a camera in the room to document the ghostly activities. The activities seem to become more serious as time goes on and then Micah brings home an Ouija board.
When they are not at home, the board catches fire after an unforeseen force had moved the board’s pointer to form an unknown message. Katie doesn’t seem to like the result of having the Ouija board and tells Micah. Night after night, they continue to witness weird movements and activities until the demon finally gets to possess Katie fully on the twenty-first night.
She gets out of bed, in what has become usual, and stares at Micah for two hours after which she goes downstairs. She screams, prompting Micah to come downstairs only to get killed by Katie.
The movie has two different endings as Paramount changed the ending after acquiring the movie. The original ending shows Katie throw Micah’s body towards the camera and then returns to the bedroom. The next day, her friend, Amber, comes in and sees Micha’s body which makes her run away. The next day, Police officers then come over and when one of the officers panics, he shoots her resulting in her death.
The other ending shows Katie also going to the bedroom and slitting her throat in front of the camera in the room.
2. Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)
The movie is the second installment of the Paranormal Activity series. However, it is filmed as the prequel to the first one released in 2007. It is set two months before the first Paranormal Activity film.
The movie follows a couple, Kristi and Daniel, whose house had just been “burgled” and in the process, trashed. However, it appears that they didn’t get to their infant son, Hunter’s bedroom and the only thing stolen was a necklace that Kristi got from her sister, Katie. The nanny of the house, Martine, is convinced that there are “evil spirits” in the house so she burns a sage in a bid to get rid of them. Daniel doesn’t seem to like the idea and fires her.
Kristi, who also believes the house is haunted, talks to Katie about being tormented by a demon when they were children. Daniel’s daughter from a previous marriage, Ali, starts investigating the strange incidents and finds out that when humans make deals with demons for anything they want, the demon usually gives it to them while getting the soul of the firstborn son in return. For their family, Hunter was the first boy born in the 1930s.
Soon after, the strange occurrences continue to thicken and the family’s dog, Abby, gets attacked by a demon and it gets a seizure. Kristi also gets attacked by a demon that drags her to the basement and possesses her. When Daniel, who took Abby to the veterinarian with Ali, returns he sees a bite mark on Kristi’s leg and also footage showing Kristi’s attack and with that he rehires Martina.
Martina goes on to exorcize the demon with a cross and Daniel then decides to pass it on to Katie so that his family can be safe. On the night after Micah is killed, Katie comes into the couple’s home, kills Daniel and Kristi, and then takes Hunter with her.
3. Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)
The movie is the third installment in the Paranormal Activity series but it is chronologically the first in terms of events in the movie. It is set 18 years before the event in the first and second installments.
The movie is built around VHS footage filmed in 1988 which got stolen from Kristi and Daniel’s house after it was given to them by Katie. The content of the footage takes us through a young Kristi, Katie, their mom, Julie, and her boyfriend, Dennis, and how they were haunted by demons. It first starts when Dennis figures strange things had been happening since Kristi’s imaginary friend, Tobi, appeared.
He is then advised by his friend, Randy, to put cameras all around the house after Dennis tells him about his filming during an earthquake in the house and how he noticed an invisible figure in the footage.
Later on, Kristi tells Tobi that they are no longer friends. After that, Dennis finds a symbol in the girls’ closet and he sees the same symbol in a book about demonology. Soon, Kristi becomes very ill and she is taken to the hospital by Julie and Dennis. Back at home, Katie and Randy are being attacked by a black figure that is throwing furniture across the room.
On their arrival back home, Randy tells Julie and Dennis of what happened and Dennis reveals that the sign from the girls’ closet is from a witches’ coven that brainwashed girls of child-bearing age to have sons and then force them to give it up later.
The demon attacks again and this time harms Katie, forcing Kristi to do what it asks. She then tells her mother to take them to their Grandmother’s place. There, strange occurrences resulting in the deaths of Dennis and Julie happen with Lois, Katie, and Kristi looking alright.
4. Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)
The movie is the fourth installment to the Paranormal Activity series and is the sequel to the Paranormal Activity 2 movie. It was released in 2012.
It follows events after demon-possessed Katie had killed her sister, Kristi, and her husband, Daniel, while taking their son, Hunter. Katie has still not been found in 2011. However, a new family is living in Nevada and is now the focus of the movie. Alex lives with her father Doug, mother Holly, and little brother Wyatt.
After a series of strange occurrences, Alex with the help of her boyfriend, Ben, sets up cameras all over the house. They have a neighbor who has a son named Robbie, who is staying at Alex’s house while her mother is being hospitalized.
One day, Wyatt mentions Robbie’s imaginary friend to Alex. He also tells Ben and Alex about meeting this person while showing a green symbol on his back. Later on in the movie, it is revealed that Robbie’s mother is Katie and Robbie is actually Hunter.
As time passes, the strange occurrences continue to go on and one night, Alex sees one of the footage from the house where Katie is telling Wyatt she will wait until he is ready. When she tries to show her parents, she finds out the footage had been erased to her surprise.
Doug and Alex go for dinner the next night and before they get back, Ben and Holly have been mysteriously killed. Doug also gets killed when he tries to go after Wyatt and Holly, who he thought he saw. Alex is later attacked by some women as she tries to escape from Katie. As she goes closer to Alex, the camera falls and the recording stops.
5. Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014)
The movie is the fifth installment of the Paranormal Activity series and was released in 2014. It starts in 2012 where a high school graduate, Jesse, lives with his father, Cesar, and grandmother, Irma, in California. He has a friend called Hector. When they learn of the murder of a woman named Ana, who is believed to be a witch, they spot their classmate, Oscar, running from the scene making him a suspect.
The two friends, Jesse and Hector, then make their way into Ana’s apartment to investigate only to find back magic items and some other things like a journal of spells. At Jesse’s apartment, Jesse, Hector and another friend, Marisol try out a ritual only to witness stage occurrences. The three friends also happen to be in a conversation with an unknown entity one night.
Later on, Jesse finds a bite mark on his arm and also discovers that he has superhuman abilities. He soon encounters Oscar who warns him about having something inside him that would let him harm people he loves and just then Oscar commits suicide.
At Ana’s apartment, voices from a trap door lure him and he sees the younger Katie and Kristi before he is then attacked by a force. After that, he starts to become dark as Oscar said. His friends, Hector and Marisol, who are now worried seek help from Oscar’s brother, Arturo who helps them get Ali, who has researched the demons.
From there they learn about the existence of a coven of witches called “The Midwives” and warn them not to let Jesse get fully possessed and give them an address where the final ritual is supposed to take place.
Irma, in her way to help, tries to cleanse Jesse but he pushes her down the stairs. Jesse is later kidnapped after an incident where he attempted to hurt his friends. With the help of Arturo and Arturo’s friend, Santo, Hector and Marisol go to the address that happens to be Lois’ house. They go in to try and stop the ritual but Hector seems to be the only one who survives as the rest get killed. As he escapes from Jesse, who is now after him, he passes through a door that takes him back in time to the house of Micah and Katie.
He tries to get Katie’s attention and when he looks like he failed, Katie sees him and assumes he’s an intruder and tries to tackle him but somehow, it’s Micah who gets stabbed. As he tries to run away, Jesse appears and he drops his camera in a scene that looks like he’s been killed. One of the witches then picks up the camera and switches it off.
6. Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015)
The movie is currently the last movie from the series and it was released in 2015. The movie is set after the fourth installment of the Paranormal Activity series.
The story follows the family of Ryan and his wife Emily, who have a six-year-old daughter Leila. Ryan’s brother, Mike also moves in with them before the Christmas celebration. There’s also Skylar who finds out about Leila’s conversation with Tobi. Mike later finds a box of videotapes and he watches the video where he sees a younger Katie and Kristi. It’s also not long before he, Ryan, and Emily discover that their house is where Katie and Kristi used to live.
They call a Father Todd to help them cleanse the house and he manages to do that though he eventually gets killed, leaving the family to finish the cleansing. They figure out that Tobi needs Leila’s blood to be able to fully transform into a human self. Despite the cleansing, paranormal activities leading to the death of Skylar, Ryan, Mike, and lastly Emily are noticed with Emily going through a portal and meeting a human Tobi at the end.
