What actually happens
A house full of cameras and no good ideas
The movie opens in October 2006, when Kristi and her husband Daniel are killed by Kristi's sister Katie, who is possessed by a demon. Katie then leaves with Kristi's one-year-old son, Hunter. Daniel's daughter Ali survives because she is away on a school trip, and the police never find Katie or the boy. The story then jumps to November 2011 in Henderson, Nevada, where Alex Nelson lives in a wealthy suburb with her father Doug, her mother Holly and her six-year-old brother Wyatt. Alex films with a laptop webcam, and after odd things keep happening, she and her boyfriend Ben put cameras in rooms all over the house. The oddness spreads from a row of cars parked outside a neighbor's house to the chandeliers, the kitchen knives, the family car and the garage doors, all of which start behaving as if they have opinions.
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The imaginary friend has a green mark
The neighbor's son, Robbie, stays at the Nelsons' house while his mother is in the hospital. Wyatt tells Alex that Robbie has an imaginary friend named Toby. Later Alex comes across Robbie inside a closet, telling her that 'he' doesn't like being watched. Wyatt says he has met 'him' too, and he shows Alex and Ben a green mark on his back that matches an ancient Hittite symbol. They learn that this symbol prepares a person for demonic possession, and that the ritual calls for a virgin's blood as a sacrifice. The movie then reveals that Robbie's mother is Katie. Katie informs Wyatt that both boys are adopted and that his other family wants him back, and Wyatt argues with a presence nobody else can see or hear, insisting that his name is not Hunter.
The one thing the cameras were for
The strangeness keeps climbing as the month goes on. Wyatt falls into a trance and levitates Alex, and one night Katie sneaks into the house, possessed, and tells Wyatt she will wait until he is 'ready.' Alex wants her parents to see what the cameras caught, but the footage has been wiped by something nobody can identify. The cameras were the whole plan, and they fail at the one moment she needs them.
Nobody is home, apparently
This is the stretch people dread, so here it is in order. The following day, with Doug and Alex out of the house, an unseen force throws Holly against the ceiling and she dies. A few minutes later Ben arrives to tell Alex that the symbol is connected to a coven. He sits down in her computer chair, Katie appears behind him, breaks his neck before he can react, and stashes him in the closet. That night Alex and Doug come home from dinner, and Doug goes next door because he thinks he saw Holly and Wyatt there. Alex finds Ben's body in the closet, and then something she can't see knocks her down and drags her across the floor. The worst of the movie is those two deaths, and everything after them is a chase.
The ending, explained
Alex runs to Katie's house, where she sees Doug pulled away out of view. She goes looking for him, hears Wyatt's voice, and sees a demonic Katie run at her down a hallway. Alex gets away by leaping out of a window and lands in the yard, where Wyatt is standing with a crowd of women walking toward her. She tries to run, but Katie appears behind her, and the recording stops when the camera hits the ground. Holly and Ben are dead, Doug was last seen being dragged out of sight, and Alex's fate is not shown.
The post-credits ruling
Nobody has confirmed whether there's a scene after the credits.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies here.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Paranormal Activity 4 scary?
Somewhat. Paranormal Activity 4 is a 4 out of 10, with plenty of jump scares, a dread level that is gone when the credits roll, and most of its violence saved for the last stretch.
How does Paranormal Activity 4 end?
An unseen force kills Holly, Katie kills Ben, and Doug is dragged out of sight. Katie and a crowd of women corner Alex outside, and the recording stops when the camera hits the ground, so her fate is never shown.
Does the dog die in Paranormal Activity 4?
No dog dies in Paranormal Activity 4.
Is there a post-credits scene in Paranormal Activity 4?
Nobody has confirmed whether Paranormal Activity 4 has a scene after the credits.
Who is Katie in Paranormal Activity 4?
Katie is Kristi's demon-possessed sister. In 2006 she killed Kristi and Daniel and took Kristi's one-year-old son, Hunter, and in Paranormal Activity 4 she turns up as the mother of Robbie, the boy next door.
