RANKING THE PARANORMAL ACTIVITY SERIES

0:00 Music. Hello, everybody, and welcome to The Pod and the Pendulum, the horror movie podcast that covers all of the franchises, one movie in one episode at a time.

0:44 And this week, we are here to put another franchise to bed. We are here to do what everyone does, and that is to rate things. We're going to be dropping our series rankings on all of the paranormal activity movies. But before we do that, and before I introduce our illustrious panel today, this episode is dropping roughly the week that we will be celebrating like five years of being around as a show. So I just want to take like a super brief second to say like, thank you to everybody that's ever listened to us, whether it was like five years ago when we were a wee baby podcast or has come on more recently.

1:30 Anyone who's ever guested, I want to thank all the co-hosts. Yeah, it's a super long time. So thank you so much. That's basically it. All right. Moving forward. Up first is one of our panelists today. She is the author of the upcoming book, Millennial Nasties. Miss Ariel Powershab. Ariel, how are we? I'm good. I'm excited to rank some movies. Everybody's favorite activity. Let's make a list. Let's do that. Everyone's favorite thing to do. Favorite hallway to be dragged down, I would say. If you could get dragged down a single hall, which hall would it be? Also joining us from Halloweenies and Girls on the Boys and the Losers Club, Miss Rachel Reeves. Rachel, how are we today?

2:16 Oh, I'm doing so good. I love a list. And as like a completionist, there's just that special like feeling of satisfaction when you're like, all right, I've seen the entire franchise. I know all there is to know about this particular franchise, you know, until the next one comes out. Yes. But if Jason Blum has his way, there will be no more paranormal activity movies. He's like, I think it's time to put this one to bed. Like, yeah, I, you know, I do not trust or believe that man at all. I think that if history has taught us anything, it's that there's never a franchise that's ever truly dead. What if paranormal activity, but like Megan is the demon?

3:00 It's like demon Megan. Like a demon, like a, oh God, they probably would do something like that. Or I feel like they have been trying that, right? I haven't seen imaginary. I haven't seen, but it's kind of like all these other sort of inanimate objects that are somehow coming to life in some way, shape or form. Like, yeah. What if somehow... Yeah, some demon, some paranormal demon, like, inhabits a doll and is skulking around the house. Would not put it past them. I also haven't seen Imaginary. I just listened to the Big Picture podcast, and they covered, like, the first third of the year, like, horror movies. And they, like, one of their co-hosts famously, like, she does not enjoy horror movies. But she watched Imaginary, so they just brought her on for that segment.

3:43 And they said there was like one good bit in it where they're like recording the little girl having a psych session and they show it back to the mom and she's like oh well she's just like talking to her teddy bear like it's not a big deal and the psychiatrist played by like jessica lang is like there is no teddy bear though like there was not a teddy bear like the teddy bear's not real like and that was the one good thing about the movie yeah like that's kind of neat So fake teddy bears. Speaking of big, cuddly teddy bears, the host of the Spectre Cinema Club. He has a wonderful dog. He's a good man himself. Mr. Devon Taylor. Devon, how are we? hello hello i am fantastic i love a list and for my patented how hungover is devon today i'm at about a four right now i'm i'm rallying uh after after i finish uh my bacon actually sorry calcifer and eyes bacon because he is like staring me down right now yeah how much bacon does he get he gets like it depends because like so if i have if i make three strips one strip is his two Two are mine.

4:51 Yeah. And if it's like if I make five strips, then it's like, well, three and a half of those are mine. And then he gets like a strip and a half. So it depends. How bold is Calcifer? Like, will he just straight up take bacon off your plate? No, he he will never. He will never do that. He will stand there and he'll shake until you like until you like give it to him. Like, yeah, it puts on this whole act where he looks like the saddest dog in the world. And he shakes. He's just like, give it to me before I explode. but he will not take it off the plate. What a sweet baby. I would give him anything he wants. I know. So my dog will also shake. Like she will literally vibrate until you feed her.

5:31 But if you're not paying attention, like I, and every now and then I'll put down a bowl of food for her and she'll pick up the bowl and she'll carry it to her little crate. And she'll like, like our yogurt cups or anything she can like get her mouth around. It's adorable, horrible, but she will take food off the plate and she'll jump up. We feed the cats on like the table because we know that she'll just eat the cat's food. And every now and then, like, she'll just be like, oh, I can jump up on the chair and the table and you'll see her like eating the cat's food on the table. So she can teach Kelsa for some tricks. So, all right. Speaking of tricks, let's talk about this series. Pretty fun one to cover.

6:13 Seven movies. A lot of them are pretty similar. Things start to kind of like bleed into one another a little bit here. And, you know, what we basically did is we just kind of ran through the list and we kind of said last to first how we felt about it. And Devon, once again, you're kind of the chaos agent. Like your rankings caused some ties. It caused a movie that I thought was going to be a kind of like a dark horse to hit the top three. Like you dropped it way down the list with your rankings. I know which one we're talking there. I know that's where I'm going to get the ire. But I thought my list was fairly normal this time around.

6:53 But yeah, there's that one thing on there that just changed everything. But I had to do math because of your list. I literally had to bust out the calculator. I had to do like median and mean. And it was incredible. I like to think of you sitting there with an abacus. These rankings. Just pounding my fist on the wall. But I wouldn't have it any other way. Like, really, what would be the point? It's kind of why we didn't do, like, Frankenstein. Because, like, it would be, like, everybody knows what the number one movie is going to be like. And then, so. Some franchises you just don't need to rank. Yeah. Yeah. Paranormal activity, worth it. All right.

7:37 So, let us start. Does everybody have acts? I know I sent this out super, super late to everybody. But if everybody has the list in front of them, Rachel, would you mind kicking things off with what came in dead last for us here? What is the bottom of the barrel when it comes to the. Yeah, bottom, bottom rung of this ladder here, this paranormal activity ladder goes to none other than ghost dimension. Yeah. How could that be? This was last place for everybody except for me. And it was next to last for me. Rachel, why can you talk a little bit about why this was your dead last pick?

8:17 Yeah, it just I it just pushed a lot of buttons. It was trying to do a lot of things. I didn't necessarily. I. I don't know, too much. It felt like like I didn't appreciate so much kind of CGI stuff. It felt like it was forcing itself to be a paranormal activity movie in a lot of ways. The characters I felt, I don't know, not necessarily super attached to. It had its moments. Like I didn't hate all of it. I just felt like it was the least genuine, the least successful in some ways, and just thought they really overdid it with some of the pretty heavy cgi kind of visuals and stuff that just didn't it just didn't all work with me very well i just think there's there's some other stuff that's doing there's other films that are just doing more interesting things in my opinion yeah it felt like with the marked ones doing things like a lot differently and being pretty successful but not having like the returns the first four movies did that they like immediately retreated back to the same old formula like huge suburban sprawling home with like a white family we're going to do like the static camera shots we're going to have like the night one type of things but then like to your point rather than do the things that worked before in terms of like atmospheric creeps it's like what if we rendered things like a PS3.

9:46 You know, what if we give you the best graphics that like the first generation Xbox could offer? Maybe fans will go for that. And by and large, they didn't. Devon, why was this on your list? Why was this so low on your list? Oh, man. You see, this is the only movie in the franchise that like actively angered me. I was offended by this movie because it's just such a hollow shallow rehash of so many things that we've seen before even more egregious than four because at least four still had like some creative scares here and there and like you know some good characters to keep us going through it the the family here they are nothing like i feel nothing, towards them leela creepy creepy little girl she she's the the thing that keeps this movie watchable at least because she is very awkward and creepy just like hunter.

10:38 But yeah, and then just like they're doing too much while also doing nothing. Yes. Like they are introducing all these extra things. You know, we're taking the power away from the midwives because now they're actually led by some dude named Toby or not Toby, Kent with a ponytail. You're telling me that's the leader of the midwives? No, get out of here. Like, you know, they're terrible, but, you know, they are powerful women villains. I hated that we brought Kent in to take that away from them. And and then toby reveal is just kind of like right like a leaky like ink blot thing like what are we doing like i don't know so yeah ghost dimension i will never watch this again nope well said what else do you have to add aria i'll just say that if toby had a body in 1992 and against the whole rest of the movies and that has ruined my brain and made me very unhappy yeah yeah like Like nothing else can really happen at that point because he's kind of like walking and talking and he's out there in the real world.

11:41 You know, he's there for the attitude area. He's there for like Brett screwed Brett. He's there for all that. You know, that'd be kind of fun, though. Anyway, if he's. Yeah, that would be kind of fun. But, yeah, it's just it's again, it's they have some interesting conceits they do. I think the videotapes with Katie and Christy where they are kind of like describing what's happening in the present day, even things like when Lily sneezes and they say like, bless you, like that's pretty fun and pretty creepy. And I wish they had done maybe a little more with that stuff and maybe a little less with like Uncle Mike, who, you know, has to make sure that they can't live within like a thousand feet of a school, you know, things like that.

12:29 Like who is like super super creepy and just like i'm gonna go visit mom next time it's like yeah no skin off our backs man like we really don't really want you here anyway just him and his like hipster mustache like that whole movie is the worst character in this franchise guys i think uncle mike is just like out of just pure annoyance and just like not funny to be the comedic relief like i think he might be the worst like character in this franchise, I don't know what he, Daniel, and Mika's three-piece pop-punk band. Nightmare. They would be. Yeah.

13:11 They would just be the worst. Yeah. I hate how much exposition there is. I feel like they're trying so hard to connect all these things. And it's just, oh, God. It's a paranormal activity movie. movie and there's like these just whole moments where it's like they're just exploring all this lore and expanding upon things in ways that why it's just unnecessary it felt so unnatural, in those moments it's like what how did you figure it out in the camera thing it just felt like there was a hat on a hat on a hat on a hat and ultimately like these movies to me feel like they operate the best when they're actually like lean and a little bit more stripped down and this one just felt like Like it was just throwing everything at the wall, which inevitably just makes nothing stick.

13:59 Ghost portal, inkblot Toby, Kent, special camera. Like, I mean, it's just all it's got way too much stuff with the house, you know, like just that, you know, though, you know, it's one of the they move the headstones, but you didn't move the body. You know, like right down, but it's still the property. It's still attached to this area. Like, oh, my God, I would I do. I would love to see a cutaway scene of Possessed Katie getting her realtor's license. Taking the test. Interviewing for jobs in her little suits. Yeah. But with the stone face on the whole time. Of course. It'd be so funny. Stone face Possessed Katie showing off the houses to prospective couples and talking about things like the airflow and the schools in the neighborhood.

14:50 And everything would be incredible. That is the deleted scene that we deserve. And I don't know why they haven't done that. Yes. Also, I think this movie would have moved up in my rankings if they went with the original ending, which is we talked about it on the recorded episode where the exorcism works and they get rid of Toby. They move house and they end up like bumping into like young Katie and Christy anyway. And it's insinuated that like they get integrated into the cult at the end. Like, they're throwing a birthday party.

15:31 The mom is visibly pregnant. Leela's wishing for a baby brother. And, like, Ponytailed Ket, like, picks Leela up and is, like, congratulating her on her birthday. And everyone is happy. And then it smashes to credits. And it's like, man, that's creepy. Like, it would have maybe moved up a spot in my rankings if they went with that ending, because that would have been pretty bold, especially as a series capper. But as it is, it feels like too much of a remake of our next movie, which is next to last in our ranking. And since, Devon, I see you kind of chewing there, I'm going to have Arielle introduce what came in next on our number six of seven in our rankings.

16:14 Number six for us is Paranormal Activity 4, the greatest hits album that Toby put out. This was my last place finish. Okay, fair enough. What were your thoughts on this, Arielle? What were your thoughts in part four? Yeah, like we talked about on the episode itself, it felt just like a rehash, a redo of a lot of things we'd seen in the previous movies, the scares we'd seen in the previous movies, without adding a lot to care about. It showed its hand way early involving Katie. A lot of things in it don't make sense, not to the egregious degree as Ghost Dimension, but enough that we were questioning a lot of, you know, why characters were doing certain things that they were doing.

17:03 It does have some cool stuff like the Xbox Kinect and like the character of Alex. She's pretty good and the kids are good. But overall, it's just kind of like all the movies are stronger. Except for Ghost Dimension. Except for Ghost Dimension. Yeah. I have this one a spot higher on my list. And yeah, like how we just like kind of mentioned about Ghost Dimension, like four definitely is the Toby Vanity Project just being like, hey, like, remember when I did this? Remember, you like those leg pulls, right? You know, but I like it because I think it does have some some good scares in it as some creepy moments. We have Catherine Newton is putting in a fun performance and and yeah, and and we talked about it in the episode and in the marked ones if you would flip the marked ones in and for like in the series then it would have felt like more fresh like with yeah and then and then again like also not showing katie so early and like you know really like if you're gonna make that your twist i'm like okay like really hit us with it i think it would have hit better if it came after the marked ones after we had spent some time away from katie and christy and and that whole thing because the first three films are such a strong trilogy.

18:21 They're really a good, solid trilogy. And then four is just kind of like, let's try again. Let's do some more. But again, I think it has some fun moments in it. And it's watchable. It's not going to be the first one I want to put on. But if I'm doing my series watch, I'm not going to skip this one. I'm going to watch it. So I like four. Fine. Yeah. Yeah, I think that I like I really like the characters in this one, apart from the parents. I do like the kid characters. And I think it's doing some interesting things with technology. But ultimately, it just yeah, it's like a greatest hits. It's doing things we've seen before. It's not necessarily treading new territory in like the scares and the mystery department.

19:07 And then I just like, honestly, it's the Katie thing. It's like the actual ties to the original mythology that get me that just make me kind of roll my eyes because yeah it doesn't make sense it's it's very confusing I feel like the actions of the family don't make sense like they would not take this kid in and I just it's too far to believe like you know there's a lot I'll believe in a movie like there's a lot of things where I'll be like just go with it just don't think about it but this one is kind of going a little bit too far in that arena for it to actually make sense and so but i yeah similarly i don't hate it there's a lot to like about it i don't think i really hate any of these movies but i probably won't watch ghost dimension again from here on up i would probably watch all of these again for you know one reason or another so i don't want this to sound like oh i hate this movie or anything it's just unfortunately there's others that i like way more yeah rachel do you think cause you mentioned like tying Katie into it.

20:06 Do you think that like the creators overestimated fans or. Affection for katie you know like when we think of like the scream series like how fans are really like invested in the characters of like sydney prescott and you know within even the newer movies like the core four where there's like a lot of of fans that really like watch the movies more for those characters do you think maybe creators like of this series overestimated how much people cared about like Katie and her involvement. And that's why they kept bringing her back for each and every movie. I can see that. I mean, don't get us wrong. Like we all love a good final girl, but sorry, Katie ain't it.

20:52 Like he is not it for me. And like, so like, she's not that great an actor either. Like it's not, she's not, I definitely could not do better. So let's be very clear about that. But ultimately, like I am not swayed by her charisma or her charm or even her actions like even as a villain like I don't find her particularly like threatening or you know crafty like she's just kind of I mean I get it like she's supposed to be kind of like possessed but she's almost too mono like there's not a whole lot to attach there it's too flat there's nothing I can identify with it. There's nothing I'm rooting for. Yeah. And so why would I want to keep seeing her?

21:36 And why would she keep like, I don't believe that this woman is going to be succeeding at this level and doing and pulling all these strings and being this manipulative and doing all these things and selling houses or whatever. Like, I do not believe that this character would be building and working behind the scenes on all this evil stuff because she's just so like. Meh flat like i actually had a little bit more appreciation for katie on this series like go through like yeah she's not great by any means like as far as like performances go but like as being at least you know some sort of steady hand throughout the franchise like really the only recurring you know like consistently recurring i think she has the most appearances out of everybody you know and you know i think she's i i appreciate her being there but at At certain points, yeah.

22:29 Like, again, like with four, if they would have had her in it less and then, you know, and like her just be like that extra sprinkling on top for it, then it's like, you know, cool. But yeah, so like I had a bit of an appreciation for her. She's kind of a baddie. She also looks like if a husky like made a wish to become a human. That's what Katie looks like. Oh, my goodness. And I love her for it. And also for PA4, Hunter and his special fork. That the film gets a lot of points for hunter i think robbie robbie yeah because robbie is a hunter robbie is like yeah the red herring but yeah this the hundred year old for robbie brady allen who plays robbie gives i think one of the all-time great creepy kid performances like any Any positive remarks about this movie for me are all about Brady Allen as Robbie, because he like is alternatively creepy in a very understated way.

23:33 And also hilarious because he plays Robbie is like a 95 year old man trapped in the body of a six year old. And he's just adorable and hilarious. And I really love it. It's a Benjamin Button scenario. Oh, absolutely. that just it's awesome and when he's just like yeah he doesn't like you who doesn't like you you'll see just like that will never not pop me yeah in the biggest way how about yourself ari. We're still talking about four right we are still talking for just for you know some of them kind of run together for me they do um no i mean i think like i said before i think it's fine i like the It's the character of Alex.

24:19 It's a little bit of a greatest hits. But at this point in the franchise, I'm not quite too burned out on it yet. So it's not high for me, but it's not Ghost Dimension. Yeah, it is where I tapped out and it is where theatrically it's where I tapped out until really I didn't watch the until next of kin came out. And it's because I think the first three movies make a pretty strong trilogy. And this one plays a lot like part two. You know, Catherine Newton is obviously like she's very, very solid in every kind of like genre project she's in. She's done two really good ones this year between Lisa Frankenstein.

25:00 And now I think she's like the highlight of Abigail is or one of the two or three highlights of Abigail as well. Like she's really fun in that and steals a lot of the scenes that she's in. So it's kind of nice seeing her in like a very early project and honestly playing like an age appropriate, like to her, the age she actually is character, like she's the age of her character, which is funny because 10 years later, she's still playing a high schooler. So that is funny, but also maybe a little bit icky as well. And she's pretty good in here i think it just it boils down to number one like again playing the greatest hits and number two you have this ending which is just feels very rushed it feels a lot like the devil inside ending where you just like camera drops go to credit and that's really it you're like that's that's you know not even whelming it's very underwhelming as an ending All right, let's move forward.

25:57 Let's go ahead and move to what came in fifth. And this is where we got a little chaos here in the middle, losing out by one point because of one person's very low ranking. So, Devon, do you want to introduce what came in fifth and maybe talk about why you had this one, I think, next to last in your poll? I did I didn't I didn't think this was going to be controversial here in the fifth slot we have next of kin and to be fair to you I think that your opinion is the norm. Oh, okay, cool. Like, I mean, I knew going in that you were a big fan of it already. So I was like, and this was the only one I had not seen before us recording this series.

26:43 So it was a first time watch for me. I didn't know what to expect. And, you know, it's very frustrating. Like, because I think it has a great setup. I think it has some interesting ideas. But then it's not only underutilizing the found footage, but like also breaking the rules of it. Particularly in the third act the the editing and the why are you still filming this truly. Does not make sense in this movie like there's no reason that this whole finale would have been filmed you know like it just i don't know i liked having it in the snow but then they didn't use the snow as much like i don't know like there's a i think there's a lot of good ingredients it just it's it's too salty like i don't know it just it and and there's also no like there's like three re-scares this entire movie like the finale is like fun and all like whenever everything's on fire and people are killing each other that's fun great the like previous 50 minutes before that what we got nothing like until the creature is unchained there is no activity in this one there is no paranormal activity like the there's the one bed there's the bed scene and i was like okay and then we didn't get like another scare for like 45 minutes like yeah i don't know so like the the pacing i don't think is very good i think this movie would be a better movie if it one wasn't found footage and two wasn't a paranormal activity movie like i think it has the the concept alone i think

28:13 has the strength to be its own thing and they could have spent you know. Instead of worrying about the found footage stuff, then you have more time to spend on developing her character and everything. And like the ties within the cult, and it could be like very creepy and unsettling. And so like as a paranormal activity movie and a found footage movie, it comes up short for me there. I think they're banking on the idea that the Amish are creepy enough without having to do a lot though. I think, you know, I think there it's like, what a bunch of weirdos churning their own butter. And having horses like who we know who the Amish people are, you know, by now they've done documentaries, they've had reality TV series.

28:55 So it's like, I don't think it's like, like, just simply being. I was like, yeah, I know what they do. It's whatever. I still think they're hiding something. I don't know, Devon. I'm not sold. So I had this hire and I was kind of surprised. I think Rachel, Ariel, myself, we all had this ranked third on our list. And Ariel, I was kind of shocked because when we did our episode, you didn't seem too keen on it. You said you were going to give it a rewatch and it kind of like shot right up the rankings. And I was kind of curious as to like what turns you around. You're reframing of this isn't a found footage movie.

29:39 Fixed it. Because I, like you were saying, Devon, this doesn't make a damn bit of sense as a found footage movie. I absolutely do not buy it. And it made me enjoy them, like not enjoy the movie. But as soon as I decided it wasn't, and that these filmmakers put this together to submit to a film festival, I was like, oh, now I like this movie. Now this movie is fun, because I can just let go of, you know, why none of this makes a damn bit of sense. And I can just enjoy the craziness. So, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My theory on it is it's not a found footage movie. That we go into it with the assumption it is because we've had six movies where it's a found footage movie.

30:23 And that like what Bill Eubanks is doing is like telling a movie about a pair of documentarians that are filming a document documentary. Crazy word, a documentary about this woman's upbringing. Upbringing but like it's not explicitly a documentary in and of or mockumentary in and of itself and that's why you have things like it's scored and there are stingers and drone shots and you have these things like the impossible amount of cuts like during the dinner scene and it switches angles at the end of the movie when she confronts her mother at the end like things you can't do in a found footage movie.

31:07 So we're taking our own like bias into it because we've seen six other paranormal activity movies. And what Eubanks is doing is like, I'm just going to make my own movie. Like this is a guy that introduced Cthulhu into one of his movies and didn't bother to really tell anyone he was going to do that. Like there's no hint in underwater that like, oh yeah, by the way, this is a Lovecraft film. He just kind of like does what he feels like which i think is kind of neat yeah like for me like this was third like you said and i think that i just appreciated something new i really do like in terms of this franchise because like i get it you're this franchise is built on a very specific look a very specific style a very specific story but at some point like you gotta call it like all right like Like this, it's time to take a little break.

32:03 Like we've done what we can here. And like just to continue pushing that is just going to be diminishing returns. And this franchise needed something. And it's also what I liked about another film on this list that we're going to talk about is just kind of re-approaching it. Like, okay, let's kind of just take another look at this franchise and what it could be and what it could do and what we're going to do moving forward and just leave Katie and Toby alone, put them away, they're done. Don't ever want to revisit those stories, quite frankly, or not for a very long time unless it's a very good idea. They'll come back to it when Katie is old enough to be one of the older midwives.

32:44 Yes, perhaps. Like when she's like 60. Like it felt like a video game in ways. And like, yes, I agree that there's a lot of things that don't make sense with the filming. But I think I kind of looked at it like you did, Mike, where it's not found footage in the traditional sense of what this franchise has been kind of establishing it as. I mean, yeah, there's slow-mo. There's like all sorts of weird stuff in it. But I'm also a sucker for like anything in the general vicinity of folk horror. And I thought that was like a fun new paranormal, you know, avenue to explore here. Also, yeah, the Amish are kind of creepy. Sorry to all of our Amish listeners.

33:26 But it's just because we don't know. We don't understand. Right. I mean, I've seen Witness with Harrison Ford, and it's a great film. So if you'd like some like positive perhaps amish representation you can go check out that film what worth aren't they murderers and witness i thought like in witness they either murders or they're covering up a murder harrison ford is framed and then he goes the omit like this amish kid witnesses a murder and so they go back to their little you know amish community and harrison Harrison Ford's hiding out there, but then falls in love with the spirit of the Amish community. Okay. So he's framed in another movie. It's not just a fugitive where he gets framed. Correct.

34:08 What is it about Harrison Ford that makes like that face where people are like, he could kill somebody? Well, that's the thing. It's like, no, he couldn't. But then they frame him and they're like, I just had no idea. Oh, wow. Okay. I have not seen Witness. Like Witness is one of those movies. So it is like on my list. I should see this movie. You should. Okay. It's one of Ford's greats. You can double feature it with next time. Um i do agree with you devon that like there isn't a lot that happens through some of this movie that it's a bit it kind of goes back to what worked in part one and it's a lot more atmospheric i kind of appreciated that there was more hey there's this mystery that's unfolding and as a viewer we only know as much as the characters do as opposed to by the time you We get to like part two, three and beyond.

35:04 We know more than the characters and we're just kind of waiting for them to catch up. And here I was, I was enthralled enough to go along for the ride with it. Yeah. And I agree with your take, Rachel. Like we actually said this when we recorded, like the way it's filmed at times, like the characters do feel like video game avatars. Like you're kind of like doing a first person video game. And I think I called the slow motion, like checkoffs, like slow motion at one point when they show it to the little kid, I'm like, well, that's going to come back at some point. And poor sweet Dale, like Dale could have easily been like a Daniel, a Mika, uncle Mike, when you first meet him. And instead he's just kind of like a half Sasquatch, half galoot, just like one of my favorite characters.

35:53 Just like one of my favorite, like when he's like, oh, I thought that was a clap moment. It's just like a sweet, sincere, and he's the one that gets God. And I like that, you know, you have characters that survive at the end of this. And they're like, well, we're going to go just like the end of Frogman. Oh, I shouldn't, I should cut that because that movie's new. But, you know, it's, you know, you have characters that survive at the end of this. So, and you're right. It just wasn't like the Mincati and Mika and Toby. It was just doing something new for the first time. And, you know, I kind of it's part of the reason I really liked it. Well, and also this wasn't a theatrical release, right? Like this was like straight.

36:36 And I think that that worked for this film. I think if it was a theatrical release like that, I don't I feel like, you know, we would we just value those things a little bit differently. I mean, I think because it's what you're investing in it, right? You're literally not having to like physically go to the theater and pay your money, invest your time. And that's a whole endeavor, right? There's a lot wrapped up in that. So I think having it just being on streaming was appropriate for this film and just kind of made me just from the very get go from hitting play. I was thinking about it a little bit differently, which we've seen can like also hurt a film in some ways. And it's like, no, that should have been a theatrical release. But I don't I don't think that this should have been. And it was kind of a smart move for this film, for this franchise.

37:16 Yeah. And it was that year, like 2021, when studios were, all right, not everybody is comfortable going to the theaters yet. So we're going to put things on our streaming platforms. And this was like the Halloween weekend release for Paramount. I think this and then Shudder did the medium that weekend. So I know this was like my Halloween weekend double feature. And it was, like, a really fun kind of double feature. I'd be interested. I don't think this would have been a successful theatrical release. I could easily see this coming out and then bombing and then, like, a million write-ups saying, like, the death of the series, like, how, you know, doing even worse than, like, Ghost Dimension did because it's so different.

38:03 Because let's face it, as horror fans, we'll say that we want something different and something new and not the same old, same old. But then if we deviate too many degrees from the formula, it's like, not that different. You're not my dad. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. It's not my jigsaw, not spiral. That's too different. Not my midwife. It's also a tough sell, I think, because I mean, you're seven, you know, six films, seven films deep into a franchise. And you think about like, not everybody. I know it's hard to believe. Not everybody is like this obsessive in this world is like all of us are. Yeah. And like, I always kind of forget about that. And when I'm talking with like people at work or whatever, and they're like, oh, I've only seen like the first two or something.

38:48 Thing or like i remember loving those and i haven't seen any of the others so i feel like, you know if you're if you would have put this in a theater i don't think it would have succeeded because there's a lot of people who had been like i don't understand where this fits i don't know all these other films or they'd go and see it and be like what i don't understand what's happening last i saw it was like at a house and it was filmed i think it's just a lot to ask the public In a theatrical setting. Because not everybody has seen all the previous films. People have lives to live. I know, for real. Whereas, you know, something like Scream or something, and that's why it's important for them to reinvent it, but also have something so iconically familiar in all of them as like a ghost face or something.

39:31 And unfortunately, all Paranormal Activity has is Katie and doesn't have quite the same allure as like ghost face. Yeah it's probably the most iconic thing is the screen that just says what night it is and the time stamp like that's really what people remember from these movies it's like that's what the draw is and that they're found footage right which this one is i think it would have just it's like kind of adjacent yeah or at least would have been a hard sell i think yeah i don't i don't think it would have done well in theaters i probably would have been more upset if i saw this in theaters that came out and I'd be like, now I'll have to listen to the episode. I haven't listened to it yet, but I'll have to hear Mike's full theory on trying to explain why this is a bad found footage movie and again, why it's down here.

40:22 So maybe it might move up. Maybe it might gain half a star after I hear your full theory. Well, that episode, we're recording this ahead of the episode posting on Monday, so you'll be able to hear it in just a couple days. Days but i'm going to have you intro our next one here in a moment devon i'll just say that our next two number part our fourth and our third entries tied and the tiebreaker was basically where like what got more votes like what came out higher in the rankings and like a half a point in the rankings basically separated them so devon like this was like your you had it ranked higher than anybody else so do you want to introduce what you had is our number four pick.

41:05 Yeah, my heart's a little broken seeing this one smack dab in the middle. But my second favorite of the franchise is Paranormal Activity Marked Ones, a.k.a. Spooky Chronicle. You know, like, I love that. I love that movie. It was my favorite episode to record, besides maybe the one for PA3. But yeah, I really like Marked Ones. I think it's great. I think if again if you swap the order of the series and this was like the fourth movie released I think people kind of would have been hooked in a little bit more I think it might have done. Better at the box office as well because this is also kind of one of the lower earning ones but yeah I really love everything that it does for the most part like yeah the finale is a little messy but I think this has one of the best ensembles as far as like you know people that are actually friends and family and like it like feels very familial in that way and then like kind of merging this like coming of age story into the the the possession but then the possession is like also like kind of like a disease as well and then the way that they tie in we get to see homegirl from pa2 make a cameo appearance to explain the and that's when the midwives are actually named is in is in the marked ones.

42:28 But yeah, I really like the marked ones. Hector, I think, is my favorite supporting character of the entire series. He is so funny. He's got his boys back. And I and we get midwives getting shotgun blasted in the chest. I mean, that's so fun, you know, like, so I really like marked ones and kind of what it was doing as a, you know, a nice sidequel that ties its way back in. Yeah, that was a fun episode to record. And that made me appreciate the movie a little more too. Like I think a lot of handheld action with that movie. It just feels a lot different. It feels a lot more kinetic. There's a lot more energy.

43:09 It's the first movie where the threat feels like it could spread into the community as opposed to just be tied to like a singular family. So it actually feels like it's a much more dangerous threat than in any of the other movies. And it's also one where a lot of people that are like unassuming or unaware are going to be tied in. And I like that they refer to it more as like a cousin of the original series of films. And you get that. Something that is tied into it and you get an expansion of the lore without having it until those unfortunate last few minutes without having it feeling like it's too too tied in in like a half-baked way like the idea that like all of these women are turning over their firstborn sons over to this midwife organization is like a really chilling reveal and really cool And like you said, Hector is a great character.

44:06 Some of the going from things like the Xbox Kinect, which at the time was like a pretty expensive gadget and a high-end gadget, going from that and scaling it all the way back to like using like the Simon Children's toy, which is a pretty inexpensive. expensive. It's kind of like a nice indicator of like, where is the class and the socioeconomic factors that tie these like different families in with one another, but also like using that game in a way that is like super creepy as well. I really liked this one a lot. Like I had this like kind of in the middle, but only because like, I really liked the first few movies like so much.

44:46 This is a really strong entry until you get the time travel back to 1997. Yeah. There's so much that I like about this. I like how a new setting gets it out of kind of like that suburban neighborhood area and kind of presents this, like you were saying, presents the story in a different part of the world, which expands the world and makes it more threatening in a lot of ways and puts it in some different contexts and in different religions and different communities. And I really thought that was such a smart move. It reminds me a lot of Like when we were talking about like the Purge franchise, they did that as well and just kind of makes the world feel bigger and more real in a lot of ways, more threatening, like how it can infiltrate different communities and in different ways.

45:35 And I really liked this cast. And I think part of why it's kind of in the middle is that ultimately it is a little bit less scary than some of the other ones that we're going to talk about. And the superpowers thing, I have mixed feelings about that. The time travel? Well, and just like what they're doing with their powers a little bit. It's like, okay. Like it made me roll my eyes a little bit with like that's how that worked. Worked but I think I've you know as I've seen it a couple times I've softened on that but the first time I saw it it felt like it felt like a little jarring to be honest to go from like what we get in the previous four to that it felt like a like almost too big a jump um but that doesn't you know I feel like I have softened on that a little as time has gone on because I do think that's what they needed to do and I agree I think it's interesting to think about it as like it should It should have been flipped because you think of like how often in a franchise like those part fours are so important to kind of like, okay, what are we moving into?

46:41 Yeah. And that's what this feels like is like a new direction. And so it's kind of unfortunate that, yeah, just this franchise feels like there's some things that are just a little like they didn't quite plan out, you know, like everybody gives Marvel shit for planning out the next 10 years. But it's like maybe this franchise could have used a little bit more planning as far as like what and where they were going with that kind of stuff. Because it does feel like just a little, just a little too late. Especially because the first three feel like such a neat and tidy story. When you take the three of them together, it does feel like such a compact little story that ties everything in pretty closely. And then the fourth movie feels just kind of tacked on.

47:26 In a way that like, I don't really need it. Like it introduces a bunch of questions that it doesn't really have any intention of answering, where if you put this in between, part three and part four, you can go in a lot of different directions at that point. And like you said, branch things off and say like, okay, now we're going to go like to use the Marvel parlance, like the next phase of what we're going to do. Yeah, I pretty much completely agree. I I I've also like softened on it and listening to the episode on it did make me appreciate this movie more. It's kind of in the middle for me and like the middle of my rankings are kind of like not too far apart from one another.

48:09 As usual for my rankings, like the top and the bottom are really strong and everything in the middle. I'm like, I pretty much enjoy you. So I don't have a ton of strong feelings on The Marked Ones. I do like it. I do think it probably would have been a good fourth movie, but not a lot of hard-hitting takes from me on this one. I will say, I stressed it in the episode, this one, because obviously every movie, or almost every movie in the series has extended cuts. Marked Ones has the biggest additional stuff to it. It's, I think, almost 15 more minutes, if I remember correctly. So like you know as especially the door the extended cut for marked ones i think makes it pretty strong and yeah it was very it was pretty much almost tied with the next film that we'll talk about and a lot of those additional scenes were more about like strengthening the bond between the two friends and building that world out and building that community out like there's like the taco truck scene where they you know there's no reason to be there except for the right they're just you know i love that scene it's it's just fun to make someone eat like a super hot taco and watch them kind of like vomit because it's way too hot for them to eat it's stuff like that and the extended takes like that i think there's some additional there's like an additional scene with a dad i think at one point as well so yeah and i think because it's because Because

49:40 it's like the first movie where you're not in, you know, like a suburban home with like a typical like white person family in the suburb somewhere. It's kind of nice to see more to spend more time within this community, I think, as well. And you get more of that vibe and that feel as well. Rachel, why don't you introduce, and getting into our top three, why don't you introduce what came in here? Yeah, so coming in in third place is, from Elkley, part two. And part two, part two. I had this much lower on my list, just to be fully transparent. This came in at five for me, just because, I don't know, I was just a little underwhelmed with where it went.

50:26 And as like the i just felt like it was retreading some things didn't and yeah i guess but i similarly i don't hate it i just wasn't as impressed with it especially coming off the first one that was just like so mind-blowing and then in the second one it felt like oh okay we're just we're just doing this again okay we're still with these people we're still in this world we're still dealing with like some similar things so i i don't have yeah i guess i don't have a lot of like ariel was saying i don't have a lot of strong feelings either way it's fine for me but i did not have it as high so i would love to hear from somebody who likes this one a lot more and like what you guys enjoyed about it i guess i always had this one and this one tied the marked ones in terms of points but it just came out a little bit ahead in terms of like where it ranked where it came out like 3.5 compared to four in terms of like average ranking um.

51:26 And i would have always had it lower i had it second this time around on my ranking. Are you guys getting any background noise from my microphone are you hearing anything no no okay i just have people doing yard work outside and it's like right under here so So it's not picking it up good. I normally would have had this ranked a lot lower until like rewatching all these movies for the series. And I definitely agree with you, Rachel, that like it's like doing a lot of things the first movie does. I think what I did is like this time around I watched it saying, yep, it's definitely doing a lot of the things the first movie does. But I just think it does them a lot better.

52:07 Yeah. I think that like rewatching the first movie for the series. I'm like, there's a reason why like Oren Peli didn't go on to make like a lot of movies after paranormal activity that he's kind of like, much more behind the scenes, like writing checks and doing like more of a producer's role. Like he's fine, like getting giving people their start. He's not really a filmmaker. A lot of paranormal activity, like the acting is really clunky. The way it's framed is kind of clunky. The pacing can be really clunky at times. The things that work, like work really, really well. And there's a reason why I think we hold that film in such high regard.

52:47 Like it was a great shot in the arm. But I think like the addition of the security cameras all around the house, like it gives it a lot different feel. You can capture a lot more. uh i think like having it be a child and a dog that are the center of attention this time around like they're the two characters in danger yeah that's what they know get people like invested i i'm worried much more about abby the dog being put in danger than i am about mika you know what i mean at the end of the day yes um and i think that like the i think i can't i think it's grayson is her name the performer who plays christy is like ultimately like a much stronger protagonist.

53:31 And sells the danger and i think like ally is a much stronger like secondary character than what you're finding in like the first couple movies and the scares that are there are a lot stronger and then also finding out oh it's a prequel like kind of blew my mind like not just getting a sequel kind of blew my mind so this time around i'm like i actually like the second movie and that stupid, fucking pool camera and that pool cleaner thing like it got me plus you get the burger king i mean who doesn't love the burger king oh yeah i mean debatably the shitty even shittier than mika i think probably the shittiest man in this entire series uh i like to quite a bit um it was like.

54:18 Just a little bit behind marked ones but i still have it at number three uh because again pretty much for a lot of the reasons that mike says like it's a you know it soups up what you know worked in one a little bit more have some actual filmmaking behind it very you know and it has a lot of great scares this is the other one that i like again like the extended cut like really makes a difference in this one because two if you only watch the theatrical version it cuts like half the like best scares well see maybe that's what i did like maybe i need to watch the extended yeah from mike the the little details button on hbo if you're if you're streaming it you can get to the extended cuts but yeah uh yeah because i really like uh i really like the scares i really like i really like ally i think she's a a really great secondary i mean she pretty much becomes the main character in the in the third act of this and uh and again yeah wrapping it around secret prequel or like it's like sidequel i mean it technically is a prequel but then it catches up and then goes past the other the first film i think that was a fantastic i think uh it gets it deserves a lot of credit for again being able to like take only the few like little nuggets of lore from the first one and really like you know kick-starting us to like get going you know so yeah i have this one sitting at three on my list i love what this movie does for the lore of the franchise and the things it sets up and the way it takes little threads that it could from the first movie.

55:48 I had this ranked fourth. I just don't find it that enjoyable to watch. I like where it goes. I like what it's doing. But as a movie, I'm rarely like, oh, I want to sit down and watch Paranormal Activity 2. Maybe it's the pool cleaner footage. I don't know. It just it drags a little bit for me. But I appreciate the story. Yeah, this is the one that you owe the lore to. Like, this is the one that it really expands everything out. It's when you start introducing all of it and setting up everything you're going to see in the sequels. Or the first movie is really one of the great, like, one-and-dones. Like, you could just have that movie and be done and have a really complete story and feel like you got everything. Mm-hmm.

56:37 Yeah, and Daniel is one of the all-time shittiest characters. But we love to hate him. Yeah. I don't think he was quite as bad as Mika. I think I was a little bit more in his side than others when it came to Mika when we did that episode, if I remember correctly. But he did, you know, sacrifice his sister-in-law to demons. So I guess that would be a mark in the negative column, I guess. It was an asshole to Martine. Justice for Martine. Justice for Martine. Who just, you know, didn't want anyone getting handsy-handsy with his daughter, you know? Fair. He did give us the phrase, stencilata.

57:17 I don't know. Yeah, that's also a negative. You can have it back. I don't think we need that one. All right, we don't need that one either. So, can't think of anything positive. He did have that. It was in the extended cut, the, like, kicking out her boyfriend at one in the morning. when he pulls the angry dad move. He's like, get the fuck out of here. Just his one good move. All right, Devon, do you want to introduce our number two into the mix? What came in second? We're down to the final two here. I'm going to, that's the weakest drum roll ever, but that's all right. I have no rhythm. Oh, I thought I was like pausing for a lawnmower. I was like, wait, what's going on? Here at number two, and I guess the reason that it's probably here might be because of me because i have this a little lower on my list coming in at number two is the og paranormal activity you know the thing kicked everything off i have it at four on my same my list same because really do you guys i know i think it is a second i think it is fine okay it's fine like it's a it's a it's you know like it's a it's a you know if you're just like kind of ah like you know nothing like kind of doing anything i can throw it on and just like kind It's like the chill hangout movie of the franchise, honestly.

58:37 And but it's just it's a little too small for me. It's a little too minimal, you know, like because like you like really have to be like watching this at like 2 a.m. with absolutely no other sounds to like really get like the full creep factor of this. Yeah. I had an interesting idea. It would I think the first paranormal activity could be a stage play. Oh, I would go see it. i think it would be better on the stage than a than a found footage film because like you really only need like three sets most of it can be in bed even like you know like it could be a whole thing that'd be really fun i'm gonna put that in my backpack yeah i would i would go see it but yeah because i think it is like this like very kind of simple like even more character drama more than a possession film you know this is the character drama haunted house.

59:28 Film of the series, I think it's fine. I'm glad that it was made, so that way the franchise could be a thing. But, you know, yeah, it's right in the middle of my list. Yeah, I had it at four as well, and I think that's only because I like the others, a bit more, not because I think it's like a middle-of-the-road movie. It's just because they're a fraction behind. And I think for the reasons I said when I put part two higher, It's a little bit slower. The acting's a little bit clunkier. Now, all of that said, you need this movie to get the others made. It was a real shot in the arm. And I do appreciate when we talked about how this was made, Oren Peli just kind of going through the DVD bonus features and watching how movies got made and taking notes and being like, man, I think I can do this.

1:00:19 And then creating like one of the most successful series of horror films of all time just based on a whim just like i wonder if i could do something like this in my own house i also like when we were talking about this movie how a lot of the discussion about it is about crass consumerism and like the demon is actually capitalism and like all of those critiques like what you're critiquing is the director's own house because that's where it was filmed and i just that really tickles me like it's like no man this is just where i live it's just my own shit. Yeah, I think for me, some of the things that I love about it are also the things that are marks against it in a lot of ways.

1:01:03 I love how authentic it is and how it does feel, like you were saying, very raw, like they're just making a movie, they're trying, they're just trying their hand at it. And so it feels very fresh. And that's part of, I think, why it was such a hit, because it was such a fresh, stripped down, basic, authentic kind of presentation, simple idea executed decently. At the same time, though, I think some of that was like almost a little too authentic. You know, it's a little clunky. The characters are a little forced, a little fake. You know, the acting is not super incredible or believable because they're not super great actors, which is fine. And that's, you know, it's a knife that cuts both ways, I think.

1:01:45 So that's why I personally have it at number two, because I just I just remember like seeing this around that general time period and just how, you know, similar to like Blair Witch. It's just one of those movies that I saw a lot of things around this time period where it's like I'm seeing something new. I'm seeing something fresh. I'm seeing and that's exciting to me. And this film was exciting because of that. Do I think it's perfect? No, but I appreciate the swing. I like the take on it. And like you said, we wouldn't have gotten all these others without that. So, you know, ultimately, I have to have it at the, you know, towards the top. But there is one that squeaked out being the one that I would prefer to watch again, especially if I wanted to watch something that actually scared me, that actually creeped me out.

1:02:33 I think too this is the further I get away from this movie maybe the it's hard to. Sometimes it's hard to recreate that feeling of something when you first see it. Cause I remember like the first time I watched this movie in a crowded theater, like in the weeks before it got like the national release, like coming home and being like absolutely terrified of a movie, maybe for the first time since I had seen like the Blair witch project in theaters, like having like that kind of experience again. And as horror fans, I think that's a feeling that we're constantly chasing. And the irony is like the more horror that we consume, the more we get kind of inured to it and the harder it is to replicate that feeling.

1:03:23 So the further I get away from this movie, the harder it is to remember what it was like to see it. And maybe that's why it slips down my rankings a bit. It and it's also i think it's fair to say that this movie gets held to account for things that came at this this movie is partly responsible for saw ending right i mean it came out it was did so well successfully that it ate into a huge chunk of like what saw typically did at theaters and i would say it also kind of came out at the tail end of the remake race like in 20 not 2009 2009, you had Halloween 2, you had the Friday the 13th remake, you had My Bloody Valentine.

1:04:07 Last House on the Left. Last House on the Left. After this movie hits, I think you had basically the Elm Street remake in 2010, and that feels like the last real big remake, and that craze kind of died out as well. So you have these two trends that... Had kind of run their course for better or worse. And then this kickstarts two things, like many more found footage movies, like The Last Exorcism, which on the better side, The Devil Inside for the worse, movies like Unfriended. And you see that to this day, like you've got this huge glut of found footage movies, some that are great, some not so, but also like more paranormal horror.

1:04:52 Insidious comes out, The Conjuring comes out. And this is the movie that you can kind of like either blame or credit, depending on what your feelings are about this movie. So it does deserve a lot of credit. Well, I had this at the very top of my list. And now I feel silly because I was like, surely. Why would you feel silly? Because. Own it. Own your tape. Surely everybody realizes, you know, whatever. Own it. Tell us why we're wrong. No, it's not about being right or wrong. As you know it's always hard to it's always really hard for me to not put the first movie at the top of my rankings like we've seen that every time we've done a rankings episode because i just have a lot of reverence for whatever kicked the thing off but i also this is my favorite one to watch i think as found footage it's perfect found footage i think mika and katie are the perfect couple to watch go through this horrible thing like they they play that so well it scared me when i saw it in theaters it'll scare me if i watch it by myself in the dark now i think it uses the camera really smartly where there's a lot that we don't see and then when we do start to see things that it's like we put this here for you because this is the scary part but we can do that because it's found footage so yeah i just this one is the best one.

1:06:17 For me yeah i thought you were to say mika and katie are the perfect couple end of sentence my god my god that is no maybe the hottest take we've ever had here no no history of perfect perfect toxic couple for this situation they just play it perfectly yeah what do you think it is about being the first movie in a series that makes you put it so high typically so a lot of my rankings are based off just my feelings and vibes and a lot of the times the first movie in a franchise is the one that has me yeah and so it like has me the most excited i remember the excitement of feeling of watching something new and so it's hard for me to ever like move away from that but okay i also this is my favorite one to watch i will re-watch it a lot.

1:07:11 Mm hmm. Well, why don't you bring things home for us? Why don't you introduce what is the number what we had overall? Yeah. Ranked is like the number one movie. The Dream Warriors of the franchise. What I what I deemed the Dream Warriors. Paranormal Activity 3. Yes. So, yeah, I had this second. I think a lot of people probably put this at the top of their list, not just on this show, but like in life. You know, after the first and second one, giving us the lore, they gave us a real, you know, prequel to watch, which is great. It has characters we care about. It's got a poltergeist vibe. It's using different tech. Like, it gives us something fresh, but also makes enough sense that it fits into the franchise. It's actually scary.

1:08:00 It does a lot that is really great. Great yeah stepdaddy dennis yeah we did it we did it this one's for you bud because he is he's the best man of the entire franchise that's true uh this uh this movie it it has the juice like this is it's got all the spooky vibes it's got great scares we get great character work with uh not only dennis but then young version of katie and christy arguably better actors than the adult counterparts honestly but like uh this film just uh it has a great vibe to it like i mean we have the oscillating fan cam but you know we have even dennis's employee i forget what his name is but i love him too bass player for the strokes is i think what he's credited randy randy my guy but yeah i i just really like this one it's a great prequel it you know introduces the right amount of lore to it i think it has the most fun finale of any of the franchise but you know this is where we like truly start getting like the scope of the midwives and the origin things like And I think it deserves a lot of credit just because prequels are so tough to do because you obviously know certain things that are going to happen to these characters.

1:09:15 For some reason, it just works so well. Like you still feel all the tension and danger for the situation, even though we know that, you know, Katie and Christy are going to be fine. They make it, you know, to the end, but in still like showing like, oh, but here's what their true fate is. Their mom died and they've been raised by their culty grandma now, you know, is, is a really great, it was a fun seeing this grandma Lois's house again in the marked ones. I forgot to mention that, but yeah, like this one, it really just has it all. It has, you know, genuinely scary, creepy moments. It's got great laughs. It's got a great family dynamic to it. Yeah. I love Paranormal Activity 3. Yeah. Like for me, this has all the best traits of the first one, but executed at a higher level.

1:10:01 Like it's still got that authenticity, but it's got, but it's a little bit more polished and it's still got scares, but they're a little bit more well-executed. A better understanding, I think, of tension and how to actually build that on screen whereas you know I'm sure Peli would I mean he even admit like I was just kind of learning as I went like I didn't he just didn't understand it as well and I think this film understands how to do that better on screen and how that plays I the characters are better less problematic also better actors and it's just there's so much to like about it and this one actually gets under my skin it It actually creeps me out, you know, has me on the edge of my seat waiting for those things to moat, like waiting for all those moments to happen.

1:10:47 And but I also think it does really add strength to the franchise to kind of propel it through that next phase and that mythology into the next into the next era, whether we want it or not. You know, it doesn't feel forced. It's kind of just in that perfect little sweet spot. I think of this story. To build on what's there, but not make it seem too excessive. And yeah, I just think this is probably the one, if I wanted to be like, oh, let's watch something kind of creepy, this is the one I'm going to throw on hands down. Well, it's almost like Huston-Schulster took the criticisms of the first two movies to heart. And maybe coming in as outsiders allows them to do that.

1:11:30 Like where yeah these movies are great they make a lot of money but they're so slow and nothing happens throughout most of them because this one things just tend to kick off like very quickly and like there's a propulsive energy that goes throughout the movie you don't feel like you're watching 80 minutes of setup and then five minutes of like a payoff at the end of it like you're kind of like engaged throughout the movie and like you all have said like that oscillating fan scare is so good because it just makes you have to wait for a payoff and like when you see the bed sheet in the like upper left hand corner and then it comes back and it's gone and then you see it again it's just it's so patient and it does something that i wish more movies would do And that's like trust the audience and trust the audience to stay with the filmmaker.

1:12:24 And really like what it all boils down to is filmmakers would have more confidence in themselves and their ability to keep the audience engaged rather than say we have to spoon feed them everything. And we need to spoon feed them as quickly as possible before they realize they don't like the taste of what we're giving them. So I think this is the best of the bunch. I think we all had it ranked as number one, except for- Nothing real. Okay, that's right. I'll cut that part out because it's stupid me. Um, but I had this ranked my number one as well. I don't love that it introduces like the golden girls coven.

1:13:06 I'm pretty much on the record of saying that like when Dennis runs and opens a door and it's like three old ladies, I'm like, my friend, you're like a man and it's like twenties. You're in reasonably good shape. Worst case, you can juke around them, like do a little Heisman move and get around them. But who's to say, but it was doing something new. Like it was, yeah, it was doing the best of the previous two, but then like, but here's just a little something new. And I think that, you know, like it's, you know, hard looking back, but at the time, you know, like looking back and seeing it, like that felt cool at the time. Now we know where that goes. And it's like, okay, maybe that wasn't, maybe that's not the direction we should have gone, but whatever. The other thing, too, is it is one of the grimmest ends to a horror movie.

1:13:52 Partly because of like everything that happened before it. Because like throughout this movie, you've watched Dennis be just really sweet to these two girls. Be like a real like you said like daddy stepdad you know stepdaddy dennis for the wind he's like so caring and loving and looks out and only has their best interested at heart and like not only is he disposed of in this really vicious way but like christy just steps around him without a care like he's just discarded and they have no regard for him whatsoever and it feels so cruel like it's like not only a violent ending it's a cruel ending and I'm usually not a fan of that but it works here breaks backs and hearts at the same oh my goodness yeah it's yeah it's it's so fantastic and that was my most popular tweet of this of this rewatch through yeah everybody had a lot of love.

1:14:56 Yeah. Really one of the best. And it's a rarity. Like we don't get many final men in horror, right? Like it's not something. And I felt like he and Julie were like a real partnership. Like even when they disagreed with one another, they were like always respectful of one another. They always like had one another's back. like they didn't and they the conflict that came was like natural from the situation they didn't give like bullshit like conflict or it makes you question well why are you two even a couple at this point and if you want some real fun watch the deleted scene stuff where it's just dennis hiding and then like scaring julie at various points and then her attacking him like after he jumps out at her, like it's pretty adorable.

1:15:47 So yeah. Extended cut also has the, the, the bathroom scene with Randy is longer in that one. And it's like, it's, it's a lot scarier when you watch it on the extended version. Yeah. So that's it. Any final thoughts before we leave this series behind us? Probably for good. Cause as of right now, there's like zero scuttlebutt about any more paranormal activity movie so any final thoughts. Yeah i was i was thinking about that because yeah i when i saw that next to ken i was like oh it was released in 2000 uh 2021 i was like what because like 2021 was just like kind of a year where a lot of movies got lost in the shuffle because either people were just getting used to you know streaming releases and not going to theaters as much and whatnot.

1:16:39 So it's like, it's odd that, you know, it just like kind of flew under the radar. So, you know, I would, I would take a paranormal activity TV series. I think we mentioned in one of the episodes, I think that could be a fun continuation. If they did do another film, I don't know if I would either want them to just like kind of keep going with like Mexican doing like paranormal activity style movies, I guess, could be a thing but overall i think it's a pretty solid especially in the in the front half of it i think it does a great job of you know having its formula but then making the tweaks when necessary to to switch things up but still keep everything like in the spirit and you know expanding the lore i think they do it in very fun ways uh between especially between three and marked ones so yeah you know it's a fun series my list didn't really change much from like where i originally had everything rank except two did move up a spot to into the top three that was like the only change but besides that my list is pretty much the same as it was before very good.

1:17:47 This is a pretty iconic franchise for this time period, you know, like that late 2000s or 2010s. I think you cut out there, Rachel. Oh, sorry. It's just an iconic franchise for this kind of period of the 2000s. And I think it will continue to be. I'm curious to kind of see how it ages over time. But I do think that this will continue to be a popular franchise, especially for, you know, folks our age and a certain age bracket. Curious how younger folks would take to some of these films. I don't think we've seen the last of it. I have just absolute faith that we will see another paranormal activity story at some point.

1:18:31 But I do think it's due for a break. Yeah, I think if the last couple of films have taught us anything, it's like just needs to be thought about a little bit more. What are we doing with this? What is this going to be? Let's think about it a little bit more and not feel just rushed to maximize box office and that kind of stuff, because that moment has passed. Past the franchise has run that box office course and so and i think in some ways that's not a bad thing because then hopefully if they do come back to it um they'll do so do so a little bit more thoughtfully and not feel obligated to but we'll see about that um yeah i i i like this franchise overall and think it has some interesting some interesting peaks and some less interesting I mean.

1:19:18 Letting it breathe seems like such a good idea. I thought people would never be interested in Child's Play again, but letting that one rest a little bit and then doing the show Chucky and kind of reinventing itself a bit. But also, you know, really having one continuity that's run since like 1988, when you think about it in, but still remaining fresh is pretty amazing. And looking at like saw 10 and maybe being gone just long enough to tap into nostalgia for that time period. Like it was gone just long enough where people could miss it. Or maybe like jigsaw was not it.

1:20:02 It ended up being like a huge success for it. So maybe like letting this one rest a little bit. I think the only thing that works against this series compared to maybe some of the others is it doesn't have that iconography that other series have, where you can easily like final destination suffers from that a little bit too. It doesn't have something you can easily point to and say like, this is the visual image that like roots me to it or the character that roots me to it. Kind of anchors me to this series. So it'll be interesting to see what they try to do if they try to do something next. I think that gives it a lot more potential though too because I think that like that opens the door to kind of reestablishing what this is and something like next of kin, not saying they have to do it that way, but just exploring the idea of paranormal activity in a different way.

1:20:56 And the way technology has evolved, it's like there's avenues yet to be explored. Lord, it's just kind of like the Internet. I mean, social media, like there's so much so many things that they could do that would still make sense with the found footage angle and tell a story that would fit within this kind of this umbrella of what paranormal activity is just kind of like what what is that avenue going to be and how hard do they want to commit to it? I'm not saying that this will be good or that I want it, but my prediction is a remake of the first one. Yeah, but don't you think that that is so possible? of all i mean i very likely if blumhouse has another stumble because they're not exactly doing too hot with their original ips that they're putting out recently so like if they're desperate enough yeah i could totally see that happening i mean five nights at freddy's made a gazillion dollars the exorcist believer that was a blumhouse that was a blumhouse Oh, then they're okay then.

1:22:24 But they're also not anything that I'd be interested in either. But I hear what you're saying. Like, I don't think they're hitting it out of the park like they used to. Like, where I used to get excited when they would release a movie. Like, the new Sinister is coming out, or Insidious is coming out, and now it's kind of like, it feels more like it's meant for, like, kids than it is for, like, you know, hardcore horror fans. That's all right. If that's what they're pivoting to, then there's, like, Neon and A24 and other stuff that's out there. Yeah. So, to get comfortable recording ourselves 24 hours a day, and if we didn't film it, it didn't happen.

1:23:29 It was a few years ahead of the curb when that occurred. I think you're right, Rachel. It's probably not completely dead. Everything gets remade eventually. Ari, you might be right, especially with that deal they have with Lionsgate, where Blumhouse is just going to remake a bunch of old properties as it is right now. That might be what it is, a straight-up remake. It would be interesting to watch a remake and see how they recontextualize that relationship in modern times knowing that it's like yeah this is completely toxic if they would be more apparent right out of the gate and play it like that so. All right. Well, we're going to put this one to bed for now.

1:24:11 But before we go, let's plug some stuff. So, Devon, what are you mentioning earlier? Spectre Cinema Club? What are y'all running with this month? You're doing your own found footage thing over there recently, right? We did horror anthologies, which we wrapped up with a mega episode of doing a tier list of all the individual segments of the VHS movies. I can't remember how many there are, but we're doing that with Donato, so that is how I got a little bit ahead of the curve for the VHS movies. But yeah, so we are wrapping that up. And then for May, which is my birthday month, we'll be doing movies from 1994 as I celebrate my Dirty 30.

1:24:58 So that's gonna be a fun month as well. So you can find me at underscore daddy disco across all social media stuff and letterboxd and everything else. And you can hear Spectre Cinema Club every Tuesday with me and my boy Garrett McDowell. You can find us at Spectre Cinema on socials. Excellent. Rachel, what do you have coming up with Halloweenies and The Losers Club and elsewhere? Swear sure yeah so on halloweenies we just dropped our first episode of alien resurrection and then there'll be another one and then we're moving on to you know the greatest films of the alien franchise alien versus predator versus predator requiem actually very excited to talk about those because i love a good mashup so it's some fun and interesting territory to explore And then over on Losers Club, we are also in a series over there. We're in the Mr.

1:25:55 Mercedes series, and we just recorded an episode about that book that I'm on and cannot wait to talk all about Hodges, Detective Hodges, the retired Detective Hodges and his escapades with Holly Gibney. Yeah, and then on the girls and the boys, Jen and I wrapped up season three of the boys. So now we're just venturing out into the unknown where we're going to talk about Gen V and then while we wait for season four to drop in June. So very excited to see what's in store over there. Excellent. And how about yourself, Arielle? What do you have going on? Well, I will be listening to those Mr. Mercedes episodes.

1:26:36 I'm excited for that. I've been waiting for you guys to get to those. Yeah, you can find me on all the socials at Ari underscore Hellraiser. And if you want to, you can pre-order my book about 2000s horror. It's called Millennial Nasties. If you go to my socials, it's pretty much all I post about now. So you can find it there. Excellent. Listeners, once again, thank you for the past five years. We really appreciate all sincerity. We really appreciate everybody who's ever listened to and supported our little show here. Make sure that you rate, review, and subscribe to us everywhere that you're getting your podcasts. Make sure you check out our website, podonthedilum.com. Follow us on Instagram at podonthependulum, over on Twitter at podandpend.

1:27:23 You can follow over on Letterboxd at MikeChumpChange. And we'll be back with another franchise in a couple weeks. We're going to take a dive into Blade, a little action horror, a little superheroics, heroics and a mix of horror where we talk with like the day walker himself and some of Devon's favorite movies so kind of super interested to get into that uh it may take a week off or we might just drop like a little bonus style episode next week um see how we feel next weekend about recording but until then thank you so much for listening and uh you know just thank you. Music.