Warning: Spoilers for Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin ahead…
Next of Kin seems to be getting thrashed equally between critics and audiences. Personally, I felt like while the first two acts were uneven and a bit slow, the final act unleashed one of the most thought provoking and bat shit sequences of the entire series.
Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin could be getting the Wrong Turn treatment by fans who expected another entry in the original Paranormal Activity storyline. It could also be due simply to a strange lack of marketing by Paramount and Blumhouse.
There was very little fanfare or marketing leading up to this installment in the popular franchise. Which leads me to wonder if we’ll get a sequel at all. But if we do?
Let’s talk about where the franchise could go after that ending…
THAT ENDING
At the end of Next of Kin we learn the demon Asmodeus was being kept inside of Sarah (Margot’s Mom), whose body was the only thing keeping the demon from wreaking havoc on the village. Legend has it the demon, if released, would take control of everyone in the village and cause them to inflict violence on each other until they were all dead. It seems as though Sarah was becoming weak and the demon was beginning to fully take over her body. Enter Margot, the planned next vessel for the demon.
The way I saw it, the scary boob monster we encounter in the cave is aesthetically a mix between the now weakened Sarah and Asmodeus. He’s almost taken complete control of her. When Margot gives her the hook of death and she gets all gooey on the machinery, Asmodeus is fully released. Which is why you immediately start to hear the townsfolk screaming in agony as they murder each other like a bunch of trust fund babies at a Fyrefest festival (had it gone on for seven to twelve more minutes).
What a scene that was! Margot and Chris head back to the van. On their way, in an almost found footage tracking shot (if that’s a thing), they encounter a man with no eyeballs laughing, a man on fire pretending to be a scarecrow, and overall general mayhem. Lucky for them, they’ve clearly been to a Black Friday event at Walmart and are capable of maneuvering their way out.They finally get the van started and out of goddamn nowhere like Sting from the rafters, a guy with a shotgun was waiting on the other side of the barn. They somehow escape all this, Margot does her best Texas Chainsaw Massacre scream impression, and we’re on the road again.
Meanwhile, in a great series of cinematic shots a cop car pulls into the farm. Something about the first person bodycam and the falling snow mixing with the red and blue lights was just impressive as hell. The cop goes into the barn and encounters the new Asmodeus…..it’s Samuel! The weird cousin! Shirtless and in full on naked Terminator pose (though he has thankfully chosen to keep his pants on), making creepy ass baby noises. He’s been born into the word and we’re all in deep shit.
Samodeus reveals himself to the police officer and with a single look, the officer (while we’re still in first person view) takes the gun and shoots himself in the head. It’s disconcerting. Another officer is treated to the same demise with a simple look from Samodeus before he gets in the police car and calmly drives off. Not before changing the radio station to some Loretta Lynn. Which was a strange but neat touch.
What does this all mean? Well, I think it means that we’re all gonna die. But first, I wonder if he’s just escaping to find the next town, village, city to destroy? Or is he specifically inclined to follow Margot and Chris so that he may kill her and therefore destroy the only thing that could suppress his powers? Now that he’s been born into the world again, is she even able to get him back in there? You wouldn’t think so but hasn’t all of this happened before?
Imagine if Margot and Chris get to safety and read about the police officers that perished. Margot could realize that the Wild N’ Crazy Cult of Demonology was right all along. She realizes she’s the only one who can end this. But first, she has to figure out how all this shit works right? And the whole village and anyone who knows how to stop him is likely dead.
FOLLOW UP POSSIBILITIES
The way I see it we essentially we have five options for a follow up in this storyline:
1- Asmodeus goes on a Terminator style hunt down of Margot and Chris. Either because there is a way for her to suppress him or because he’s just pissed off that they got away.
2– Margot feels responsible and goes on a hunt to find out how to destroy Asmodeus while he’s out murdering from town to town but first has to find a cult member who’s still alive to help.
3- We move on to a completely different set of people who Asmodeus wonders upon as they try to survive him. You could get crafty with this and have him inflict his will upon another esoteric special interest group to keep the story contained. You could even tie this into idea number two and have her show up at the end.
4- We go completely wild and turn Next of Kin 2 into an all out found footage disaster film with Asmodeus wreaking havoc on the entire world. Think Chronicle; the footage is all filmed through news cameras and cell phone feeds of him causing us full on carnage and mayhem as we collectively as the human race try and stop him. Imagine the wild ending of Next of Kin taking place in a highly populated city?
Alas, number five with a bullet. I know many of you who aren’t a fan of these deep franchise sequels will enjoy this. Hell, many of you will have already commented it below before you even get to this point in the article. The last option for the Paranormal Activity franchise is for them to do absolutely nothing. They could completely leave the franchise alone and not make a sequel at all. It actually works from a story aspect and feels like the ending of the original Halloween (or at least Carpenter’s intended ending). The monster survived and he’s out there amongst us. The end.
What would you all like to see done with the franchise at this point?
