6 Memorable Scares From Paranormal Activity [Series]

By: Keith Mitchell w/Chestpoundfilms

Seeing how Halloween is only a few short weeks away, we’ve decided to focus on horror films for our next few entries. So what better way than to start off with one of the more recent series that brought back the found footage genre since the days of The Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity.

This series has managed to rack in a large sum of money with a very small budget (at least in the beginning) using the imaginative usage of environment, and the sense of realism through found footage.

So this week, we decided to take a look at the most memorable moments from Paranormal Activity. Now to cover all of the series, we’ve chosen one moment per film – it was difficult because there were some films that deserved several memorable moments, and some that deserved almost none.

So after a marathon of every film, and the accompanying hours of paranoia following, here it is: 6 Memorable Scares from Paranormal Activity [Series].

Please be advised SPOILERS ahead.

1. Paranormal Activity - Wake Up Call

This scene was the first time the demon haunting Katie, made any real physical contact against her. Up until this point, the demon was purely out for scares. Which was chilling, yes – but it was time to turn things up a notch.

After Micah made contact with the demon through an ouija board, and Dr. Fredrichs visited the house – the demon, Toby, was angry and ready to show the couple just what it was capable of.

The reason it’s so chilling is because the stakes are heightened. The demon is making it known that there literally is a physical threat. The scene is fairly simple, but so realistic and convincing that this was definitely one of the most memorable moments in Paranormal Activity.

2. Paranormal Activity 2 - Dragged to the Basement

Similar to the scene in the first Paranormal (before being dragged and pushed around wore off.), we watch as Kristi is literally dragged to the basement by this unforeseen demon, Toby. What makes this scene so memorable is the way she puts up a fight against it, grabbing onto the railings, breaking free momentarily. It really is a struggle that ultimately ends, with Kristi being pulled to the basement. The fact that we can’t see what happens after that leaves a chilling feeling.

3. Paranormal Activity 3 - Rotating Fan

There’s a principal at work here, the concept of anticipation. Up until this point, most of the scares came from either a handheld camera, or a stationary camera. When a camera was rigged to the body of a fan, it allowed two rooms to be monitored at the same time. It was simple; the fan would pan between each room while recording.

This sense of repetition created suspense because as the viewers, we could feel something about to happen with every rotation, we just didn’t know when. The scare occurred when the fan rotated back to the kitchen, where the babysitter was sitting completely oblivious to what was behind her.

4. Paranormal Activity 4 - Carbon Monoxide

It was difficult settling on a stand out memorable scene with this film. Most of the movie was pretty bland up until the end. So in this scene we find Alex, trapped in the garage as she’s searching for a way out while suffocating from carbon monoxide. Meanwhile, Katie is upstairs attempting to lure Hunter away.

What makes this scene so memorable was that since the chandelier scene of this movie, there really hadn’t been much of anything we hadn’t already seen before. But during that time, there was plenty of time to get attached to Alex’s character and you didn’t want to see her die. Especially, since that’s how most of these films end anyways.

The moment when Alex escapes the garage was a huge moment of triumph for her character. Unfortunately, her parents still not believing her after something like this, wasn’t.

5. Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones - Have you seen a little dog?

This scene comes from the spinoff of the PA series, called Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones. In this scene after a series of bizarre incidents including the murder of Ana, a resident, in her own apartment, two people who are trying to have sex in that now abandoned apartment, and a dog getting lost in the same apartment...

We get our scene above, where Chavo (a dog) is heard whining inside the secret basement of Ana’s apartment. Jesse (the owner) goes down into the basement to find his dog. Instead, he finds the startling figures of Kristi and Katie as little demon children. As he tries to flee, the trap door closes on him, leaving us in total darkness and Jesse trapped with the demon girls.

This scene was memorable as a pure adrenaline rush — it was one of those scenes where you want to say, “Sorry Jesse, you’re screwed, but would you mind just turning off the camera so we don’t have to witness it.”

6. Paranormal Activity Tokyo Night - Haruka Walks

Ah, Tokyo Night, a personal favorite. This movie was J-Horror’s answer to Paranormal Activity and the found footage genre, with an unofficial sequel called Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night.

The film follows Haruka Yamano, after an accident (involving Katie) during a trip to San Diego, California that breaks both of her legs. This forces her to be bound by a wheel chair while her brother takes care of her back in Tokyo, Japan. It doesn’t take long before Haruka realizes that something else came back with her from that trip.

The most memorable moment from this film was the ending. But since we want to single it down to one particular scene, it would be Haruka walking. Similar to the scenes in other Paranormal Activities, the demon has shown that it can possess people. What’s so chilling about this scene is the way Haruka walks. This is the first time we see her stand on her own two feet. Since her legs are broken, she is being manipulated like a marionette doll to creep in on her brother, before the climatic ending that follows.

There you have it, the most memorable scenes from the Paranormal Activity Series.

Disagree? Feel free to comment with what you felt were the most terrifying moments in this series.