[Editorial] Katie in Paranormal Activity (2009), Paranormal Activity 2 (2010) and Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)

Although the horror genre is not renowned for giving its characters the happiest of arcs, Katie from the Paranormal Activity series is one of the more thoroughly doomed. Over the course of the first three films, not only do we see her battle against and eventually be taken over by a demonic entity, but she also learns that it has been inflicted upon her own family.

The original Paranormal Activity takes place in the house shared by Katie and boyfriend Micah, as they document the strange occurrences that have been recently disturbing them. Most of the action is captured by a static camera that Micah has set up in their room to record them at night, and it is through this footage that we, and the characters, see the poltergeist-like happenings escalate as time goes on. 

As the presence in the house starts to feel more threatening, Katie recalls worrying incidents from her childhood, when she and sister Kristi experienced similar phenomena. Growing more concerned, Katie brings in a paranormal expert and researches possible causes while Micah continues to treat the occurrences as a diverting curiosity, and capturing them on camera, as a sort of game. 

Taken metaphorically, the film can be viewed as a portrait of a toxic relationship. Katie acknowledges and wants to address the demons from her past, and tries to seek professional help - the paranormal expert acting as a therapist figure. Micah, however, blocks these attempts at every turn - dismissing and minimising Katie’s legitimate worries. He actively undermines her by bringing in a Ouija board (against both expert advice and Katie’s own pleas), and pettily and pedantically justifying his actions when confronted. While the source of the problems is revealed to be connected to Katie, Micah is the one who sabotages any chance she has of conquering her demons, showing himself to be instrumental in the end of their relationship, and in the literal events of the film, his own demise.

Paranormal Activity 2 focuses on Katie’s sister Kristi and her family, in the weeks just preceding the events of the first film. After a mysterious break-in, Kristi’s husband Daniel installs a home surveillance system, which records objects moving on their own and doors opening and closing independently. Kristi’s infant son Hunter and the family dog Abby seem to be aware of an invisible presence in the house, and while Daniel remains sceptical, his teenage daughter Ali is convinced that they are being haunted. 

At a family pool party, Daniel mentions the supposed haunting to Micah, and the two of them tease the sisters about their past experiences, talking about them “doing seances”. Katie is clearly uncomfortable, saying that she doesn’t want to talk about it, and insisting to the laughing men that “it’s really not that funny.” Although the topic obviously hits a nerve, Katie tries to shrug it off, saying it’s “no big deal”, and changing the subject. When Kristi shares her own worries with her sister, Katie is adamant that she should ignore it. She shuts Kristi down, pointing out that while Kristi remembers almost nothing, she has had to bear the burden of recalling their childhood trauma, and demanding that Kristi join her in not reawakening these memories, saying “You need to leave this alone. Do you understand?” What actually happened to Kristi and Katie as children is explored in Paranormal Activity 3, which takes place in 1988 and reveals that their grandmother Lois was involved in a Satanic cult, which led to a demon being attached to the family.   

Katie tries the best she can to protect her sister, by shielding her from these painful memories. But this tactic is doomed to failure, as the demon has already become a very real presence, and Kristi becomes fully possessed. In order to save Kristi, Daniel makes the decision to pass the curse on to Katie, her only available blood relative. After a ritual burning of Katie’s photograph, Kristi recovers, and towards the end Katie is seen discussing with her the strange goings-on in her own house - what viewers know to be the start of the events of the first film. Katie is then forced to confront the demonic entity, but eventually succumbs to it herself. In the final scenes of Paranormal Activity 2, we see that the attempt to pass on the curse has been futile after all - the family trauma in the shape of a possessed, blood-soaked Katie appears at her sister’s house, killing Kristi and Daniel and abducting Hunter. 

The Paranormal Activity films are often somewhat dismissed as cheap jump-scare vehicles with little depth, hitched to the cost-effective found footage bandwagon. But in the character of Katie, there is a real and fully fleshed-out protagonist, doing her very best to deal with family crises, toxic partnerships and the ghosts of her own past coming back to haunt her. 

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