Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin (2021)

Disclaimer: Next of Kin review originally posted November 6, 2021 and was updated June 25, 2025.

The most recent Paranormal Activity installment released October 29, 2021, titled Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin, sticking with the format of the other recent franchise releases that opted for stand-alone names and stories. Directed by William Eubank (Underwater 2020) and written by Christopher Landon (several other of the Paranormal Activity) it is just a good horror movie flat out. Coming in at one hour and thirty-eight minutes Next of Kin gives quite a lot of good substance to break down like what elements are used to build the horror, the departure from a franchise staple, and the plot itself which is not reliant on the original plots. To watch the movie now it can be digitally rented or purchased by clicking here.

The story basics: a woman, Margot, played by Emily Bader, was abandoned by her mother at birth, and she finds out who her biological relatives are through a 23andme DNA test and is traveling to visit a cousin she's met through this website who is Amish. She rallies and hires a film maker, Chris, played by Roland Buck III, and a sound guy, Dale, played by Dan Lippert, to travel to her bio-family's Amish community and create a documentary about her meeting her family. For no apparent reason other than kindness Margot has been granted permission to film the family on their farm and interview them about her mother and themselves.

Next of Kin 2021 spoilers past here

Right off the bat I did not like the main character Margot. Though Margot is understandably excited about finding out about her origins and this way of life, she comes across extremely entitled and downright disrespectful towards her hosts. When we go into this movie as far as the characters are concerned there is not a single reason to assume these people are ill-intentioned or that they are doing anything bad, just living Amish and following that way of life. Knowing this, they still act like they are shocked about their way of life and almost mocking at times like they are at a zoo exhibit rather than guests in a home. Margot in particular doesn't respect boundaries and typically directs the conversation to her mother even when speaking to teenagers and literal children who have never met her mother despite being asked not to.

Margot proceeds to break every single rule that they have laid out for her visit upon her arrival. As a guest in these people’s homes she goes into a locked attic to investigate, finding things from her mother and even being shaken by a jump scare. The jump scare is implied to be the ghost of her mother or some other family member in the reflection of a window like a warning. As a viewer I know that they are probably up to no good or have bad intentions but from Margot’s perspective she’s continually crossing boundaries towards people she claims to want to get to know and continually judges not only her mother but them for things she didn’t even take the time to research before showing up. The crew even goes as far to attempt to break into a church that is not only locked but barred shut. Once caught, the head of the house, Jacob, played by Tom Nowicki, explains that the church is sacred ground and that entering or filming is not allowed and you would think that would be enough to deter the group but alas they seem determined to get into some bullshit no matter what harbingers come.

Fast forward and they start to see some seriously spooky stuff that is granted scary but also it's hard to feel bad for them because if they had minded their own business they might've been fine. The one character to rally behind, Dale, who has been the most respectful and even had an Amish makeover, ends up looking like the Little Lad. Black but not-acting-Black-currently Chris (there’s very few Black people who would’ve been down with even half the shenanigans that Chris was not even bothered by) and dumbass-self-centered Margot decide to break into the church regardless of warnings. They come across cultish drawings, blood from apparent sacrifice and an altar. Not only do they move the altar to reveal a hole into hell but they decide to drop down said hole to investigate. In the hole to hell there are crosses everywhere and what looks like protection wards which Margot stupidly touches. Down at the bottom of the hole there is what appears to be a room of some sort where terrifying noises are traveling from. This of course finally scares Margot.

Margot and Chris show Dale the footage back at their room in the house and examine whether it’s evidence of some sinister happenings going on there. This leads to more investigation which reveals that Jacob has a locked closet where there is a laptop, a router, and other electronics that Amish typically do not own or use at their homes. Margot finds out that they had been searching for her and upon finding her had begun stalking her...over a year prior. It had always been a plan of theirs for Sam, the cousin who she found with 23andme at the beginning of the film, to lure her back to the farm.

So of course now this woman finally wants to go home. Chris decides that they should stay for another night, which is obviously a terrible idea. During that very night something comes and attacks Margot in her room, leaving her with what Amish doctors claim is an unusual and intense period. Chris and Little Lad don’t buy it and finally take some action. Unfortunately the action is more of a quest of steps it's something: they decide to walk into town to try to get a battery for their broken down van, then come back and fix the van and then run away screaming. Luckily, they manage to run into a mailman in the middle of nowhere who gives them a ride.

On this ride we learn that Margot’s family, the Bailers, aren’t even Amish. At the store while the worker is getting the right battery they use his computer to look up “Asmodeus”, a word that they’d come across while breaking into the Bailer’s belongings. Lo and behold Asmodeus is the demonic prince of lust, suffering, and wrath, so definitely not good. They learn that Asmodeus infected, or attacked, some Norwegian village and they turned against one another and bad stuff started happening. They turned to “the White Witch” who made it so the demon would pass from daughter to daughter in a particular family line in order to contain it or it would be unleashed. Little Lad, the sensible king that he is, puts two and two together and identifies that they believe Margot is the daughter with which this demon needs to be passed to. Chris tries to point out that this stuff can’t possibly be real and in one of my favorite rationalizations in a horror movie to date Little Lad explains that regardless of it being real or not the Bailers believe it is real so Margot is obviously still in mad danger-facts.

They both make it back to the farm to find Margot missing and a possessed Sam being funky in the hallway and he explains to them that if they stay inside until the bell stops ringing they’ll be solid. So of course what do they not do? Stay inside the damn house until the bell stops. Fast forward a but and obviously after some tension, drama, and Jacob falling down the hole to hell we end up back at the bottom of the hole where a woman we can assume is the White Witch is performing a ritual on Margot that Chris interrupts. The White Witch gets really stressed that the salt protection barrier has been disturbed, which any horror fan knows is not great. We then get to see the demon creature, which manages to live up to all of the horrifying expectations set.

Suprisingly they manage to get out of the hole to hell and a battle ensues. We lose Dale as they run to the barn (RIP Little Lad) and after some tense moments Margot confronts the creature demon who she addresses as Sarah and mom. Next is an interesting and really important franchise moment; for the first time I know of we leave found-footage and go to regular footage. It makes sense in this scene and I think makes it possible for the story to continue because we don’t need to worry about a camera falling and catching drama and then it not making sense for a camera to still be in use by the creature. In this real footage ending Margot defeats the creature by throwing it down the same bale hole that she almost fell down in the beginning of the movie in the family's barn, fulfilling that foreshadow.

At this point we need a reason to stick around to see the terror unfold so Margot and Chris go to find the keys to the van on Little Lad’s body. Things have gone crazy while they fought off the creature and the whole community is attacking one another, someone with their eyes gouged out running past, multiple fires, and other signs of chaos. Surprisingly Chris and Margot make it out of there in the van after some jump scares and things cut away from them, presumably both making it out alive.

Wrong-we cut to cop car dash cam footage at the farm. The sounds of a crying baby lures the officer into the barn only to find that Sam is the one making the baby crying noises and when he turns around he makes a look at the cop that possesses the cop to shoot himself in the head. Sam gets in the car after possessing another officer to do the same and he just drives off the farm. So clearly the demon prince has jumped into Sam and is now unleashed on the world, thanks Chris for freeing Margot which led to Sam being possessed and then free.

In the end the whole state if not the country and world is could have a demon unleashed on it because some dude went down into a hole to save a really entitled and annoying woman from having a demon passed into her with no contingency plan for the demon. While Next of Kin is a departure from the other Paranormal Activity movies it exceeds expectations with an interesting story and good found footage is to be expected going in. While it is frustrating to watch the characters break every horror rule I am interested in the aftermath of the Sam-escaped demon creature and if he goes after Margot and Chris.