It’s been some time since Hollywood found some new and disturbing footage about some incomprehensible sighting, but it’s back! After seven years, there’s finally a new Paranormal Activity movie and it’s called Next of Kin. The movie, available exclusively on streaming, is written by Paranormal Activity regular Christopher Landon (who also made Happy Death Day and Freaky) and directed by William Eubanks, following his 2020 sci-fi horror film Underwater. Now that the movie is out, let’s talk through the tense Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin ending.
Spoilers about Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin ahead!
First off, Paranormal Activity: Next Of Kin does not connect with the other six films in the franchise that started in 2007. It’s a separate chapter to the franchise that not only feels different to the other movies in the horror movie series, but may set up a new chapter to it all together. Here’s how it all went down.
What Happens At The End Of Paranormal Activity: Next Of Kin
Next Of Kin follows Emily Bader’s Margot, who brings a couple of her friends with her to film a documentary centering on her learning of her biological family, who happen to live in Amish country. Margot, Chris and Dale are welcomed to stay at the Beiler family farm for a few days as they film interviews and Margot pokes around to learn about her real mother, who was named Sarah.
As Margot and her crew discover one night, the Beiler family sacrifices their livestock (one of which appears as a two-headed baby goat) and then brings it to a place that is fronted as a church, but is really the house of some twisted satanic rituals and a lengthy and dark pit is hidden under an altar. The pit is home to some sort of demon entity that the family seem to offer up sacrifices. On the floors of the “church” they find murals that reference someone called Asmodeus.
One night, Margot becomes either possessed or attacked by something in her room and is later brought to the depths of a pit where a ritual is performed on her. Chris finds Margot in the pit and rescues her from it midway through it. They escape the pit, but the demon escapes and begins to hunt them. The demon kills Dale and goes after the remaining two visitors. At a final stand off, Margot calls the demon by her mother’s name “Sarah” before stabbing it and watching it take a large fall back at the farm.
Then in haste, Margot and Chris trudge back through the snow to get their car keys, which were on the dead body of Dale and head to a garage. On their way, they see the members of the family seem to be all possessed and crazed and harming one another. As they drive away, they attack them from all sides of the vehicle as they make their escape. Margot lets out a horrifying scream as they appear to drive away. Later that night, the perspective is changed to a pair of police officers' cams who reach the now empty farm. They are both somehow forced to kill and shoot themselves as one of the members of the farm (Samuel) stands in front of them, also possessed. Samuel gets into the police car and drives off before the credits roll.
Who Was Margot’s Mother And What Happened To Her?
Taking a few steps back here, we learn that Margot’s mother was named Sarah and was cast out of the community when she became pregnant with Margot after defying their practices and having sex with an outsider of the farm. Early on in the film when Margot speaks to a young girl holding a doll, she calls it Sarah as well and says that she is still here but doesn’t like Margot very much. We also learn later on that when Sarah became pregnant she was asked to give up the child and it was taken to another family outside of town because her actions leading to the birth of Margot were classified as sinful.
It appears that much of what happened to Sarah was disturbing and against her will. Her ghost appears to live in the upstairs bedroom. In regards to the moment before Margot stabs it, the demon seems to pause, leading me to believe Sarah was also the pit demon all along! When Chris and Dale research the Beiler Farm, they learn that it's a community of demon worshippers pretending to be Amish. The village they’ve lived in for hundreds of years is apparently the site of a massacre done by the hand of Asmodeus, who in demonology is described as the “prince of demons.” It seems as though Sarah’s body was used to house Asmodeus’ body and their next plan of action was to transfer it to Margot during the pit ritual. Hence the title “next of kin.”
What Happens To Margot And Chris?
When Margot gets attacked by a presence in the third act of the movie before being taken to the pit, the leader of the town, Jacob, rants that a woman’s body can hold something that other bodies cannot – meaning they were going to transfer Asmodeus to her next. Though, I’m not completely convinced Margot left the Amish village unscathed of perhaps being possessed by a demonic force, or having some remnants of the evil force within her. As Chris took her away from the pit while the ritual was in progress, the women performing the ritual looked concerned, saying he didn’t know what he was doing.
Asmodeus’ host body died off thanks to Margot, so it’s possible it could have still been transferred to her, even in part. Or since Samuel was seen at the farm at the end of the movie, it’s possible Asmodeus possessed him and then took the police car to find Margot and finish off the possession with a body that the demon can house long term.
How Next Of Kin May Reboot The Franchise
Considering the loose ends at the end of Next Of Kin, it’s possible that the movie could reboot the series into a new Paranormal Activity saga that pulls from the thread that this movie begins on. By the end of this movie, it’s possible that Margot will continue to be hunted by Asmodeus and as the demon becomes desperate to continue to live on Earth, could haunt more people outside of the Amish village it was once contained to.
It could also take the form of an anthology where the fallout of Next Of Kin becomes explored through other perspectives and time periods. A demon being let loose into the world could host a number of stories in this style that Paranormal Activity has yet to go. We’ll see! For now, check out what other upcoming horror movies are coming our way next!
