Paranormal Activity 6: The Ghost Dimension finally revealed the demon that plagued countless characters throughout the series, but how did the movie end and did the outing set up the upcoming Paranormal Activity 7? Released in 2007, found footage sensation Paranormal Activity was a huge hit upon arrival in cinemas. Praised by industry figures like Steven Spielberg, the horror movie saw a pair of suburbanites haunted by an unseen force over a few long nights.
The original Paranormal Activity was massively successful thanks to its slow-burn thrills, which paired long stretches of empty silence with sudden jump scares that shocked even the most hardened horror viewers. Unfortunately, as the franchise wore on, this technique became somewhat overfamiliar and the movies lost a lot of their novelty value thanks to a slew of rip-offs. Later sequels started to incorporate more complex lore but, despite gradually worsening critical write-ups, the Paranormal Activity franchise made the admirable decision to stay lo-fi through to its final movie.
Of course, the massive profit margins may have had something to do with the movies eschewing CGI in favor of smaller-scale (and therefore cheaper) shocks. However, by 2015, the series was coming to a close thanks to diminishing returns, and the last entry of the franchise finally unveiled the demon that remained unseen throughout previous installments. Thanks to the success of its emerging replacement The Conjuring franchise, the film's needed to finally depict its central evil onscreen and so 2015’s Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension featured a memorable CGI demon along with some trippy, Poltergeist-inspired dimension-hopping visuals. This late foray into fantasy horror did not sit well with some viewers, but the movie at least offered a (somewhat muddled) explanation for the demon’s origin and motives. So, with the seventh Paranormal Activity already filmed, can the franchise pick up where it left off in the next outing?
Paranormal Activity's Demon Toby Explained
Introduced as early as the original Paranormal Activity but not seen clearly until The Ghost Dimension, Toby is the demon central to the events of the entire series. Named by Paranormal Activity’s Katie, Toby is not the entity’s real name but rather what the children who interact with the being call it (not unlike The Shining’s Tony). Every movie demon is different, and the specific modus operandi employed by Toby is unclear for almost the entirety of the franchise. However, during the final movie’s events, his plan becomes clear; Toby was promised a human body by a coven of witches in the 1930s, and ever since he has haunted the house they inhabited while the descendants of the coven produced only female offspring for generations.
These descendants included Paranormal Activity’s Katy and Paranormal Activity 3’s Kristi, both of whom were approached by Toby. The demon acted as an initially pleasant imaginary friend (albeit one with a bad habit of setting up jump scares), before finally unveiling the extent of his powers late in each outing. Many characters across the series, including Katie in the original Paranormal Activity’s infamous ending, fall victim to demonic possession when Toby temporarily takes control of their bodies. However, the entity can’t keep them under his spell for long. In the absence of a male host, the demon needs a drop of blood from an innocent child to gain human form—which is where the events of Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension come into play.
How Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension Ended
Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension introduces a new family (father Ryan, mother Emily, uncle Mike and friend Skylar) to proceedings. The brood is disturbed by their young daughter Leila’s friendship with an imaginary friend whose name is worryingly familiar for Paranormal Activity fans. Once Leila strikes up a conversation with Toby, it is only a matter of time before her parents are doomed to die, but credit where it is due, Leila’s parents do call in an exorcist, facilitating a late-stage genre switch into religious horror during the finale of The Ghost Dimension. The attempts to exorcise Toby from their home seem to work, but moments later Skylar kills Mike and soon dies herself, and Leila’s dad dies shortly after as he is skewered by a demon arm. Leila hides in her room, where a portal she drew for Toby to pass through allows her and Emily to enter the eponymous Ghost Dimension.
Once the pair pass through the tunnel, it becomes clear the Ghost Dimension is the same house circa 1992, where a young Katie greets the duo. Under the demon’s spell, Leila offers her blood and successfully summons Toby. Emily pleads with the now-human demon to let her child go and gets her neck broken for her troubles, leading to the creepy final shot of the movie. As the horror movie’s credits roll, Leila and Toby (seen only from the knees down) walk off hand in hand. The demon’s lengthy plan has been an unqualified success (albeit one that took numerous movies to set up and pull off).
How The Ghost Dimension Might Set Up Paranormal Activity 7
According to series producer Jason Blum, the next Paranormal Activity sequel is already shot. This has led fans to wonder how this outing will follow on from the last movie, whose ending leaves a lot of avenues open for the franchise. With Toby human and alive in 1992, it stands to reason his success undoes the events of the original Paranormal Activity movies, retconning the entire series. Toby won’t be home to haunt the house as a demon now he has a human body, meaning none of the earlier movies will happen in the timeline established by the movie’s ending.
Horror movie sequels have always been tricky business, as bringing back defeated villains can smack of desperation, but establishing a new antagonist often leaves viewers wanting more from their old favorite. However, Paranormal Activity 7 will have a uniquely helpful starting point thanks to the ending of Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension. Since the sixth movie undid the events of nearly every earlier outing, it can begin anew without having to explain its new timeline, meaning different versions of established characters can crop up or new threats can be established without fans being lost in confounding canon.