Directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman answer the conclusion's lingering questions. By Kevin P. Sullivan
"Paranormal Activity 4" Photo: Paramount Pictures
"Paranormal Activity 4" might look and sound like any other film in the series, but when the screen went to black after the chilling finale, this time, we were left with a lot more questions than usual.
Spoilers ahead!
To recap, after Robbie and Wyatt (a.k.a. Hunter, the kidnapped child from "Paranormal 2") make their way across the street, Alex follows, sees demon Katie and falls out a window into a backyard full of witches.
But there's still so much we don't know about what happened and how it happened, so MTV News turned to the directors, Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, for the answers.
If Wyatt is Hunter, who the hell is Robbie?
That's right. We got tricked. While all of the trailers and the first half of the movie led us to believe that Robbie was an older version of the kidnapped Hunter, it was actually Alex's brother, Wyatt. So then, what's up with Robbie?
"I think if you watch the film again, what Robbie's doing will become a little clearer," Joost said. "We have a very specific idea of what he is and how he fits into the larger picture, but we really felt like in 'Paranormal' tradition, it's better to just give the tiniest amount of information at a time and leave Robbie this mysterious character."
Joost's co-direcor offered up a more complete answer. "Robbie is a messenger," Schulman said. "He's sort of a messenger for the coven, and he has a relationship with Toby where, if it's time for Toby to meet a new child, Robbie can service that arrangement as the introduction."
But then how did Wyatt end up with Alex's family?
Since "Paranormal Activity 2" ends with Katie abducting Hunter, it doesn't necessarily make sense for him to be with another family at the start of "Paranormal 4." So what gives?
"That, I think, would have to be the subject of another movie," Joost said.
What's the deal with Robbie's "very expensive fork"?
When Robbie first arrives, he brings with him a bag full of special items, including one fork that seems important but is never mentioned again. It turns out that the young actor who played Robbie, Brady Allen, just made the whole thing up himself.
"That's just that kid riffing," Schulman said. "He sort of put together a bag of objects and just made stuff up. One of them was a 'very expensive fork, one hundred years old. Be very careful with that fork.' "
Does Alex die at the end?
Most deaths in the "Paranormal Activity" series are unambiguous. We'll either see a person get bent in half, or some text on the screen will say her body was found. But when Katie catches up with Alex, the screen cuts to black before we know her fate. The directors suggested that there is no cut-and-dry answer for what happened.
"Does Alex go down?" Joost said. "I don't know. It's hard to say. There's no visual proof."
"A bunch of fans came up to me last night, pitching ideas for 'Paranormal 5,' and a lot of them had to do with Alex surviving," Schulman said, "which I thought was pretty interesting, considering the ending."
Check out everything we've got on "Paranormal Activity."
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