Characters from the Paranormal Activity film series.
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Katie Featherston
Katie Featherston
Portrayed By: Katie Featherston, Chloe Csengery (child)
Appearances: Paranormal Activity | Paranormal Activity 2 | Paranormal Activity 3 | Paranormal Activity 4 | Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones | Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension note
"I feel it. I feel it breathing on me."
The female protagonist of Paranormal Activity. Throughout Katie Featherston's entire life she and her sister Kristi have felt the presence of a malevolent invisible demon haunting her. The demon's hostility in the hauntings has varied over the course of her life. She has been living with her boyfriend, Micah, for about a year when the hauntings suddenly take a violent turn. Katie is a friendly, usually cheerful person, who is easily scared. In times of hardship, however, she becomes short-tempered and emotional.
In the Paranormal Activity 3 prequel, she is a boisterous young girl who occasionally likes teasing her little sister Kristi. She is even more frightened of the hauntings as a child.
- Ambiguously Evil: Before the revelation that 2 is a prequel, Katie comes across as this. Invoked again in 4, but Alex is the only one who notices.
- Berserk Button: Making light of her demon situation. Also Micah going against what she wants through loopholes in her requests.
- Big Sister Instinct: When Katie learns from Kristi that her family is being haunted, Katie forcefully urges her to ignore the demon to take away it's power.
- Subverted when they were children. Kristi had to protect Katie from the demon.
- Blackmail: In Paranormal Activity 3, the demon threatens to hurt Katie unless Kristi does what he wants.
- Brainwashed: Katie and Kristi were both brainwashed into forgetting specific paranormal events from their childhood. They still remember them vaguely enough to know they've been haunted their whole lives, however.
- Bratty Half-Pint: How she acts when she's a child in 3.
- Break the Cutie: Her whole life has been this.
- Butt-Monkey: The demon isn't actually all that interested in Katie as she thought. Toby only haunts and harms her in the first film to possess her body and steal Kristi's baby, and in 3 she's tormented for the sole purpose of getting Kristi to do what he wants.
- The Cameo: Shows up at the end of The Marked Ones.
- Cool Big Sis: To Kristi and her step-niece Ali.
- Demonic Possession: Katie becomes possessed and stabs Micah to death. She then goes to Kristi's house and kills her, her husband, and then kidnaps their baby. She is possessed, and indoctrinated into the evil witch coven for the rest of the movie series.
- She's also possessed by the end of 3 but, at some point, she snapped out of it. Presumably after the brainwashing.
- Destructive Romance: The relationship Katie has with Micah turns into this once the hauntings start becoming intense. The entire movie is just as much about their failing relationship as it is about the hauntings.
- The Dragon: Now works with Toby to get what he wants.
- Emotions vs. Stoicism: Katie is the emotional sister who screams and cries whenever the hauntings occur, and Kristi is the stoic sister who is scared but remains relatively calm. As a result, the demon has a much easier time possessing Katie.
- Face–Heel Turn: Becomes possessed by the end of the first film but is full-blown evil by Paranormal Activity 4.
- Fallen Hero: Ends up becoming a witch among the demon-worshipping cult.
- Fate Worse than Death: Being possessed has taken away any free will she had.
- Freak Out: The last verbal fight Katie and Micah have leaves her an emotional wreck and sobbing uncontrollably.
- From Bad to Worse: Katie believes that the more attention they give to the demon the worse the hauntings will become. She's right.
- Genre Savvy: It's too bad she's living with someone who is the complete opposite of her in regards to genre intelligence.
- Heroic BSoD: Katie is a tearful breakdown after Micah angrily yells at her that she should've told him about the demon before they moved in together. Her emotionally wrecked state makes it easy for the demon to possess her on the final night.
- Nervous Wreck: Katie becomes more emotionally unstable as the paranormal activity worsens.
- Nightmare Face: After becoming possessed.
- Nice Girl: Initially
- Red Herring: That she's going to be the Big Bad in Paranormal Activity 2. Turns out it's a prequel and she doesn't become villainous until later. She does become the Big Bad for Paranormal Activity 4, however.
- Slasher Smile: Gave a chilling one to the camera after she murders Micah.
- Time Travel: Members of the witch coven can time travel to unholy places. Young possessed Katie from 1988 is briefly seen in The Marked Ones which takes place in 2012.
- Took a Level in Badass: After turning evil.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Becomes much more irritable and short-tempered as the first film goes on. Given the hell she's going through, it's very justified.
- True Companions: Katie and Kristi are much closer to each other than most siblings because they shared a traumatic childhood.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: She never appears again in the present after the events of 4, leaving her fate unknown.
- White Shirt of Death: Murders Micah in a white shirt, murders her sister and her husband in the same bloody white shirt, and then presumably murders Alex in a cleaner white shirt.
Micah Sloat
Micah Sloat
Portrayed By: Micah Sloat
Appearances: Paranormal Activity | Paranormal Activity 2 | Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones
"I've been doing my research. I'm taking care of this. Nobody comes in my house, fucks with my girlfriend, and gets away with it."
The male protagonist of Paranormal Activity. He's been living with Katie for about a year before he starts noticing strange, weird things happening around the house. Micah is the one who decides to film everything in order to catch the paranormal activity. He's fascinated by the phenomenon and doesn't take the situation seriously until it's too late. He is childish and stubborn and only gets worse as the plot thickens.
- Agent Scully: To an extent. He's well aware of the events that are happening, but refuses to believe that they can possibly be that dangerous. He's wrong.
- Asshole Victim: To be fair he dies the day after he starts caring about his girlfriend's distress.
- The Cameo:
- Shows up in one scene of Paranormal Activity 2 to show the audience that the film is a prequel.
- Has another cameo at the very end of The Marked Ones.
- Deadpan Snarker: It annoys Katie to no end.
- Destructive Romance: The relationship Micah has with Katie turns into this once the hauntings start becoming intense. The entire movie is just as much about the hauntings as it is about their failing relationship.
- Genre Blind: He thinks the hauntings are cool!
- Hypocrite: Micah is embarrassed when Katie starts filming him working out even though he's been filming her every minute he can.
- It's All About Me: Micah is more concerned about the demon haunting what he considers his than for Katie's safety. In the end when the hauntings have begun to truly take their toll on Katie's emotional well being he grows out of it. However, it's too late by the time he gets better.
- Jerkass: Constantly puts his need to capture the hauntings on tape before the well-being of his girlfriend.
- Jerkass Has a Point: He's understandably annoyed with Katie for not bringing up the fact that she's had a demon haunting her most of her life before they moved in together.
- It's also not hard to sympathize with his curiosity and fascination over Katie's seemingly overbearing cautiousness and superstition before things get really dangerous. After all, he has no reason to believe he's dealing with a horror movie demon instead of a more realistic poltergeist.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He has his moments in the first film but his heart of gold is mostly shown in Only in Paranormal Activity 2, prior to their own haunting experience.
- Took a Level in Kindness: After Katie has a complete breakdown.
- Jerkass Has a Point: He's understandably annoyed with Katie for not bringing up the fact that she's had a demon haunting her most of her life before they moved in together.
- Shadow Archetype: One could argue that Micah is this for Dennis.
- Loophole Abuse: Katie makes Micah promise that he won't buy an ouija board since it will make the haunting worse. He gets around this promise by borrowing one. This pisses off Katie to no end.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Micah is constantly on the receiving end of this, and even though it's deserved, every time Katie tells him he's making it worse he gets more irritable.
- Now You Tell Me: Katie didn't bother telling Micah that she's had a demon spirit bugging her for most of her life until she moved in with him. In their last fight he uses this against her.
- Too Dumb to Live: The psychic and Katie repeatedly warn Micah against communicating with/antagonizing whatever is in the house. Micah decides to spread talcum powder around, buy an ouija board, and yell at the demon to do its worst. To top it all off, he takes Katie's crucifix, the one thing remaining that could've given her any protection from the demon, and throws it in the fireplace. By the time he realizes that antagonizing the demon is a bad idea, it's already too late.
- Understanding Boyfriend: Completely inverted. He goes out of his way to antagonize Katie's literal demons for funsies.
Kristi Rey
Kristi Rey
Portrayed By: Sprague Grayden, Jessica Brown (young)
Appearances: Paranormal Activity 2 | Paranormal Activity 3 | Paranormal Activity 4 note | Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones | Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension note
"Leave me alone!"
One of the three main protagonists of Paranormal Activity 2. She just had a baby boy with her new husband Dan and is also a stepmother to Dan's daughter Ali. After the baby's 1st birthday Kristi's family is plagued with the same evil entity from the first movie. Kristi is Katie's younger sister and has also been experiencing hauntings throughout her whole life. As a new mother, she has a lot to worry about.
In Paranormal Activity 3, she is a young girl who is able to see and speak to Toby, the demon. This demon spends the entire movie trying to corrupt her.
- Adults Are Useless: Ali feels this way towards Kristi for not supporting her in her paranormal investigations but, in reality, Kristi not paying any attention to the demon is the best thing she can do.
- Badass Normal: At this point, Kristi is the calmest main character of the series who has been exposed to the most frightening paranormal events.
- The Cameo: In the fourth film in stock footage, and her child self is seen in The Marked Ones.
- Cool Big Sis: Kristi is playing a more sisterly role to her stepdaughter Ali, than a motherly one. This makes sense since Ali is a teenager, and the two of them are seven years apart in age at the most.
- Creepy Child: In 3, her interactions with Toby, the demon, are this.
- Deal with the Devil: In 3, Kristi is forced into a sort of marriage ceremony with Toby. It's hinted that this ceremony will guarantee her a son once she grows up and gets married. It makes sense since a son is what the demon wants from her bloodline.
- Decoy Protagonist: In 2, Kristi spends much of the movie trying to ignore the hauntings in the hope it will go away. It's Ali who notices all the paranormal activity and is the one doing the investigating, and then when Kristi gets possessed Dan has to save her and Hunter.
- Demonic Possession: In 2, Kristi gets possessed and almost steals away the baby.
- Hope Spot: In 2, after Dan drives the demon out of her body.
- Invisible to Adults: It's been a running theme that only young children and animals can see the demon's physical form. In 3, Kristi is 5 and, because of that, she's able to see and talk to the demon.
- Little Sister Instinct: In 3, Kristi gives into the demon's wishes to stop him from hurting Katie.
- Mama Bear: In 2, Kristi is able to fight off the demon's dragging power, for a little bit, and after she does she rushes into Hunter's room to check on his well-being.
- Nerves of Steel: In direct contrast with how Katie reacts to frightening supernatural events, Kristi is very calm about it even though she's scared. She does her best to remain collected and strong for her family, especially the baby.
- Nice Girl: In the second film, Kristi does her best to not let the hauntings change her temperament. She also does her very best to shield and protect her baby from it all by keeping a strong face. In 3, despite her child creepiness, she does try to stop Toby from harming her family.
- Nightmare Face: In the brief time Kristi was possessed the audience get a quick shot of her demon face, before the demon's exorcised out of her.
- Only Sane Woman: In the second film.
- Psychic Child: In the third film, she's the only one who can see Toby.
- Time Travel: Members of the witch coven can time travel to unholy places. Young possessed Kristi from 1988 is briefly seen in The Marked Ones, which takes place in 2012.
- True Companions: Kristi and Katie are much closer to each other than most siblings because they shared a traumatic childhood.
- The Quiet One: In 3, she's much shyer than her outgoing sister, Katie.
Dan Rey
Dan Rey
Portrayed By: Brian Boland
Appearances: Paranormal Activity 2 | Paranormal Activity 3 | Paranormal Activity 4 note
"We just can't let this affect us that much. If we do that, the terrorists win."
One of the three main protagonists of Paranormal Activity 2. Dan has been married once and had his daughter Ali before marrying Kristi. After his new wife gives birth to a son, paranormal activity starts occurring. Dan is an atheist who doesn't believe in anything supernatural, and this makes him butt heads with his daughter who is investigating the strange events. He tries to find rational explanations as to why weird things are happening.
- Adults Are Useless: Played straight until the final act.
- Agent Scully: Until the very end of the movie he won't believe for a second that anything supernatural is happening.
- Anti-Hero: Ended up making a very questionable decision to save his family.
- Badass Normal: Dan managed to fight off his demonic wife and won.
- Berserk Button: Leaving Hunter unattended.
- Big Damn Hero: Rescues his son from a demonic Kristi.
- The Cameo: He appears briefly at the beginning of 3 to explain how the 1988 tape footage went missing.
- Deadpan Snarker: Gets pretty sarcastic once the paranormal activity is brought up in the pool scene.
- Did Not Think This Through: He apparently never considered that cursing Katie would mean the demon would possess her instead of Kristi and then continue on with its work.
- Fantasy-Forbidding Father: He initially disliked the idea that their home his haunted.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: He gets increasingly irritable with his family after his wife and daughter both believe their house is haunted.
- Hollywood Atheist: Has shades of this.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Dan's justification for cursing Katie.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: It's clear that Dan does not believe in the demonic haunting whatsoever so when strange things start happening the only thing he can do is blame the people around him. He fires Martine, blames Ali and Brad for various abnormal occurrences, and gets short with his family for even bringing up anything supernatural. However, he does prove to be a well-meaning and mostly normal father and when the proof of what's happening is presented right in front of him he drops this behavior and immediately searches for a way to save his family. He saved the souls of his family by cursing his sister-in-law Katie.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Kristi and Katie both jump to the conclusion to ghosts after the tiniest of strange happenings at the very beginning for which he teases them. They're right, but blatant evidence of the supernatural doesn't reveal itself until Ali gets locked out of the house. He also curses Katie to have the demon haunt her instead of his family. He doesn't want to do this, but it's the only way to save his wife and child.
- Karmic Death: Dan ends up getting murdered by the very person he cursed to save his family.
- Knight Templar Parent: Cursed his sister-in-law to save his family.
- May–December Romance: Dan is in his late thirties to early forties, while Kristi is 23. Kristi is closer to Ali in age.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Him exorcising Kristi.
- Papa Wolf: He is furious at Ali after finding out Hunter was left alone in the house. To save his infant son Dan banishes the demon to haunt Katie.
- Pragmatic Hero: Dan saves his wife and son by cursing his wife's older sister. It works, until Katie gets possessed by the same demon to take Hunter like it originally intended to do.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Dan's exorcism of Kristi. Unfortunately, the demon simply took control of Katie and returned to finish what it started.
- Supernatural-Proof Father: It took a lot for him to accept the fact that his wife is indeed being haunted by a demon.
Ali Rey
Ali Rey
Portrayed By: Molly Ephraim
Appearances: Paranormal Activity 2 | Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones
"I don't know if the house is haunted, but I hope it is."
One of the three main protagonists of Paranormal Activity 2. Ali is the teenage daughter and stepdaughter of Dan and Kristi respectively, and the half-sister of their infant son Hunter. A year after Hunter's birth, strange things have been happening around the house and Ali is the only member of the family interested in finding out what's going on.
- Action Survivor: The only main character in the series to be this, because... well, she's the only main character who has survived to the end.
- Agent Mulder: She's the one whose doing the investigations in the family.
- Break the Cutie: When Ali appears in The Marked Ones she is a much more serious character. It makes sense considering what she went through.
- The Cameo: Ali shows up in The Marked Ones as a paranormal investigator. She tells Hector and Marisol that after Jesse is fully possessed he will never be the same again.
- Cool Big Sis: Hopes to be one for Hunter.
- Ali looks up to her stepmother Kristi as this.
- Daddy's Girl: Despite Ali and her father butting heads with the supernatural business, their much sweeter interactions give off this kind of vibe.
- Final Girl: The only member of her family to survive the demon.
- Missing Mom: Ali is initially excited at the prospect of being haunted because she thinks that the ghost might be her deceased mother.
- Nice Girl: The only time Ali isn't shown to be kind is when she gets frustrated with her supernatural proof father.
- Occult Detective: By The Marked Ones, Ali has become this.
- The Pollyanna: Ali is mistaken for this when she's really a Stepford Smiler.
- Plucky Girl: Ali is in a perpetual state of being cheerful, optimistic, and kind.
- Sadistic Choice: Ali considers cursing Katie to be this and she tries to convince her dad to find another solution, but he's having none of it.
- The Smart Girl: Catches on pretty quick that the house is haunted, and is even quickly to realize that it's malevolent.
- Sole Survivor: Because Ali was on a school trip when a possessed Katie returned to kidnap Hunter, Ali manages to survive the events of 2.
- Stepford Smiler: Type A. Blink and you'll miss it. Throw away dialogue suggests that Ali has been suffering from awful nightmares ever since her mother died.
- Took a Level in Badass: After having her family killed by a demonic Katie, Ali has grown into a competent paranormal investigator.
Dennis
Dennis
Portrayed By: Chris Smith
Appearances: Paranormal Activity 3 | Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension note
"Something's going on."
The main protagonist on Paranormal Activity 3. Dennis is a wedding photographer, and the new boyfriend of Julie Featherston, the mother of Katie and Kristi. He's only been dating Julie for a few months before he moved in with her. Dennis is the one who starts seeing strange activities that seem to be connected to Kristi, and he wants to catch it all on film.
- Agent Mulder: Him and his friend, Randy.
- Determinator: Does everything he can to escape the witch house with Katie and Kristi to the very end.
- Friend to All Children: How would he be able to get along with Katie and Kristi so quickly? He and his friend Randy are more than happy to play tea party or Bloody Mary with the girls, both to bond and to get more information on Toby.
- The Hero: The first one of the series.
- Nerves of Steel: Keeps his cool even after Julie dies in front of him. He does this to stay strong for the girls.
- Nice Guy: He's the nicest guy in the series.
- Papa Wolf: Dennis does his very best to protect Katie and Kristi after the witches come to claim them. Bonus points for not being their actual father.
- Parental Substitute: Despite only dating Julie for a few months Dennis makes a great father figure for the girls.
- Parent with New Paramour: The most positive example of this trope. Dennis and the girls got along perfectly fine from the very beginning.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Dennis is essentially a much smarter, and kinder Micah. Their motivations for filming the hauntings is basically the same, except Dennis always put the wellbeing of his new family before the footage.
Julie
Julie Featherston
Portrayed By: Lauren Bittner
Appearances: Paranormal Activity 3 | Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones note | Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension note
One of the main protagonists of Paranormal Activity 3. Julie is the mother of Katie and Kristie. Recently invited her boyfriend Dennis to stay. Is the last to believe that the strange events happening in the house are paranormal.
- Agent Scully: She refuses to believe that there are any supernatural events occurring in her house... until the demon drops the entire contents of the kitchen in front of her.
- Killed Offscreen: She wanders off in the middle of the night, prompting Dennis to go searching for her. He finds her suspended in midair at the top of the stairs, falling like a puppet with its strings cut on top of him and injuring him in the fall.
- Parent with New Paramour: Recently moved in with her new boyfriend Dennis.
The Demon (SPOILERS)
Asmodeus "Tobi" of the Book of Tobit
Portrayed By: Katie Featherston (possessed form), Andrew Jacobs, Mark Steger, Henry Ayres-Brown, Kirby Johnson
Appearances: Paranormal Activity | Paranormal Activity 2 | Paranormal Activity 3 | Paranormal Activity 4 | Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones | Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension | Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin
One of the seven Princes of Hell and the Big Bad of the franchise. Tobi is a demon summoned by Lois and her coven, who bargains with him for wealth - in exchange for the family's first-born male.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Every film ends with the demon getting its way. It eventually achieves at least one of its end goals by getting a corporeal human body of its own.
- Berserk Button: It does not like to be touched, and will retaliate violently, as Katie and Alex's mother found out that hard way. It also doesn't take kindly to being "watched".
- Demon Lords and Archdevils: The Ghost Dimension reveals that he is one of the seven Princes of Hell. Next of Kin finally reveals that he's specifically Asmodeus.
- The Faceless: We're never shown what the demon looks like until The Ghost Dimension. Given that he's Asmodeus, his true form may be the multi=faced chimeric being depicted in the Ars Goetia..
- Faux Affably Evil: It is apparently quite friendly to the children it "befriends"... as long as you do what it says.
- Fluffy the Terrible / Tom the Dark Lord: Its real name - assuming it has one - hasn't been revealed, but the children it communicates with refer to it as "Tobi". Next of Kin reveals his real name: Asmodeus
- He Who Must Not Be Heard: Aside from a few animalistic growls, roars and snorts, as well as some faint whispering, it is never heard to speak. When other characters (such as Kristi and Wyatt) communicate with it, the audience only hears their end of the conversation, hinting that Toby can communicate telepathically.
- I Have Many Names: In The Ghost Dimension, it is mentioned that "Tobi" is just one of several names the demon has gone by. Tobi is one of the alias Asmodeus used in the Book of Tobit, which is fitting given his true identity.
- Jerkass: Many of its scares are purely to mess with the people it is haunting, bordering on severely petty at times... until it decides to get really serious.
- Manipulative Bastard: It is able to befriend young children and easily manipulate them.
- Really 700 Years Old: The Ghost Dimension reveals that Toby is a lord of Hell, one of seven in fact, which could mean its as old as time itself. Next of Kin also reveals he's Asmodeus, meaning he is either an ancient demon or possibly a Fallen Angel who rebelled alongside Lucifer.
- Super-Strength: It can snap peoples' necks and backs with ease, and is more than capable of flinging heavy objects and/or people around like rag dolls. This trait carries over to people possessed by the demon.
- The Unintelligible: In the first film, it utters a very faint whisper that is picked up by the camera. Micah listens to it several times, but is unable to recognize the language.
- The Voiceless: Aside from some faint whispering, it is never heard to speak. When it does communicate with people, it seems to be telepathically.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Each time the demon's appearance is teased to the audience, it seems to take a different form each time. In 1, it leaves bird-like footprints. In 3, it appears to have an adult, humanoid form. In 4, it resembles a human child. In Ghost Dimension its finally shown that the demon's true shape starts out as a swirly mass of dark energy tendrils that can configure itself into whatever shape it wants, but tends to prefer a Humanoid Abomination shape taller than a human being.
