![]() ![]() The knocking is much faster and louder in the Theatrical Cut. The night when the demon plays the door games with Katie and Micah (opening and slamming it shut, knocking furiously) has been re-dubbed, as well. There seem to be at least two added "shadow" effects - another on the bedroom door, and a silhouette in the hallway - in the Director's Cut, whereas the Theatrical Cut only has one shadow used. All of these scenes are much, much louder/noticeable in theaters for jump scares. A lot of the demon noises - the loud growl followed by the bang, the footsteps, even the shadows that appear on the bedroom doors - were completely re-dubbed and retouched. There is only one instance of the demon whispering in the Theatrical Cut there are at least three in the Director's Cut, all of which are heard in the bedroom at night. The low frequency tone that occurs when the demon is present is not quite as loud in the Director's cut. There is a scene in the Theatrical Cut not present in the Director's Cut that takes place early on, where Katie and Micah wake up and find her keys thrown from the kitchen counter to the floor. ![]() The Director's Cut, comprised of the unedited film with three possible endings, has several differences: Next of Kin is a ho-hum franchise re-launcher that exists purely because, of course, it does.The version that was released in theaters is the cut supervised by Steven Spielberg. Back in the late 00s, at the height of the sub-genre’s ubiquity, when some nefarious force was assaulting our heroes, screams would often be silenced by the unavoidable question shouted in unison: “Why the hell are you still holding the damn camera?” It becomes increasingly exhausting and inexplicable here (along with the characters’ decision-making as a whole), as a literal demon is ripping people to shreds and takesus out of the horror unfolding in front, back into reality.Ī smarter film would have found a more believable justification for the inclusion of a camera up until the very end, but a smarter film would have also found a more believable justification for its existence in general. It’s more aesthetically polished than the majority of found footage films but as much as director William Eubank might be able to distract us visually, he can’t disguise the inevitable problem that so many of these moviesface. There’s no such vibrancy here, just a familiar assembly job of cult panic and demons that go bump in the night, that has its moments (there are some jolting, if often laughably cheap, jump scares and a particularly nasty potato peeler incident) but it never lingers, spookily disappearing from our memories with haste. Landon has showcased his best work outside of the series with 2007’s lively Rear Window riff Disturbia and then last year’s hugely satisfying body swap comedy horror Freaky. ![]() When in fact, it does share screenwriter Christoper Landon in common with chapters two, three and four, as well as spin-off, The Marked Ones. With such little thread between prior Paranormal movies and this one, it’s almost as if Next of Kin was found on a pile of scripts and then lazily rebranded. They return home with him but quickly discover that all is not what it seems. Her documentary film-maker boyfriend Chris (Roland Buck III) follows her as she meets with a young Amish man who claims her mother was part of his secluded community. Next of Kin follows a woman named Margot (Emily Bader) who is searching for the truth behind her real family after she was left for adoption as a baby. Without the franchise pull behind it, Next of Kin is a rather anonymous horror of demonic possession, competently made and with decent acting but indistinguishable from the pack, where predictability wins over personality. The lack of sinew between this new chapter and the others implies that Paramount might be taking a page out of their own book and turning the series into a new Cloverfield, a banner brand that allows for different stories, tied only by genre. ![]()
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