‘Paranormal Activity 4’s Xbox Kinect Scene Is Delightfully Dumb

It’s rare that you come across an idea that’s as much a guaranteed win as the Paranormal Activity franchise. A house packed with ghosts told solely through home security footage? That combines the inherent creepiness of in-home cameras with just about everyone’s worst nightmare. But for all the spookiness these movies have delivered they have also produced one magically, magnificently dumb moment in film history. It’s time to take about Paranormal Activity 4‘s Xbox Kinect scene.

Right away Paranormal Activity 4 was primed to be a bit silly. That’s the curse the fourth installment of any film franchise is destined to bear. After their neighbor falls ill, Alex (The Society‘s Kathryn Newton) and her family agree to take in the neighbor’s son, Robbie. Within a day of arriving Robbie (Brady Allen) starts freaking everyone out as kids in horror movies love to do. See, Robbie has an imaginary friend named Tobey who likes to cause trouble. Instead of letting kids be kids the family immediately takes the nuclear option, rigging their home with cameras to see what’s happening at night. So far, so terrible a premise for a Paranormal Activity movie.

Of course their house is actually haunted. There’s a mysterious symbol that keeps appearing, demonic possession, and a coven of sorts all targeting this poor family. All of these threats are genuinely spooky. Do you know what’s not spooky? A fad video game system lighting up a ghost with green dots.

If you have no idea what the Kinect was, you’re not alone. The Kinect was Xbox’s answer to the Wii. But rather than tracking the movements of a single remote, the Kinect used RGB cameras, infrared projectors, and detectors to map out players’ movements, allowing people to actually use their bodies as the controller. Or, according to Paranormal Activity, it could just be used to hunt ghosts.

Shown through the Kinect’s camera, the scene shows Alex’s brother Wyatt (Aiden Lovekamp) coming down the stairs in the middle of the night. The view is completely awash in tiny, green motion-tracking dots. You can just make out a second, ghostly little kid following in Wyatt’s footsteps.

The Kinect is then brought in again. This time the clearly possessed Robbie is seen talking to the Kinect. Is the Xbox haunted? Who’s to say?

It’s hard to pinpoint what’s funnier about this moment. There’s the visual ridiculousness of making a ghost kid look like a poorly crafted cartoon alien. Then there’s also the thirst behind this product placement. Xbox’s camera system is so advanced you can track ghosts? Really Microsoft? But what takes the cake is how outdated this scene feels eight years later. The Xbox Kinect was big around 2011 through 2013, but interest almost immediately declined. Now it’s something the average person has likely all but forgotten about. That’s like framing your movie’s biggest twist around fidget spinners.

The Paranormal Activity series is a great one, packed with frights and innovative camera angles. But during the creepiest month of the year, it’s worth taking a moment to remember the franchise’s most hyped and unintentionally silliest flops.

Where to stream Paranormal Activity 4