Plot

When a young man becomes the target of a malevolent entity, he must uncover its true intentions before it takes complete control of him.

Jesse begins experiencing a number of disturbing and unexplainable things after the death of his neighbor. As he investigates, it isn't long before Jesse finds he's been marked for possession by a malevolent demonic entity, and it's only a matter of time before he is completely under its control...—Anonymous

In Oxnard, California, the teenager Jesse graduates high-school and buys a camera in the pawnshop. Jesse lives in an apartment on the second floor of a small residential building with his father and grandmother and in the floor below lives Anna who people used to say that is a witch. Jesse has two friends in the building, Hector and Marisol. When Anna is found dead in her apartment, the prime suspect is Jesse's schoolmate Oscar who had just left her apartment. Jesse, Hector and Marisol snoop around Anna's apartment and soon they find a sort of altar with photos of Oscar and Jesse. Then Jesse changes his behavior and soon they discover that Jesse was marked by evil witches. Will Hector and Marisol save Jesse from evil?—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

In June 2012, high school graduate Jesse Arista lives with his father, sister and grandmother in Oxnard, California. He begins to enjoy the summer with his best friend, Hector. In the apartment below lives a mysterious woman named Ana, who everyone believes to be a witch. When Ana is found murdered, Jesse and Hector spot classmate Oscar running from the scene, suggesting he was responsible. The two investigate the apartment, where they find black magic items, as well as VHS tapes and a journal of spells that can "open doorways to unholy lands." After Jesse, Hector and their friend Marisol try out a ritual, paranormal occurrences gradually begin to take place in Jesse's apartment. One night, the trio begin to communicate with an unknown entity through a game..

The story begins in June 2012 in Oxnard, California. Recent high school graduate Jesse (Andrew Jacobs) has a party in the courtyard of his apartment complex together with his father, sister, grandmother and friends to celebrate his graduation. During the party, he tells his friend Marisol (Gabrielle Walsh) about their strange downstairs neighbor Ana (Gloria Sandoval). There is a ventilation shaft that goes from one of their bedrooms to Ana's home downstairs, and in the middle of the night, they sometimes hear strange wailing and moaning noises.

The next day, Jesse does some experimentation with his new GoPro camera together with his friend Hector (Jorge Diaz). After filming a few humorous stunts, they hear some ruckus from Ana's apartment, and they suddenly see Oscar (Carlos Pratts), a former classmate of Jesse, leaving from it. They try to talk to him but Oscar acts evasive and leaves. Later, inside Jesse's house, they hear the wailing noise again, so Hector convinces Jesse to lower his camera in the vent to have a look inside Ana's apartment. To their surprise, they see Ana with a young woman, both naked, with Ana drawing a strange symbol on the woman's stomach. They have to stop when Ana seems to be aware that she is being spied on. The next day, they discuss it with Marisol, who thinks that Ana is a 'bruja', a Mexican witch. The boys try to see if they can get in Ana's apartment to snoop around, but she just gets home, and the woman angrily sends them away, saying that they don't know what's going on.

In the evening, Jesse and Hector want to light some fireworks outside, but they are suddenly surprised by Oscar, who jumps out of a room in Ana's apartment and flees. The police arrive and find Ana killed, making Oscar the prime suspect. Some time later, Oscar is still at large, but the boys don't want to inform the police about him, fearing the wrath of Oscar's brother Arturo who is a gang member. Jesse and his friend decide to find out what Ana's apartment looks like. Beside a lot of blood, they find black magic ritual objects, occult signs, and a VHS tape that says "Katie & Kristi 1988" (from Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)). They are suddenly confronted by Oscar's brother, Arturo (Richard Cabral). He tells them that Oscar did not kill Ana, and tells them to leave. They do, but not before taking one of Ana's journals.

The next morning, Jesse finds blood in his bed, coming from a bite mark on his arm. The family dog Chavo does not seem to want to be in his presence anymore. They check the journal with Marisol: it contains texts in both Spanish and other languages, and a depiction of people drawing symbols on a woman's belly, similar to what Jesse and Hector witnessed. One text apparently gives instructions on how to construct doorways through time, but only to "unholy places". Later that evening they have a few tequilas, and play a game with a Ghost Box, a device with which one can supposedly communicate with spirits. The device uses colors and sounds to indicate 'yes' and 'no', and it eerily answers all of Jesse answers correctly, confirming its unseen presence around them. Jesse's grandma doesn't like the game and takes it away.

After a while, Jesse finds that he has superhuman abilities. He and Hector are confronted by two thugs who try to mug them. Hector gets severely beaten, but Jesse intervenes and the thugs are somehow violently knocked away. When they show the taped incident to Marisol, Jesse cannot explain how it happened. They try the Ghost box again to ask if there may be a protective spirit around, and it confirms that it eat up the two thugs. It won't confirm that it's benevolent though.

Jesse can now do impossible things, like leaning backward without falling. He goes out and tries some more, finding out that he can do amazing stunts. Later that evening, Jesse and Hector cruise around in Hector's car, crashing a block party and meeting two girls, Penelope (Catherine Toribio) and Natalia (Gigi Feshold). They take them back home, but since grandma is still awake, Jesse takes Penelope to Ana's apartment to have sex. As Jesse briefly leaves to get a condom, Penelope finds a trap door in the apartment leading to the basement. She opens it but is suddenly grabbed by an arm. She breaks free and runs away, and in her absence, Oscar comes out of the basement and leaves the room. Jesse arrives back to check, and finds Oscar in the bathroom, revealing that he has a bite mark on his arm as well. He says that Ana put something inside both of them, and the only way to stop themselves from harming their loved ones is committing suicide. Oscar then flees. Jesse follows him outside, and searches him together with Hector, until they witness Oscar committing suicide by jumping from a building onto the top of a car.

At home, they check Jesse's camera and confirm it was Oscar who grabbed Penelope. The three friends check the basement, and find an altar, and photos of both Oscar and Jesse. There is a picture of Jesse as a baby which his dad was missing for a while, and one from 1994 where Jesse's pregnant mother, who died while giving birth to him, is standing next to Ana and an unknown woman (Katie's grandmother Lois from Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)). They also see an unknown woman entering the house, but quickly leaving again.

Over a few days, Jesse's condition starts to deteriorate. He discovers that he is getting a strange skin rash on his face, and he finds thin wires coming from the corners of his eyes which he painfully pulls out. They go to Oscar's brother Arturo who agrees to show them Oscar's room. One wall is filled with all kinds of adds, local and foreign, drawing attention to missing children from all over the world. Apparently, Oscar had found out that a group of witches is involved, and all the missing children were first-born sons, like Jesse. Oscar was Arturo's younger brother but he was actually adopted: he was the first son of another woman who also died giving birth, like Jesse's. Hector notices a picture of a girl among the adds, a survivor of an apparent family drama called Ali Rey (Molly Ephraim, from Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)), with her contact details, which he secretly takes with him.

Jesse begins acting more strangely - sullen and moody. Hector and Marisol witness him verbally and physically attacking a school mate and a shop owner for no apparent reason. Jesse is now strong enough to stop a swing from a baseball bat. Afterwards he says he can no longer control himself. They try the Ghost Box one more time, telling the presence to leave Jesse alone, but it refuses to do that. That night, Jesse hears his dog barking from Ana's apartment. He goes there, not seeing the woman standing in the living room behind him. He proceeds to the basement, only to find ghostly figures, including those of young Katie and Kristi (Chloe Csengery and Jessica Tyler Brown) from Paranormal Activity 3 (2011). He tries to flee but the trapdoor shuts him in, and he is attacked by a roaring demon.

Over the days, Jesse is getting even more dark and withdrawn, with his family worrying about him locking himself inside his bedroom all night. Hector visits him at home, seeing the word "Meus" written on the wall, but Jesse does not respond to him. Hector and Marisol call Ali and she agrees to meet with them. Ali tells them about her research into demons, and tells them that she learned of a coven of "Midwives" who brainwash young women into giving up their unborn sons. They possess the boys with a mark on their mothers' stomach to create an army with the help of demons. Ali gives them an address to where a final ritual takes place, and tells them to act quickly before Jesse is completely taken over by the demon.

At home they find Jesse telekinetically torturing his dog Chavo. Hector intervenes, and discusses Jesse's case with Marisol and Jesse's grandmother, who takes them to a Mexican religious healer. There she receives instructions on how to cleanse the evil from Jesse. She tries it that evening, starting by running a raw egg over his body. Suddenly Jesse grabs her hand where she's holding the egg and breaks it in her hand. Instead of raw egg, it spills blood down her arm just before all lights go out. With the camera's night vision feature, Hector sees that Jesse has gone missing. He sees something warping the living room, until in a sudden flash. All the lights come back on and Jesse appears suspended in mid-air, telekinetically tearing the living room apart. He passes out and they put him to bed.

Next morning, Jesse has disappeared from his bed. Hector and Marisol run outside looking for him, but when they return, they find Jesse on top of the stairs, and his grandmother lying on the floor below. Hector rushes to help her and calls for emergency services, but Jesse has disappeared again.

Later on, Jesse's sister says that the grandmother is on the intensive care with the father. Hector and Marisol take the car to the hospital, but on the way, Jesse, completely possessed now, is blocking the road. He violently pulls Hector out of the car and attacks him, but Marisol manages to knock him out with a bat. They place his unconscious body on the backseat and drive away, but they are suddenly hit by an incoming car. Before they realize what happened, they find that the people from the other car have taken Jesse's body, and have driven away.

Needing help, Hector and Marisol seek help from Arturo and his friend Santo. They head to the place of the ritual, and Santo tries to open the front door. The others go around the back, and find a woman locked inside a horse stable. Before they can help her, they are attacked from two sides by possessed women with knives. Arturo kills a couple of them with a shotgun and urges the others to flee back to the front door, holding the women off. Hector and Marisol find Santo dead, but he managed to get the door open. They flee inside and lock the door before more women can enter. The house appears to be the house of grandmother Lois seen in Paranormal Activity 3 (2011). It seems empty, but occult rituals have clearly been taking place. Marisol quickly goes missing, and Hector hears Arturo's voice from outside calling for help. Before he can do anything, he suddenly sees Arturo's body violently smashed against the window. He checks other rooms for Marisol, finding himself in a garden chamber, when Marisol suddenly falls through the glass ceiling to her death. Spooked by an older woman behind him, Hector flees inside a closet. When he comes out, he is assaulted by a flying sheet, and then chased by a possessed Jesse. He locks himself inside an upstairs bedroom, but the windows are all boarded up. The only other exit is a wooden door with occult markings on its frame. Jesse, in his normal voice, asks Hector to let him in. When Hector refuses, Jesse violently breaks the door. Hector flees through the marked door in a panic.

The camera goes dark and warps a few times, and when Hector sees light again, he finds himself inexplicably in a downstairs garage. Making his way to the living room, we recognize the household of Katie and Micah (Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat), at the time where Paranormal Activity (2007) ended. Hector sees Katie walking in trance from upstairs to get a knife from the kitchen. Hector tries to get her attention and asks her where he is. Suddenly, Katie snaps out of her trance. Seeing Hector, she starts to scream for Micah, who arrives and attacks him, but is stabbed to death by Katie. Hector flees in terror, but is assaulted by a fully demonic Jesse, and drops the camera. Without Hector in sight and the camera still recording, the older woman appears, picks up and turns off the camera.