A first trailer and Halloween release date have been announced for “Paranormal Activity 4.” Dustin takes a look at the trailer and the likelihood that the franchise could actually ever end.

This is getting a bit out of hand. After last year’s “Paranormal Activity 3” served as a prequel to the first two films and explained why this particular family was so haunted, this year’s installment returns the franchise to the present day and continues the exploits of cursed Katie.

The trailer offers little insight into whatever the plot (HA!) of this installment will be but it does at least have a legitimately creepy vibe to it. Between the little boy just standing in the driveway and the last shot that sees that poor video-chatting teenager about to encounter activities of the paranormal kind before the shadowy woman and little boy just walk off into the night.

At this point, the writers for the franchise are just throwing ideas out at a machine-gun rate and hoping that they toss out enough to stitch a script together. “Paranormal Activity 3” introduced the idea that Katie and her sister’s knack for drawing pissed off spirits to them (the main focus of both 1 & 2) was the result of a bizarre coven of witches that their grandmother was a part of.

The trailer hints that the events in this movie are what the entire series has been building to but after searching online for the trailer for a little while, I stumbled across a marketing ploy greater than anything major studios could generate- the trailer made Perez Hilton shizzle-stain his pants.

I refuse to believe that when they sat down and wrote “Paranormal Activity,” they even discussed the notion that it could be a coven of witches from childhood that has caused these girls to be so tormented by spirits in adulthood.

“4” will also continue to use the “found footage” style, presenting the film as if the audience is actually witnessing the last days of these people.

I’m not too sure how found footage is still serving as a bankable genre, the last few Octobers have seen an influx of movies following the structure made famous by the “Blair Witch Project” almost 13 years ago and “Cannibal Holocaust” in the 70s, which actually landed the director on trial for presumed murder. Honestly, it can be effective when utilized right but very few films have used it in a way that doesn’t cause motion sickness, but for the most part, it’s just a novelty gimmick designed to get around a low budget by trying to create tension from the unknown and the unseen.

That said, “Paranormal Activity 4” is coming this October and it’ll probably at least gross $30 million its’ opening weekend. Let’s just hope that “Paranormal Activity 5” doesn’t bring in Pinhead and Biggie Smalls as the newest haunts, but hey, whatever sells.