Movies
Explaining Tobi, Asmodeus, and the Midwives of the ‘Paranormal Activity’ Franchise
Welcome back to Horror 101, a series of articles where we explain horror movie legends and their lore. For beginners, the confused, or just those who need a refresher, these articles are for you. All of us here at Horror Press have a love for found footage horror movies, which inspired our latest lesson. Today we’ll be revisiting Blumhouse’s powerhouse franchise and the king of all found footage films (box office wise, at least). That’s right, we’re tackling Paranormal Activity.
With tons of time travel, loads of lore, and one hard reboot under its belt as of 2021, we need to answer quite a few questions about this series’ enigmatic villains: the (mostly) unseen force Tobi, his minions, the Midwives, and his much more recent counterpart Asmodeus.
The Paranormal Activity Franchise Explained
What is Tobi?
An immeasurably old demon (because when are they ever young demons?), Tobi is the main antagonist in the Paranormal Activity series. Feeding on the suffering and fear of his human victims, he is an inscrutable evil that communed almost entirely with children to torture their families. Once he had succeeded in breaking his victim’s minds, he would possess them and “pilot” their bodies to further his own goals.
For much of the series, Tobi doesn’t have one defined form and is usually massless and invisible. Our only hint in the original Paranormal Activity of what he looks like are some strange footprints. In Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension, he manifests on spirit photography as a shadowy cloud of vaguely human-shaped energy. He had a gaunt, pale face that was barely visible and used tentacles of shadowy energy to manipulate objects and attack people.
We also learn that Tobi’s strength waxes and wanes based on the suffering he can get out of his victims. This manifested in him growing and shrinking over time, implying he has to feed on misery to reach his full potential literally.
What is Asmodeus?
Taking the name of the biblical demon, Asmodeus is the antagonist of Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin, and is presumably that same demon.
At some point in history, the Norwegian village of Beskytter was beset by the demon, who caused a mass slaughter by driving villagers into a violent madness. The village elders managed to subdue the demon by forcing it into a body, forming an isolated cult. From there, Asmodeus was forcibly transferred down a long matriarchal line from mother to daughter as a means of trapping the demon and keeping it from reaching full strength.
It would escape by the end of Next of Kin, though, free to walk the earth in the body of the villager Samuel.
Asmodeus’ true form is never revealed, unlike Tobi, although we do see the end stage of demonic possession from Asmodeus turns his victims into gaunt, pale monstrosities with superhuman strength and speed similar to the Marked Ones.
Wait, so Tobi and Asmodeus Aren’t the Same?
No, not at all. If the people who had popularized this claim had seen these films, I don’t know how they would have thought this.
As far as the movies are concerned, there is no connection between the two demons outside of the possibility that they share the same universe, and even that is dubious at best, given that Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin is a hard reboot. Fan wikis assert with much misplaced confidence that they are the same entity. Still, the cult of Beskytter from Next of Kin doesn’t practice any of the same rituals as Tobi’s Midwives and seems dedicated to containing a demon rather than giving it new forms to walk the earth.
What Can Tobi Do?
Outside of a human body, Tobi is a disembodied spirit with all the classic abilities that would entail. He has telekinetic abilities that allow him to move people and objects, famously dragging and throwing his victims to torture them; still, it takes time for him to build up these powers and reach the level of flinging people around. At his strongest, he can instantly impale one of his victims with his tentacles and even liquefy them from the inside out, as he does with Skyler in The Ghost Dimension.
This is the exception, however, and usually, he has to act through living beings or be given a physical “real” form. Victims who are bitten and then possessed by Tobi, known as the Marked Ones, exhibit superhuman strength, telekinesis, levitation, teleportation, and take on a demonic appearance marked by visible blackened veins.
However, Tobi’s most prominent power is in his ability to manipulate time and space, making pathways to other points in history out of even normal doorways and walls that are inscribed with his demonic runes. It’s possible this is simply a trait of the Ghost Dimension that Tobi can utilize as a spirit, as humans are also able to travel through portals that bear his markings.
While it isn’t outright stated, it’s possible that being divorced from the natural flow of time allows him to possess multiple victims at once, as with Oscar, Jesse, and a young Katie & Kristi being possessed simultaneously in The Marked Ones (circa 2014) while Tobi was terrorizing Katie and Micah in the first film (circa 2006).
Who Are the Midwives?
The Midwives are an international coven of witches who do the bidding of Tobi. The most prominent of the Midwives was Lois, the grandmother of Tobi’s favorite victims Katie and Kristi. Though only a few people such as Ali Rey and Oscar were aware of it, there is a throughline in many kidnapping cases that connects missing children to the Midwives coven. It’s clear that they conscript the children to serve as members of the cult and enforcers, but what this army will be used for other than recruiting more people is uncertain.
The Midwives have a diverse set of abilities themselves. They not only are granted wealth and power among humans but also have access to dark magics. They can curse their victims, mentally and physically control others, and create dimensional portals. Of course, all this comes at a cost: namely, the firstborn son of their family, and pledging an undying loyalty to a black cloud that hucks people like footballs.
What Does Tobi Want?
If we go by what Micahs’ super thorough research says in the first movie, demons like Tobi cause suffering for their amusement. But we do know there is a greater plot at hand due to the actions of the Midwives, Tobi’s faithful witch acolytes.
He spends most of the series grooming Katie and Kristi Featherston to be his “brides” as part of a demonic ritual that spans through time. It’s eventually revealed in Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension that there is an ages-long prophecy to open a door to, you guessed it, the Ghost Dimension, so that Tobi can walk freely on Earth.
The ritual involved using a young Katie and Kristi to find Leila Fleege, who would be born on the same day and time as Kristi’s son Hunter Rey. Father Todd says this is significant because they were born on the sixth day of the sixth month of the sixth year of the millennium, which marks the number of the beast for the ritual.
…Even though she was born in 2005, not 2006?
Look, it’s demon math; it doesn’t make sense, that’s what makes it scary.
Using Leila’s blood to open the gate, Tobi can take on a human host, presumably one of the many Marked Ones the Midwives made. From here, who knows what happens. Some references to a passage in Revelations during Ghost Dimension make it seem like Tobi is trying to usher in the apocalypse in some way, but who knows since the movies only give us the cut-and-dry answer: he wants a body.
Because he’s a movie demon. Of course he wants a body; it’s all they ever want. And as of the latest film, he got one.
Where Is Tobi Now?
Everywhere? Kind of. And everywhen, for that matter, given the whole time travel thing.
We also know there are sects of Midwives all over the world from Oscar’s conspiracy map, so if there are Marked Ones internationally, Tobi would have to have some level of omnipresence. And assuming that body of his burns out, he’s got plenty of backups. If we’re lucky, a future film will explore this.
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And that will be it for today’s Horror 101 lesson. See you in the next class, and stay tuned to Horror Press’s social media feeds for more content concerning horror movies, television, and everything in between!
I’m not too proud to admit it: Horror Press is severely lacking in anime coverage. Among the hundreds of articles I’ve written, I have one singular editorial talking about an anime, and that’s my highlight on The Summer Hikaru Died. I stand by that article, but it’s ridiculous that it’s the only one. Not a single Wicked City, Akira, or Perfect Blue review to be found for miles. And of all the oversights, how have we not talked about the best vampire anime?
Among horror anime, there’s a long and storied history with vampires. From The Vampyre and Carmilla to Egger’s Nosferatu today, we can’t get enough of the bloodsucking freaks (all due respect to bloodsucking freaks). It’s a morbid fixation that carries between cultures seamlessly and especially has a home in Japanese animated media.
10 Best Vampire Anime You Need to Watch
So, is it at all surprising that some of the best anime out there are films and TV shows about vampires? This article is a watch guide for the very best you can find. Not all of them are horror, but all of them are banger shows and movies with vampires at the center of them, and definitely worth the watch.
Some of them might be harder to find than others, especially our older offerings on the list. They’re scattered across the dark continent of the internet thanks to a lack of streaming releases and even worse physical media opportunities to enjoy them. But I have the utmost confidence in the beautiful fans of Horror Press and their meaty brains when I say you’ll find them with a little digging (and maybe a lot of piracy).
Honorable Mention: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure
Now, the vast majority of Hirohiko Araki’s iconic manga and anime Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is, in fact, not about vampires. It’s about Stand Users, serial killers with hand fetishes, becoming a Gang-star, plankton women, and having crazy custom cowboy grills. And I don’t have time to explain any of that, so hopefully you got those references.
But it’s fundamental first three series (Phantom Blood, Battle Tendency, and Stardust Crusaders) have vampiric menaces very much front and center for the famous Shonen anime. It all begins with a mysterious stone mask, the artifact that finalizes the fall of the hateful Dio Brando, turning him from a sociopathic human into an absolute, literal monster that haunts the entire series and the Joestar bloodline going forward. He’s one of the most iconic anime villains of all time; three non-consecutive wins for the Player Hater of the Year award is no easy feat. He might even be the most iconic villain on this list, and that’s saying something.
That’s not even touching on the Pillar Men of Battle Tendency, the souped-up primordial vampiric humanoids who invented the Stone Masks and put Joseph Joestar through his paces in Part 2. It would feel wrong to talk about anime vampires and not give them a namedrop, so consider this the unofficial 11th entry on the list.
Castlevania & Castlevania: Nocturne
The show that put Netflix’s animated programming back on the map, Castlevania and its sequel series Nocturne are only this low on the list because of how immensely popular they are. If you’re reading this in search of new vein ripping, fang sinking television to watch, you’ve probably already seen one of these two outrageously entertaining video game adaptations on your own.
If you haven’t, the premise goes as follows: as a vengeful Dracula casts a demonic army across the lands of Wallachia for killing his human bride, chaos and darkness reign. The final member of the noble monster slaying Belmont family, Trevor, is forced to fight back with the help of a mage and the vampire’s own son. Nocturne then follows Richter, fighting to stop the ascendancy of a vampire messiah during the French Revolution. It gets bonus points for being a loose adaptation of my personal favorite Castlevania game, Castlevania: Rondo of Blood.
As someone who watched Castlevania when it was released but was late to the party on Nocturne, I can now confidently say that both shows are fantastic thanks to some spot-on casting and solid story. And more importantly, you won’t regret finishing Castlevania, since it’s one of the rare Netflix offerings that doesn’t shoot itself in the foot repeatedly with awful writing and a terrible ending.
Hellsing Ultimate
Integra Hellsing sits at the head of a secret society called the Hellsing Organization, a monster hunting group founded by her ancestor Abraham Van Hellsing. When their compound is assaulted by a mysterious and well-funded enemy group called Millennium, Integra pulls her trump card as she sets out to destroy them: enlisting the oldest surviving vampire, Alucard, who has sworn fealty to the Hellsing bloodline after being staked by Abraham long ago.
If you were looking for edge sharper than this, you’re really not going to find it. As the regent of what I would call the vampsploitation sub-genre, Hellsing Ultimate is really nasty. And I mean nasty by horror standards. It’s through and through a splatterfest more interested in its sanguine and ultraviolent vibes than it is a great story. It gets those vibes, trust.
Hundreds of occult nazis getting blasted and torn apart, an immortal quantum cat boy who gets the Itchy and Scratchy treatment whenever he shows up, and the regular use of monofilament wires as weapons should tell you what this show is about. It’s absurd, and its writing is kind of bad. But damned if it isn’t fun to watch in a really sleazy, grindhouse sort of way.
Karin
This rare slice of life vampire anime also brings one of the most fun to watch vampires on the list. It’s a comedy of errors one would expect from the genre mashup; the classic foibles of a creature of the night doing damage control and trying to fit in among the mortals. The show follows Karin of the Maaka Family, a noble line of eccentric vampires living in a mansion in rural Japan.
While her eccentric, Addams Family-esque household sleeps by day, she walks among the living. Because Karin hasn’t fully transformed yet: she’s a reverse vampire who plays the role of “blood maker” rather than blood taker. She’s immune to sunlight and generates a high-pressure buildup of blood that causes profuse, geyser-like nosebleeds. As she tries to become the vampire her family wants her to be, she juggles love and life as a far from normal high schooler.
The show excels when it maximizes its sitcom potential and plays up the tropes of the genre (the arc where Karin’s evil twin grandmother appears and causes havoc is particularly enjoyable). It’s rough around the edges with all its fanservice and crude humor, like most early 2000s anime from smaller studios, but as a standalone season of television it’s hard not to find quick and charming.
Night Warriors: Darkstalker’s Revenge
This one is for all the fighting game fans out there whose niche series haven’t gotten an entry in a decade. The Darkstalkers OVA is, like Castlevania, based on a video game franchise of the same name. Also released under the name Vampire Hunter: The Animated Series, this four-parter is best consumed in marathon format, as its just under three-hour runtime is run at a brisk and breakneck pace filled with action.
The show drops us directly into a war between creatures of the night, known as “darkstalkers”, and their human victims. But as a vampire-led faction on a sunless earth comes into conflict with a succubus-led faction operating from the Demon World, another party enters the mix: a mysterious force of ancient alien robots that seek to destroy everyone, monster or human. The Darkstalkers are forced to band together as the approach of the robots’ maker, Pyron, spells doom for them all.
The Darkstalkers games are best known for their very expressive and animated sprites, and the very iconic move sets of their characters. The show captures that high energy feeling, and many of the animations from the game, perfectly. It leans very much more on the “Saturday morning cartoons and cereal” side of the spectrum, but if you’re looking for a one-of-a-kind setting with some truly wild character designs, this is your show.
Nightwalker: The Midnight Detective
Not at all meant to be confused with the previous entry on this list; similar names, unfortunate, I know. This jazzy supernatural anime from 1997 follows the titular private detective, Shido Tatsuhiko. He’s a vampiric demon who hunts other demons with his human friends, hoping to find some redemption and piece together his muddled past life.
And if that sounds familiar, it’s because this is basically the anime version of the Buffy spin-off show Angel before Angel was even a thing; it predates the Whedon project by two years. Unlike Angel, however, Shido is pure 90’s anime silliness. It’s a distillation of popular tropes from the era with a classic, gritty animation style to match. Those who loved the cyberpunk miniseries Cyber City Oedo 808 will find this show a kindred spirit thanks to the pseudo sci-fi vibes and the monster of the week set up. Just a tad less dramatic, and a bit campier.
A smooth-talking but tortured anime protagonist making weapons out of his own blood fast-tracked this to being high on the list for me, because I love corny concepts played straight. Hopefully, once you see this gem, you’ll understand the appeal instantly.
Mars Red
Now if there’s a vampire anime on this list that never really found its audience, it’s the highly underrated Mars Red. It’s based on a stage play by Bun-o Fujisawa, and despite my initial skepticism about stretching the material into 13 twenty-minute episodes, it actually flows wonderfully barring one or two pacing hiccups.
The year is 1923, and amidst the modernization of the Taisho era in Japan, vampires prowl the streets and infect unwitting targets. The government converts a task force of spies called Code Zero into a supernatural peacekeeping group as a response to a sharp rise in the vampire population. The trick up their sleeve? Harnessing stable, sane vampires as military assets and having them track down their rogue counterparts.
Despite the premise sounding action forward, the story of Mars Red is more of a supernatural mystery and drama. There is action, including some great swordfights, but it primarily uses the premise to explore the struggle of the characters rediscovering themselves and their humanity as cogs in an imperial machine. It’s chockful of literary dialogue backed by strong voice acting performances that remind you of its theatre roots. All in all, the ambiance and atmosphere of Mars Red is top notch.
Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut
Another lesser-known anime from 2021, Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut is a hard sell for a lot of people. A science fantasy romantic drama is already kind of pushing it. Making it an alternate history version of the Space Race between a faux United States and faux Soviet Russia is even more difficult to get people on board with.
The show centers on Irina, the Russian’s ace in the hole in trying to get a manned flight to space before the Americans do. Because vampires aren’t considered human and are feared by the general public, the risk of the mission is made permissible. Though Irina is initially thorny with her training supervisor Lev, she becomes fond of him slowly, and love blossoms between the two as mounting pressures from government figures seemingly attempt to pry them apart.
It’s an utterly bizarre pitch to toss out, but Irina is a heater of a curveball. An effective and fun romance with hard sci-fi and historical elements, and a lot of heart. And with only 12 episodes, not a sliver of time is wasted. Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut is so incredibly unique that it feels like a must watch among the droves of romantic anime out there.
Vampire Princess Miyu (1988)
Cards on the table: I used to wake up obscenely early in the morning to catch old Adult Swim reruns of Inuyasha as a kid, and YuYu Hakusho still stands as my GOAT among all Shonen anime. So, I have a certain fondness for those shows that tints my opinion of Vampire Princess Miyu. You can say it’s biased, but you can’t say this show isn’t great.
Another OVA on the list, this four-episode banger is an obvious pick for its brevity and eerie horror vibes. Shinma, ancient beings that are both god and monster, trap and kill Japan’s citizens with hallucinations so they can feed on their dreams and souls. But an ancient “guardian”, the dhampir Miyu, is determined to destroy them. For a price, of course: Miyu’s wage is the blood of the victims’ loved ones, who will be mentally trapped in a vision of a happier life as Miyu feeds on them.
It’s a rare tale of an anti-hero vampire that actually feels sinister and alien to humanity. Miyu also has a longer anime series adaptation, but you won’t catch me watching it any time soon. It doesn’t have nearly as compelling characters, feels generic in its atmosphere and style, and the animation quality of the OVA just blows the extended series out of the water like a torpedo. If you’re going to watch Vampire Princess Miyu, you might as well watch the best version.
Blood: The Last Vampire
A short, pulp action OVA from the creative minds of director Hiroyuki Kitakubo and writer Kenji Kamiyama, 2000’s Blood: The Last Vampire became popular enough to spawn a manga and two reboot series, each telling their own spin on the story. But really, nothing beats the original.
Saya, a sullen katana-wielding vampire slayer finds herself in the employ of the Japanese government. She soon tracks down a “chiropteran” infestation (bat-like humanoids wearing human skin) to an American military base and its nearby high school. Disguised as a high schooler, she finds herself having to protect the school’s nurse as she tries to contain the rapidly evolving threat of the bestial undead among the living.
The fusion of styles utilizing traditional animation, rotoscoping, and CGI throughout this is so seamless that it makes Blood a masterpiece from a technical standpoint. Though the story is really simple, its grim atmosphere and its characterization of Saya make it easy to understand where the desire to learn more about her came from. Blood: The Last Vampire has long sat as an essential piece of animation in the 2000s anime catalog, and for good reason since it’s still a killer short animation today.
Vampire Hunter D & Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Rounding us out, you knew they’d be on the list. The science fantasy horror films that started it all for a lot of anime fans. These technically count as two separate features, but chances are if you’re going to watch one, you need to watch the other.
Thousands of years after a nuclear war, a ravaged Earth lies slowly dying. Its inheritors are the few unfortunate humans left alive and the warped creatures that hunt them. A gothic hunter-for-hire named D travels through the wastes to protect his wards from mutants, monsters, hostile humans, and aristocratic vampires. The last is his specialty, since D himself is a half vampire (lot of those on this list today).
It’s impossible not to fall in love with the aesthetic of Vampire Hunter D. It’s a gonzo fusion between Solomon Kane, classic Westerns, contemporary sci-fi novels of the era, and old Hammer Horror movies that you’re not going to find anywhere else. Eleven years now since the announcement of Vampire Hunter D: Resurrection, the long-awaited animated series is still trapped in development hell to the chagrin of many fans. But with the eternal popularity of its two film adaptations, the franchise penned by Hideyuki Kikuchi seems just like a real vampire: boasting lots of devoted adherents, and impossible to put down.
What Is the Best Vampire Anime for Horror Fans?
For horror fans, Vampire Hunter D and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust are essential viewing, combining gothic vampires with post-apocalyptic science fiction, Westerns and classic Hammer Horror influences. Viewers looking for something considerably bloodier should try Hellsing Ultimate, while Vampire Princess Miyu offers eerie supernatural horror.
For Halloween season this year, Horror Press is taking you on a trip around the world of horror. No tour of international shockers would be complete without stopping by Spain for some tapas and found footage. The [REC] franchise had a short but robust run, spawning four Spanish movies and two American ones within seven years. It’s a unique cross-pollination of the zombie/rage virus and demonic possession subgenres, and it’s well worth a good, old-fashioned ranking.
The Entire [REC] Franchise Ranked
#6 Quarantine (2008)
I truly don’t know how they did it. 2007’s [REC] is a superb, terrifying movie. And its American remake, Quarantine, is essentially a shot-for-shot remake. Yet it lacks any of the potency of the original movie. The acting and the screenplay are flat, and the added material seems put in just for the sake of being different. Of course, adding anything unbalances the precisely calibrated pacing of the original movie. It makes an embarrassing hash of the material, from top to bottom.
#5 [REC] 4: Apocalipsis (2014)
Don’t ask me why the franchise abandoned the found footage approach in 2011. It makes no sense, but it’s definitely a bummer. Maybe they were just being lazy. That would certainly explain this boring, uninspired final installment. It originally seemed like [REC] 4 was going to be both a return to form and a major step forward. After all, it returned the franchise to its horror roots after a brief sojourn into horror-comedy. It brought back lead character Ángela Vidal (played by the impeccable Manuela Velasco). The subtitle (Apocalypse, in English) promised that the virus would be breaching quarantine. However, all they could think to do with this movie was stick Ángela on a ship. They have her run around a bit, then call it a day.
#4 Quarantine 2: Terminal (2011)
Here’s where I admit my dark secret. I secretly quite like the cheap, direct-to-video Quarantine sequel. But don’t be fooled: It doesn’t deliver on the promise of its poster, which is “Quarantine on a plane.” The zombie movie does have some brief plane antics. However, the plane quickly makes an emergency landing so the movie can take place in a quarantined terminal. It’s a slightly less interesting setting, but it’s still unique for the franchise. By virtue of being an original story, it’s already more interesting than Quarantine itself. And it does find several genuinely frightening things to do with all those infected people running around in the dark.
#3 [REC] 3: Génesis (2012)
When it first came out, I hated [REC] 3. It’s hard to be a fan sometimes. Being super into a franchise means you come into a new installment loaded with baggage. And [REC] 3 really does everything in its power to piss you off if you loved the first two movies. It’s the first Spanish entry to abandon found footage. It’s also the first to abandon Ángela. Instead, it’s a prequel about a wedding being beset by the demonic rage virus. And yes, this is the fabled horror-comedy installment. How this happened, I’ll never know. You simply can’t look at those taut, terrifying original movies and say “yeah, injecting comedy won’t give people whiplash.”
However, if you approach [REC] 3 as an unrelated movie that’s very much doing its own thing, the pain eases. Taken on its own terms, it’s even quite fun. I mean, we all love a woman in a wedding dress destroying the hell out of horror villains. They made two Ready or Not movies, after all. If you think of it as the Spanish answer to Evil Dead II (complete with chainsaw), it goes down easier.
#2 [REC] 2 (2009)
This found footage sequel is very much doing the sequel thing of “the same, but more.” [REC] 2 takes the same setting and the same characters, adding in a SWAT team with way more cameras. Plus a group of teens messing around with their own camera. I personally wish they hadn’t leaned in so much on the Catholicism of it all. There’s a full on Exorcist sequence that doesn’t gel with the all-out zombie vibes of the original. It’s also so stuffed with characters that you don’t really have the chance to get to know any of them. However, it’s still a tense, visceral exploration of how terrifying a situation like this would really be.
#1 [REC] (2007)
Full disclosure: [REC] is going to top literally any list it’s eligible for, because it’s my favorite horror movie. But don’t worry, I have good taste. [REC] is a 78-minute sledgehammer of a movie. It races in, brutalizes your nerves, then gets the fuck out. It does this in so many different ways. First, it presents a group of believable and relatable characters, who are grounded in reality by the found footage approach. The Barcelona apartment building setting is also incredible, delivering instant claustrophobia with its narrow central stairway. The zombie mayhem’s also terrifying, delivering drawn-out tense moments interspersed with some of the best jump scares in the business.
[REC] cruelly forces unassuming late night TV presenter Ángela into tighter and tighter spaces until the impossibly terrifying finale. Once you see Javier Botet’s performance as La Niña Medeiros (who brought the virus to the building)… Let’s just say you’ll never get a full night’s sleep again.
