‘It stalks the night! It thirsts for blood!’
“Peternormal Activity” is the fourth episode of the fourteenth season of the animated sitcom Family Guy. It aired on Fox in the United States on October 25, 2015, and was written by Chris Sheridan and directed by Greg Colton. The title is a play on theParanormal Activity film series.
Plot [spoilers]:
Peter Griffin, Glenn Quagmire, Cleveland Brown, and Joe Swanson watch Maniac Pope 2: Thou Shall Not Live at a movie theater but are not impressed. At the Drunken Clam, Peter, Quagmire, Cleveland, and Joe seek inspiration for a horror film idea.
They decide to head to the abandoned Quahog Asylum to gain it and begin sharing their stories:
- Peter tells his horror story involving 2 teens (played by Peter and Lois) being murdered by a mountain cat (also portrayed by Peter)
- Cleveland’s zombie-based story is about a patient, portrayed by himself, in an abandoned hospital who only changes a light bulb, which burns out instantly. When asked when the zombies are going to come in, Cleveland stated that the zombies are arriving on a shuttle bus.
- Peter tells another story about how 3 ambassadors (Cleveland, Peter, and Quagmire) are killed by a haunted soap.
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As they share their ideas, they begin to hear strange noises and footsteps. The four get frightened and try to evacuate, but discover they have been locked in. They crawl through an air duct, but it collapses and they end up in the basement, where they encounter the hook-handed man that was involved in the story about the asylum’s past. They flee past him and get outside, but realise that they are four against one, so they attack and inadvertently kill him.
Upon investigation, they discover he is a property caretaker named Albert and the hook is due to valor in the Korean War. Quagmire wants to confess the murder, but he is overruled. They bury Albert’s body and his car while making a pact to keep the murder silent.
After the incident, Peter has a sleepless night and deals with coincidences that are similar to the circumstances of the murder. At the Drunken Clam, Quagmire denies his involvement and reveals he forged an alibi, prompting Peter to return to the Quahog Asylum to frame Quagmire for the murder. Once he is there, he finds that the other three are already there, all planning to frame each other. Before they assault each other with shovels, Peter sees this as inspiration for a horror film.
Later, their film Cereal Killer is released starring John Goodman as the Peter-like character; they have a negative opinion of it upon leaving the theatre. Afterwards, they see Albert in a newspaper as he is reported missing and revealed to be a Ku Klux Klan leader who stole war medals. This revelation soothes their guilty consciences. Back at the Quahog Asylum, Albert’s hook rises from the grave and his car door rises in the same way…
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Reviews:
“I thought it was rather clever that the janitor they thought was innocent wasn’t innocent at all. He was a KKK leader who stole war medals. Nice social commentary, I guess. But then again, isn’t that sort of ending a horror movie staple?” Lisa Babick, TV Fanatic
