Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones

They've been doing it since the days of the Great Classic Monsters--Dracula and Frankenstein, the Wolf Man and the Mummy. They did it to death after the success of Halloween (1978), Friday the 13th (1980), and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). They made it a yearly tradition after the first Saw (2004). It's THE SEQUEL. And it's not going to stop until it consumes every dollar you've ever earned. Fortunately for me, I had a gift card. Thus, when I took my seat in the theater last night I was able to console myself that I personally had not given money to a sequel/spin-off hybrid that I was sure would fall flat. And though Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014) was better than it had any right to be, this intriguing side story was still bogged down by cheap scares and little expansion of the franchise mythology, culminating in an obvious set up of the series's next entry later this year. 

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (U.S.A.)
Released: January 3, 2014
Director: Christopher B. Landon
Screenplay: Christopher B. Landon

Tagline: "You're one of us now"

Cast:
Andrew Jacobs as Jesse
Jorge Diaz as Hector
Gabrielle Walsh as Marisol
Renee Victor as Jesse's Grandmother
Richard Cabral as Arturo

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones tries hard to reinvigorate a franchise of increasingly diminishing quality that began with Oren Peli's original Paranormal Activity (2007), released worldwide in 2009, and followed by sequels churned out like clockwork every October. The first film, which caught on like wildfire, played around with original and eerie usages of the first-person found footage sub-genre made popular by The Blair Witch Project (1999) and used subtlety and pacing to craft a creepy slow-burning film whose tension mounts with each frame. Since that first foray into a demonic haunting caught on tape, the sequels have displayed bumpy levels of quality and scare factor while attempting to establish a cohesive story that explains the reasoning behind the hauntings of sisters Katie and Kristi and their respective families. These clues and explanations have always felt scattered, however, and unless you're going to sit down and cross-reference each of the sequels in turn, it can be hard to piece together a foundation of the series mythology.

Thus, part of what makes The Marked Ones feel so fresh and lively is that the focus is removed from the main storyline followed in the first four Paranormal Activity films and shifted onto 18-year old Jesse, recent high school graduate and apple of his family's eye. Rather than displaying a hidden camera haunting of another upper middle class white suburban family, this film takes the viewer to gang-controlled, Latino neighborhood of Oxnard, California, where Jesse's best friend Hector is documenting his friend's educational triumph on video. Soon after, Jesse and Hector discover that their estranged, elderly neighbor Anna--whose apartment is covered with newspapers and is a place of speculation and ridicule among neighborhood kids for the moaning that is often heard coming from inside--has been murdered, apparently by Jesse's friend and class valedictorian, Oscar. This strange event coincides with odd changes Jesse is noticing in himself, among them super strength and the ability to be caught from falling by an unseen force. And so the ordeal begins--for Jesse and for the audience.

As much as I give credit to the creative minds of the Paranormal Activity series for stepping out behind the confines of white affluential suburbia to give us new, fresh characters who live a much different day-t0-day life than the typical suburbanites in a challenging and culturally rich setting, the film just rings of untapped potential. This may be because, at this point in the history of the horror film, the well of the found footage film is all but dried up. It should be noted, however, that the film does do away with certain series staples such as quicktime showing of video footage depicting how long a person can stand in one space and sheets and doors moving while someone sleeps. Yet, at the same time, the middle section of the film where Jesse first begins to discover his new abilities and their connection to his neighbors murder is sapped of originality, taking elements from the movie Chronicle (2012), another found footage film. 

Demon selfies!

What makes The Marked Ones a bearable movie is that it is miles better than the dreadful Paranormal Activity 4 (2012), and that is due to personality. Jesse and Hector are likable worth caring about, much more three dimensional than you might expect from the fifth film in a horror series. They're not the most original or deep characters to ever grace the silver screen, but they do have a relatable and endearing humor that surfaces in the comedic moments between panicked ones that will make you smile along with them.

Sadly, even the well-drawn characters are not enough to save the film from the overused, easy-to-employ jump scares and peek-a-boo moments of "terror." The predominantly predictable sequences get old fast, and the once interesting story falters the longer the film goes on. There's virtually no tension or suspenseful build-up. The viewer worries for Jesse not because of what the film is doing but because of what the film is--we know that something bad is going to happen to him by nature of the ticket stub we have in our pocket, not because the film's atmosphere or mood has led us to believe this. I'll admit that jump scares can, at times, be very effective, and I'm not against them in the slightest, but they have to be used properly. A whole film populated by them might raise blood pressure, but it won't do much beyond that. The first Paranormal Activity, like any decent horror film, will find ways to make the terror onscreen frighten, disturb, and entertain both body and mind. This film sticks to the third category at best.

The interwoven stories from previous entries in the series also make the film feel a bit choppy. At times, references to the past four films feel forced, as though they were placed there merely to wink at the audience but not to contribute anything to the current plot. But the film does make use of the events of the first film in a somewhat clever way when it delivers it's coup de grace during the finale. Although labeled as a spin-off, The Marked Ones does not work well as a stand alone film, especially given the ending, which will require that the audience have knowledge of at least the first film in the series. A character from Paranormal Activity 2 (2010) also makes an appearance, so it may be best to have seen at least the first two entries of the franchise before tackling the latest chapter. 

Yes. Let us all cleanse ourselves of the dark presence

at work here--the SEQUEL

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones left me feeling afraid--not because of anything that I witnessed in the 90 minutes on screen, but afraid that writer/director Christopher Landon, who has done work on all of the franchise's films save the first, is going to corner the series into a corner that it will not be able to get out of, much like the Saw writers did with the intricately connected plot threads in the later sequels. While it does do some good work, and is overall a passable entry into this noteworthy horror series, I think for fans to believe that the franchise is back on track, this October's Paranormal Activity 5 will have to really knock the creativity and terror out of the park. Because, honestly, this one was just too left of the mark.

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014)

5-Totally Terrifying

4-Crazy Creepy

3-Fairly Frightening

2-Slightly Scary

1-Hardly Horror