Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones is a really, really bad movie that might have been exciting twenty-years ago but we’ve had four of these movies already plus countless possession movies like THE “Devil Inside” and of course two “The Last Exorcism” movies. I honestly don’t know where to begin; this movie is so bad that I actually have a hard time describing it with words.
At first, it seemed like the fun might be back in the “Paranormal” franchise with “The Marked Ones”. There’s a much needed change of environment, good comic relief and even a few decent horror images. All of this is completely negated by the movie’s utter stupidity. While the first film was a worthy cultural phenomenon, the series is becoming a chore. The story just gets dumber as more sequels or even “prequels” come out.
This is the fifth “Paranormal” film, and is more of a spin-off than a sequel. It follows Latino teenagers in California and (SURPRISE) strange things begin to happen to them. This movie is clearly trying to hearken its own previous films while also laying new ground, but fails on both fronts. It tries exorcism horror…and fails. It tries haunted house horror…and fails. It tries mythological horror…and fails. In fact, what made the first films so great was their simplicity. With all of this convoluted, lazy and stupid mythos, all reliability has been thrown out the window. Worst of all, it’s clichéd and predictable. That’s never good, but especially for a horror film that relies on being surprising. Instead, the creepiness is laughable, and the found footage element has become less of a device and more of a gimmick, too often being boring instead of scary. So while the first few films caused nightmares, this one will just put you to sleep.
The Marked Ones literally has nothing happen in it for about 85% of the movie. The story line is mediocre at best and the execution is horrendous. I love horror movies and this one is something I wouldn’t submit any of my friends and family to watch, maybe even my enemies.