Without question, Marked Ones fares best in its second act. Marked Ones definitely leans on dramatic material more heavily than its predecessors, and this makes it semi-interesting.įor a while, at least. The situation improves in the second half, though, and occasionally threatens to redeem the rest. Yeah, we see a few hints of the titular paranormal activity, but these remain small tidbits. The first half of the movie may cause one to wonder if anything will ever happen in the movie beyond the antics of some Latino teens with a lot of time on their hands. Marked Ones tends to follow this mix of banal and supernatural, though I think it probably favors the latter more than its predecessors – especially during its second half. Those occurred so infrequently – and were so forgettable – that the movies generated little to no tension/excitement. In the prior films, we saw a lot of ordinary, everyday activity punctuated by occasional moments of alleged spookiness. While this does make Marked Ones a deviation from the usual characters, it doesn’t alter the standard pacing/action template. She does make an appearance, one that would fall into spoiler territory if I discussed it, but suffice it to say that she plays no real role in the film. It becomes the first of the franchise to essentially leave out the Katie character from the original – as an active participant, that is. Unlike the first four Paranormal Activity films, Marked Ones doesn’t act as a true sequel/prequel. So why did I give Marked Ones a look? Hope springs eternal, I guess, and also it came billed as more of a “cousin” to its predecessors instead of a tale directly connected to the others. After all, I didn’t enjoy the first one either, and the two seemed so similar that it appeared unlikely a fifth entry would do much for me. When I reviewed Paranormal Activity 4, I disliked it and stated I should probably bail on the franchise. From there, Jesse and his pal Hector (Jorge Diaz) escalate their investigation and soon find themselves amidst plenty of spooky weirdness. Matters become even more perplexing when Jesse’s valedictorian classmate Oscar (Carlos Pratts) shoots and kills Ana. He utilizes his new camera to document some of this and witnesses events like a strange ritual Ana conducts with a naked woman (Angelina Morales). Jesse claims that he hears weird noises from the apartment of downstairs neighbor Ana (Gloria Sandoval). Set in summer 2012, Marked Ones introduces us to Jesse (Andrew Jacobs), a recent high school graduate who uses some of the money given to him to buy a video camera. Given those profits, I assume we’ll get yet another Paranormal Activity flick before too long, though probably not in the Marked Ones universe, as it detours a wee bit from its predecessors. The $5 million cost of Marked Ones looks like big bucks compared to the $15,000 (!) of the first film, but it remains chump change in Hollywood terms. Via a US gross of $32 million, Marked Ones becomes the weakest earner of the bunch, but given the low budget involved, it still turned a sizable profit. Yeah, the original flick got a film festival debut in 2007, but it didn’t earn a broad release until October 2009, so few saw it until then. With 2014’s The Marked Ones, the Paranormal Activity franchise delivers its fifth movie in only 51 months. Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (April 17, 2014) Panasonic TC-P60VT60 60-Inch 1080p 600Hz 3D Smart Plasma HDTV Sony STR-DG1200 7.1 Channel Receiver Panasonic DMP-BD60K Blu-Ray Player using HDMI outputs Michael Green Revolution Cinema 6i Speakers (all five) Kenwood 1050SW 150-watt Subwoofer. Both Theatrical and Unrated Versions of the Film.As he investigates, it isn't long before Jessie finds he's been marked for possession by a malevolent demonic entity, and it's only a matter of time before he is completely under its control. Jesse begins experiencing a number of disturbing and unexplainable things after the death of his neighbor. Review Archive: # | A-C | D-F | G-I | J-L | M-O | P-R | S-U | V-Z | Viewer Ratings | MainĪndrew Jacobs, Jorge Diaz, Gabrielle Walsh Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014)
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