Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones

2014 Paramount Pictures/Blumhouse Productions
Written and Directed by: Christopher Landon
Starring: Andrew Jacobs, Jorge Diaz, and Gabrielle Walsh
MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 84 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 7/10

Jesse Arista has just graduated high school and is looking forward to a summer of fun with his friends Hector and Marisol. They've also got a new video camera to film whatever hijinks they find themselves getting into. Sure enough, as soon as they get the camera, weird stuff starts happening around their apartment complex, culminating in the death of their downstairs neighbor and alleged witch, Ana. As the trio investigate, they find that Ana was into some dark stuff...and it isn't long before that darkness begins to seep into their own lives.
2009's Paranormal Activity not only breathed new life into the dying found-footage horror genre, but provided me with one of my most cherished movie-going experiences. Throughout the film, several people left in terror, climaxing in a woman screaming "Oh, hell no!" at her boyfriend, before throwing her high-heeled shoe at him and storming out (after this moment). I guess she drove home barefoot, and he found another ride. Whatever the case, I enjoyed the first film immensely. While I have mixed opinions about some of its sequels, I find Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones to be a lot of fun. 

Though it's technically the fifth film in the series, The Marked Ones thankfully at last finds a new setting for these movies outside of white suburbia. The Marked Ones is set in a Latinx community in Southern California, and features an entirely new cast of characters. However, while the cast is new, the film finds ways to link up to the greater mythology of the series in both subtle and quite overt ways, while not alienating new viewers. Most importantly, as said above, The Marked Ones is fun.
The setting, which thankfully doesn't lean into lazy and exaggerated stereotypes, is refreshing. The cast has an easy chemistry, which lends a lot of humor to their interactions, up until, in true Paranormal Activity form, everything goes completely batshit crazy. 

The gist of these films is obviously that folks intending to just film their everyday life end up capturing terrifying supernatural happenings...and their experience generally ends with them dropping the camera to the floor as they're killed right before the credits roll. The Marked Ones adds some fun and different kinks to the formula, though. Here, the supernatural more overtly interacts with the characters throughout the film, and the finale includes a lot more bombast, and--new to this series--some Lovecraftian horror. Overall, if you don't find the basic concept of the franchise exciting, this entry may not change your mind, but if you're game, The Marked Ones is a breezy good time, building to some solid and resonant scares.