Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones

I think even the diehard fans of the Paranormal Activity franchise would have to admit there's been a certain sameness to every movie in the series so far.  In each entry, some upscale suburban home has become the new stomping ground for an invisible, malevolent entity who goes by the name of Toby, who then proceeds to spread a lot of misery across the people within the home, while we learn a little bit more about the increasingly convoluted backstory.  While the film is not a total success, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones does stand out by shaking things up a little bit by changing the setting (a working class apartment complex in Oxnard, California), and centering the plot not around a haunted house, but rather a young man who develops supernatural powers under demonic influence.

With this new approach, it seems at times that writer-director Christopher Landon (who wrote the previous three entries in the series) is drawing inspiration not from the franchise itself, but from the underrated 2012 found footage film, Chronicle, about a group of kids who developed inhuman powers after finding a buried alien device.  And while that was a much better movie than this, I still appreciated the effort.  I also appreciated the fact that Landon tries to add some humor to the concept.  The first half of the film, as we're introduced to the young man and his working class Latino family, is fairly lighthearted in tone, and doesn't really take itself all that seriously.  Despite these improvements, the reason why I can't fully recommend The Marked Ones is that once it does change gears and go for screams instead of laughs, it's just not that effective.  There's no invention behind the scares, like the brilliant oscillating fan camera in Paranormal Activity 3.  It's when the movie starts relying on the same cheap jump scares of the earlier entries that the movie starts to feel like old hat.

The plot this time concerns a recent high school graduate named Jesse (Andrew Jacobs), who is having fun with his new handheld camera and his best friend, Hector (Jorge Diaz), by staging Jackass-style stunts and pranks around the apartment complex where he lives.  The fun comes to an abrupt stop when the creepy old lady who lives in the apartment underneath him mysteriously dies, and a student from Jesse's graduating class (Carlos Pratts) is seen hanging around the old lady's former place, acting strange.  Jesse can hear strange sounds coming from the apartment through the vent in his bedroom, and sees even stranger things when he manages to lower his camera down the vent, and secretly records what appears to be some sort of ritual going on.  Jesse and Hector make the unwise decision to sneak inside the old lady's place, and find some creepy clues that seem to hint at an ancient evil cult, as well as a connection to Jesse himself, whose photo can be found in certain rooms for reasons unknown.

As the friends try to dig deeper into the mystery, Jesse starts to exhibit strange supernatural powers, such as increased strength and agility.  It's also right about this time that other unearthly events start happening, such as Jesse being able to communicate with his old electronic Simon game like a Ouija board, and the family dog acting oddly aggressive around him.  Eventually, we get some elements that will be very familiar to fans of the series, as well as some connections to the earlier films, and some new questions that will inevitably be explored in the upcoming Paranormal Activity 5 (set to be released in October).  In other words, if the previous films haven't been able to sell you on this stuff, this one won't either.  And if you haven't been keeping up with the evolving storyline behind this franchise, you are going to be completely and utterly lost by the time it's all over.

At the very least, The Marked Ones is a vast improvement over the lackluster fourth entry we got before this.  A lot of this has to do with the charismatic cast, who not only come across as being spontaneous and natural (a virtual must for a found-footage film), but have great chemistry with each other.  During the early scenes, when the two main characters are goofing around and having fun, both of the young actors bring a sense of unforced liveliness.  If the later half of the film had explored the idea of their deteriorating friendship, rather than generic jump scares, it might have helped bring a sense of tragedy to the story. (There is a moment when Jesse, under the influence of demonic power, tells Hector that they are not friends anymore.  But the scene doesn't hit as hard as it should.) What we basically have here is a movie that is trying to break free of its familiar formula, while at the same time being bound to it. 

While not a total success, it is nice to see some effort being put forth toward this series again.  I don't know how much longer these films can hold out, but given it's being released in the early days of January with no competition except holdovers from the holidays, I'm sure this movie will have no problem roping in the fans, or teens looking for a quick jolt.  That's what these movies are all about, after all.

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