![]() Sure, the found footage horror clichés pile up fast and furiously, but Landon has at least wallowed in that world long enough to know how to pull them off effectively and delivers a film with a few decent jolts and without the tiresome repetition that dogged Paranormal 2 and 4.Īgainst all odds Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones actually deserves to exist and be a hit It’s all an ill-placed sombrero away from being offensive), the film still feels like a successful entry in the most tasteful horror franchise in decades. ![]() Yet despite all that and the heaping doses of Latino stereotypes (Tequila? Check. There’s some shotgun action this time, the camera is constantly mobile rather than locked off, and there are even a couple gross out gags amidst the jump scares. Writer/director Christopher Landon (who has been scripting the series since the first sequel before earning the directorial promotion) clearly knows the franchise well enough to understand what to change and what to keep the same. That’s all undeniably true and yet regardless of the reasons for changes in the series, those changes still work surprisingly well. If you want to be cynical about it, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones reinvents the franchise by mixing in other popular found footage horror tropes of recent years and shifting the focus from middle class WASPS to a working class Latino market that the Paramount marketing department determined was a strong fanbase for the series. Whether or not this new direction will lead to more sequels worth seeing remains to be seen, but the good news is that against all odds Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones is one of the best entries in the series to date. ![]() By borrowing (aka stealing) from a variety of different found footage horror franchises (mostly Chronicle), the Paranormal Activity franchise has somehow reinvented itself. Thankfully, the folks behind the series decided it was time to change things up and actually delivered a movie quite different from what came before. However, money was still being made and so Paranormal Activity 5 was going to happen no matter what. Sure, the Paranormal Activity 3 proved to be an enjoyable mix of 80s kitsch and high-fi/low-fi scares, but by part four the format had grown so nauseatingly sale that the profits dropped by half. Bringing in almost $200 million worldwide on a $15 thousand dollar budget, the movie was a big fat success story and thus began the inevitable Hollywood practice of repeating the trick to death. Here was a return not just to no-budget indie horror from a major studio, but also a film that pulled the genre from the torture porn era into the found footage era. When Oren Peli’s shot-in-my-bedroom indie got a major release from Paramount, it was a big ol’ shock. Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones starts with the lead character Jesse (Andrew Jacobs), who is celebrating his graduation from college with his family and best friend Hector (Jorge Diaz).It’s hard to believe we’re now five movies into a franchise based on a locked off camera, a bedroom, and things that go bump in the night. ![]() I wouldn't say PA is a hate it or love it type film, but rather more like an embarrassing addiction an addiction where you yearn for a sense of filmic euphoria that simply cannot be fulfilled. Paranormal Activity needed to show viewers some sort of endgame or reason as to why they are watching another family haunted and possessed by demons. PA's crutch is that it is fun to watch, especially with a partner or group of friends, annoyingly so… as most of Landon's PA films leave an unsavoury taste in the mouth like buying food on an empty stomach that only serves to frustrate your tastebuds. Landon needs to assert some quality control within his films if longevity is the goal rather than the money. The Marked Ones feels like it's significant in comparison to Paranormal Activity 4, which is shockingly bad. Director/writer Christopher Landon indeed does a better job at giving the audience what they want in The Marked Ones pumping more drama and action in towards the latter end of the film, rather than teasing viewers for a full hour and a half without a conclusion, resolution or satisfaction.
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