Review of Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014) by Thomas W — 23 Jul 2014

Five years and five films after this film franchise began, The Paranormal Activity series is just as dull and lifeless as ever and it will most likely continue as long as the studio can continue making films about nothing for next to nothing that some people will still venture out to pay for and see.

This fifth film is more of a spin-off than a sequel or prequel like the previous films have "claimed" to be as this one takes place in Oxnard, California and centers around a mostly Spanish-speaking cast of characters who believe their downstairs neighbor to be some sort of mystical, dark-arts witch.

As a coven of witches has been hinted at and slowly introduced in the previous four films, the filmmakers are hoping this is enough of a cohesive thread to start a new set of films to scare the bejesus out of audiences everywhere.

The Marked Ones is riddled with ridiculous, far-fetched occurences NONE of which are scary, though, and this does not bode well for a "horror film". Just like all of the other films in the series, this film continues with the hand-held camera technique that is supposed to lend authentic believability to the scares witnessed onscreen but instead has the exact opposite effect.

Nobody ever sees the necessity of dropping the camera and running for his/her life ... and therefore the fates of each of these (dumb) characters means nothing to me. We finally get to see why Katie freaked out and screamed for Micah in the very first film -- thank goodness for time and space traveling portals in low-rent apartment complexes in SoCal! -- but by the time this happens it is just another yawn in a long series of yawns found in this fifth film.

I'm beginning to miss Jason and Freddy.