Review of Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014) by Jeff B — 23 Mar 2014

Trading in on the Paranormal Activity name to occasionally good effect, The Marked Ones plays out like The Blair Witch Project meets End of Watch with a little bit of Chronicle thrown in for good measure...only not nearly as scary. Taking the concept from white collar suburbia to a low income 'hood definitely brings a welcome jolt to the tired and true Paranormal brand, but the name shares little DNA with its forebear beyond execution aside from 2 key scenes--it's place in the horror genre included. The thrills result not so much from being scared as being punk'd. Purposely juvenile to the Nth degree, this spin-off targets more specific audiences than chapters 1 - 4, which bodes well for some and poorly for the rest. If you like getting your hairs raised courtesy of thrill-seeking teens jumping out at each other for laughs, this flick's for you. If you're not a high schooler, however, you'll rarely even approach the edge of your seat.

In this R-rated horror flick, Jesse (Jacobs) begins to be pursued by mysterious forces after being "marked," while his family and friends try to save him.

Okay, so The Marked Ones does play with ghostly supernatural forces...that unfortunately arrive well after the halfway point. For the game cast and cameraman, it just comes down to hinging any pulse-pounding around loosely threaded all-over-the-place episodes. THIS the production does well but the sophomoric scares stem more from the Jackass than Paranormal brand.

Bottom line: The mark of Zzzzzzzzz.