Directed by: Christopher B. Landon. Starring: A bunch of interchangeable teenagers
In a spin-off (or is it?) to the Paranormal Activity franchise, The Marked Ones follows Jesse just after he graduates high school. After his mysterious neighbour, Anna, is murdered, strange happenings begin in the apartment building. Along with his friends Arturo and Marisol, Jesse investigates the murder of Anna with devastating consequences.
It is common knowledge by now that I love the Paranormal Activity series. So much so, that my love for the franchise sways my opinion that these reviews become unprofessional and extremely biased. As a result, I have decided to create my own Paranormal Activity rating scale called the brown pants scale. It is based on how scary the film is, i.e. how many times I have to change my pants because they have been unfortunately stained brown. Paranormal Activity 1 definitely earns 5 brown pants out of 5, one of my favourite movies ever and it scared the shit out of me. Part 2 is probably the weakest of the series, and hence only earns one brown pant. 3 steps it up with a well orchestrated prequal, earning 4 pants. They are starting to run out of ideas in part 4 but I loved using the x-box kinect motion sensor and the ending is one of my all time favourites, hence earning it 2.5 pants. The Marked Ones continues the standard Paranormal Activity formula but this time tries to step it up with even more violence and jump scares. However, there are not enough original ideas and it feels like a Hollywood movie, rather than a genuine home movie as part 1 does. Hence, The Marked Ones earns 2 pants
This is the first Paranormal Activity film that really tries to dive into the world of humour, however it fails miserably. Instead of being funny, it turns out to be very, very racist. All the character in the film are Hispanic and there are so many Hispanic stereotypes you don't know where to look. They clearly live in the poor part of town, they have names like Oscar, Hector and Cesar, they eat tortillas, their dog is a Chihuahua, and they have a tequila drinking contest. You kind of want to laugh but you know it is clearly racially insensitive.
I am still not sold on the whole watching Paranormal Activity film in the movies thing. I am not sure whether it is the type of people the film attracts or it is the film itself but people need to learn to SHUT THE FUCK UP. It is obvious that a lot of people get scared during these films and to reassure themselves and to hide the fact from their friends, they laugh when they shouldn't or just keep talking. On one hand it is funny to listen to people and be amused by how scared they are, but on the other hand I would love to just sit back and watch the movie in peace. It is my dream one day to watch a Paranormal Activity film alone in the cinema so I can fully engross myself in the experience.
Overall: Starting to run out of original ideas but still a decent amount of scares involved
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