Why I Saw It: I've always loved the Paranormal Activity formula.
Cast: As with all of these movies, there aren't many actors I've seen before. I was happy to see Carlos Pratts is a small role after seeing him on The Bridge. In terms of the lead cast though, Andrew Jacobs, Jorge Diaz, and Gabrielle Walsh all do a convincing job as people who don't know what is going on. I almost need to see them in something else to know how much of their work is performance.
Plot: Any [horror] franchise on its fifth installment is going to be formulaic. As more of a spin-off than a sequel though, The Marked Ones has a lot of differences. Of course, the setting is much different and that was a refreshing change. This is the first movie to directly follow what happens to the males in these families promised to this witches' coven. We get more answers than in PA4 which was nice. And, they do a good job tying this into the rest of the series. If any change didn't work for me, it would have to be that it isn't as clever. The previous movies do a lot of work to show why all these crazy things are being caught on camera. The Marked Ones doesn't try as hard: A kid has a camera and uses it a lot. That's it. Part of the fun of these movies is seeing the same shot over and over again, waiting for when something eventually changes and shit hits the fan. The audience is deprived of that in this.
Elephant in the Room: What about the Latino flavor? Truth be told, I was not at all excited when I heard there was going to be a spin-off aimed at Latino audiences. I have nothing against Latinos. I thought it was a lazy way to change the mythology of the movie that would undo what 4 movies have done. I was wrong to worry. They managed to expand the series without changing what was already there. It doesn't feel any different than the rest of the movies and it has the added bonus of me not asking "how fucking rich are these people?" the whole time.
To Sum Things Up:
Fans of the series will continue to be entertained by this. I think the change in setting could attract new fans too. That makes it a very wise choice from a franchise perspective. Anyone complaining that the movies don't give enough answers probably won't be changed. Oh, how have I not answered this question yet? It is scary. The law of diminishing returns means nothing will be as shocking as the first time around. There's still a couple good "holy shit" moments and the tone keeps you on edge for most of the duration.
Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend
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