Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Christopher B. Landon
Produced by	Jason Blum Oren Peli
Written by	Christopher B. Landon
Based on	Paranormal Activity by Oren Peli
Starring	Jorge Diaz Andrew Jacobs Gabrielle Walsh Richard Cabral Noemi Gonzalez Carlos Pratts David Saucedo Renee Victor Micah Sloat Katie Featherston
Cinematography	Gonzalo Amat
Edited by	Gregory Plotkin
Production company	Blumhouse Productions Solana Films Room 101, Inc.
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	January 3, 2014 (2014-01-03) (United States)
Running time	86 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$5 million[1]
Box office	$90.9 million[2]

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones is a 2014 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Christopher B. Landon. Released on January 3, 2014 in the United States, it is the first spin-off of the Paranormal Activity film series and the fifth installment of the franchise. It is also Landon's second directorial film, after Burning Palms.

Plot

On June 2012, recent high school graduate Jesse Arista lives with his father, sister and grandmother in Oxnard, California. In the apartment below lives Ana, who everyone believes to be a witch. When Ana is found murdered one night, to which Oscar, a classmate of Jesse, is seen fleeing the scene and is the prime suspect, Jesse investigates the apartment with his best friend Hector and find black magic items and a journal of spells that can open doorways to "unholy lands".

After Jesse, Hector and their friend Marisol try out a ritual, paranormal occurrences begin in Jesse's apartment. Jesse finds a mysterious bite mark on his arm and also possesses supernatural abilities, proven when he knocks out two thugs that assault him. At a party, Jesse takes a girl to Ana's apartment to have sex, but finds Oscar, who has oily black eyes and a similar bite mark on his arm. He tells Jesse that if they kill themselves they won't harm those who they love and jumps off the building to his death.

The group discover the secret trapdoor, where they find a witch altar and photos of Jesse, his pregnant mother, Ana, Oscar and Lois; at the same moment, a strange woman in black enters but leaves after finding nothing. Jesse is then lured to the trapdoor one night after hearing his dog Chavo yelping for help, but the door slams shut and Jesse sees the ghostly images of young Katie and Kristi before he is attacked by a demonic figure.

Jesse's personality soon grows darker, violent and uncontrollably homicidal. Hector and Marisol learn from Oscar's criminal brother Arturo that Oscar was in contact with Ali Rey, who had researched demons after her father and step-mother were killed and half-brother kidnapped by a possessed Katie. They meet her, to which she says that Jesse has been marked by a coven of witches called the "Midwives", who have been brainwashing women to give up their first-born sons in order to create an army of possessed young men. Ali gives an address to where a final ritual is supposed to take place and warns that Jesse will no longer exist after the demon fully takes control over him.

Jesse's grandmother visits a botánica and tries to cleanse Jesse, but he tears apart the living room. The next morning, Jesse pushes his grandmother down the stairs before disappearing. Hector and Marisol drive off but Jesse ambushes them in a dark street and attacks Hector, but is knocked unconscious by Marisol with a bat. As they are about to leave, a van smashes into their car and Jesse is taken.

With help from Arturo and his friend Santo, Hector and Marisol go to the address, which turns out to be at Grandma Lois's house, where Katie's and Kristi's mother and her boyfriend were killed. The group is attacked by the coven in the garden, to which Hector and Marisol flee inside the house, passing Santo's dead body and leaving Arturo's fate unknown. Marisol disappears and her dead body is thrown off a glass roof, leaving Hector alone. Jesse appears and chases him to a doorway, leading Hector back in time to the night when Micah is killed. Katie appears in the kitchen, sees Hector and screams for Micah, but she stabs him to death when he comes down the stairs. Hector tries to flee but Jesse, under a full demonic state, appears and kills him off-screen; a witch picks up the camera, staring blankly at it before she turns it off.

Cast

Production

The film was announced in April 2012, and was first teased in the post-credits scene of Paranormal Activity, a scene only presented in theaters. Though the film is targeted to the Latino market, most of its dialogue is not in Spanish. Christopher B. Landon, who wrote the screenplay for 2007's Disturbia, as well as the three Paranormal Activity sequels, was announced to write and direct the project, which has been described as a "cousin" to the series as opposed to a direct sequel, prequel or reboot. The film maintains the look of found footage, a style used throughout the Paranormal Activity movie series.^[3]

Filming finished in late July, after producer Jason Blum confirmed that the film was almost finished shooting. This resulted in the film getting its release date pushed from October 25, 2013, to January 3, 2014.

Release

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones was released on January 3, 2014 in U.S., Mexican and Canadian theaters.^[4] The release date was pushed to January due to its longer and larger production and shooting than the previous films.

Critical reception

The film received mixed reviews upon its international release. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 38%, with an average score of 4.6/10, based on 77 reviews. The site's consensus states: "A change of setting breathes some new life into the franchise, but Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones fails to provide enough consistent thrills to justify a fifth film in the series."^[5] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 42 out of 100, based on 19 reviews, considered to be "mixed or average reviews".^[6]

The change of setting and tone was primarily praised by critics. Mark Olsen of the Los Angeles Times praised the film, saying that it "feels like a fresh start".^[7] Variety Magazine critic Andrew Barker celebrated the "welcome diversity and humor" of the film as did Richard Corliss of Time Magazine who summarised that the film "provided the familiar cheap thrills but with a salsa tang." ^[8][9] Filmink Magazine critic Eden Caceda applauded the humor and action, but claimed that the spin off "lacks the memorable scares required for this to rate any higher than an above average horror film."^[10]

Evan Dickson of Bloody Disgusting was the first to give his impressions on the film, giving it a positive review of 4/5. Stating, "Fun, scary and remarkably cinematic within the found footage conceit, The Marked Ones might be the first Paranormal Activity movie that feels like an event film while you’re watching it". Dickson also stated that it was "neck and neck with Paranormal Activity 3".^[11]

Box office

Despite predictions suggesting that The Marked Ones would open at #1 in its debut weekend,^[12] the film took a close second to Frozen (in its seventh week) with $18,343,611 at the North American box office.^[13]

By the end of its theatrical run, The Marked Ones grossed $32.5 million in North America and $58.4 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $90.9 million.^[14]

References

External links

• Official website
• Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones at Rotten Tomatoes
• Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones at the Internet Movie Database
• Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones at Box Office Mojo