Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones

First, lets get caught up so far......

OK, I hope you watched that video and are all caught up on the Paranormal Activity mythology so far.  I wasn't.  I didn't even see PA4.  I liked Paranormal Activity 1 and 2.  With number 3 I could tell this story was getting more complicated and ridiculous  than Saw, so I shut it down.  Honestly, I wasn't even going to see The Marked Ones until I heard it was a "reboot" of the franchise: a break from the Katie/Kristi saga.  I was also intrigued by the fact that it featured a Latino cast.  Why not after the white, white, whiteness of the first three movies (check out my original review)?  I hate these people.  Not white people.  I am one.  These white people. God, who decorates like that??

Jessie is a young man who just graduated High School.  He lives with his Grandmother in an apartment Southern California.  His best friend and constant companion is Hector, a dumb but nice dude who always has Jessie's back.  When the downstairs neighbor is killed, Jessie and Hector decide to investigate.  They discover that she may have been a witch.  Suddenly, Jessie has an awfully familiar looking bite mark on his arm and begins to display some supernatural powers.  The guys think this is pretty awesome at first, until Jessie begins to change in more ways than one...

The film is presented in the familiar POV style, with Hector acting a primary cameraman.  As Jessie descends into full on Demon hood, call backs from the previous films keep popping up...

If you want all the Easter eggs and spoilers please click here. Really, you don't need to have seen any of the other films to enjoy The Marked Ones.  As a stand alone it is interesting and I even screamed once.  Any film that can make me scream in my jaded state is worth a recommend.  However, SPOILER ALERT, it helps to at least seen the first one to understand the ending. 

Final thoughts: beyond being relieved that the actor who played Hector is actually 30 years old (thought he was hot) and racking my brain throughout the movie trying to remember what happened in the original three, I enjoyed this.  Would this be my pick for the first film I see in a theatre in 2014?  No.  Was this my pick for the first film I saw in the theatre for 2014? Yes.  Since my New Years resolutions are to see more films in the theatre, gain at least 20 pounds, and drink more, I am off to a ripping start!  I have eaten a cookie today, drank three glasses of wine and two mimosas, AND saw The Wolf of Wall Street.  And I am only 4 days in!!!!  Seriously, WoWS is LONG.  Bring one of those inflatable donut butt pillows.  You will thank me. 

Paranormal Activity 3

 I almost didn't write this post because I really don't have much to say about Paranormal Activity 3.  I know some people loved it but to me it was just more of the same.  A prequel of sorts, PA3 shows the haunted sisters Katie and Kristi has little girls.  Trouble starts when little Kristi begins talking to an imaginary friend named Toby. 

Strange things start to happen around the house and Dennis, the boyfriend of the girl's mother Julie, sets up cameras around the house to figure out exactly what is going on.  Yes, pretty much the same set up as the other films. 

There are a few things I like about this version.  Directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman (Catfish) deliver the scares.  I particularly like the oscillating fan/camera and the "ghost" who scares the babysitter.  I also appreciate the continuity between the films.  Katie's boyfriend in the original film looks just like Dennis.  The Featherston girls all have the same terrible decorating tastes.  What I don't understand is the ending and how it relates to the other films.  I don't want to give anything away, but it is clear that the girls are under control of a evil force.  I don't understand why they are so "surprised" when bad mojo starts to happen years later.  Perhaps PA 4 and 5 will explain this. 

I like the Paranormal Activity films but they are beginning to feel like a yearly chore, ala Saw.  Maybe they should give it a rest for a few years and then come back and really scare the pants off us.

Paranormal Activity 2: written while doped up on Dayquil.

 So I am so sick I am taking a sick day at work.  Remember how sick days were great when you were a kid because you didn't have to go to school (I was never an overachiever)?  Well, now they suck.  But, I present to you my doped up on Dayquil review of Paranormal Activity 2.  All who read this are so lucky.

I had and have mixed feelings about Paranormal Activity.  I am always happy when a horror film does well at the box office, and even happier when it becomes a cultural phenomenon.  I am always happy when a low-budget film and filmmakers make it big.  What bothered me about Paranormal Activity, and I know I am not the only one, are the lead characters.  Katie and Micah are assholes who can't decorate.  There, I said it.  I disliked them.  I know people like them, and I wouldn't want to see a film about them.  I am no Martha Stewart but come on: their house had no personality.  And neither did they.  But, the film had a couple of good scares and some weird mojo.  I admit, I had a hard time sleeping that night.  I kept being worried that I would wake up and my husband would be standing over the bed staring at me.  I did wake up, but just my cat was staring at me, which is pretty normal.

Paranormal Activity 2 is a big improvement.  The characters are a whole lot more relate able and likable.  Katie and Micah even make a return appearance, and their asshole meter has been turned way down.  I don't want to give away much about this film: the genius of the filmmakers and the marketing department is that they really didn't tell the audience what the film was going to be about.  I thought it was going to be a straight sequel, and it isn't.  It follows the "concept" of the first film but changes it up just enough so you are not seeing the same thing over and over.  It expands on the "mythology" of PA (I smell a franchise) and takes it in a new direction.  It was good, much better than I expected.  Is it perfect?  Hells no.  The film kind of starts to fall apart at the end, after someone is "possessed" and a quick, split second decision is made that will effect many characters.  It didn't feel right. 

What I loved about this film is that it had "Baby Trauma".  You just don't see enough baby trauma in films.  It's always cat trauma or dog trauma (this film had that too) or upper middle class crafter trauma.  What I also loved about this film is that it made me jump about 3 times.  That is pretty impressive.  At one point I was actually laughing while covering my eyes: I was so happy to be scared.  In many ways, the PA films are like Haunted House Attractions.  You stumble around in the dark, waiting for the big scare that you know is coming, you just don't know when.  After, you laugh and move on with your life.  That is Paranormal Activity.  I will take it any day over Saw.

By the way, it should really be called Demonic Activity.  Ghosties are nowhere to be found in these films.  I guess Demons really are the new "in thing."

Paranormal Activity 2

I was not a huge fan of Paranormal Activity. Not because it wasn't scary, it was. But because the lead characters were so annoying! Not the actors themselves, but the people they played and the way they decorated their house! It might be the first time I was ever rooting for people to die because of their home furnishings. Anyway, I like this trailer because it gave me goosebumps and it features a baby in peril.