good back-story, and good acting

brilliant actors, brilliant editing

Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Taking a look at Netflix UK's Horror page,I was pleased to spot the the 5th film in the Paranormal Activity (PA) series,which led to me getting ready to meet the marked ones. The plot-2012:Finding out that a neighbour (who everyone believed to be a witch) has been killed, high school students Jesse Arista and his friend Hector Estrella spot fellow student Oscar Lopez running from the scene.Deciding to check the flat (good idea guys!) Arista & Estrella find the place to be filled with black magic items.Metting up with pal Marisol Vargas,the gang decide to mess around with some of the items,and perform a "ritual." Thinking that the ritual was stupid,Jesse begins to notice weird paranormal activity take place,which leads to Jesse's aunt Irma Arista fearing that Jesse has been marked.View on the film:Burning off the trademark "nights" structure of the last 4 films in the series,the screenplay by returning writer (and this time also a director) Christopher Landon brings the Paranormal back at a more comedic edge.Turning the ghosts/demons into zombie-style monsters,Landon uses the Latino setting to give the mythology a salsa chill,which goes from Irma Arista unleashing CGI with her healing attempts,to an eerie table top game. After having everyone shake with fear over the past titles in the series,Landon allows the series to let its hair down by taking a refreshing Comedy Horror route.Despite not avoiding some clichés (who knew all Latinos had guns!) Landon gets the viewer to put their guard down by showing Jesse enjoying his new powers, (which include flying) that soon comes back to haunt him.Taking the franchise in a new direction with the screenplay, Landon and cinematographer Gonzalo Amat disappointingly lose their nerve in the Found Footage format of PA,due to Landon not giving the creepy set-pieces breathing space,by hitting them with an ott shaking camera,which ends up being a mark against the marked ones.

Literally and metaphorically speaking. Though some might feel it never actually had a real up. But whatever you think of the Paranormal movies, they made their money. It's like that with every successful movie series. There are fans of it and those people who don't like the movies at all, which doesn't take anything away from what those movies achieved (something the Witch from Blair wasn't able to start, even despite all the financial success).So this spin-off or whatever you want to call it, plays in a different country, but has the same clichés and the same annoying behavior from the characters who are playing lead here. If you don't mind, there are moments of tension that are kind of genuine. Other than that you sometimes wonder what takes evil so long to finally get it going on ...

You ever have that feeling before you watch something that it's just going to be bad? I mean, sometimes you're pleasantly surprised, but more times than not you called it right. This was how I felt before watching 'The Marked Ones'. I just had this feeling of dread before renting this one, but I also felt obligated because I've seen the entire PA franchise. You know what I mean. And unfortunately, I was right. This one stunk. And while leaving on a bad note may leave one unsatisfied, I think it's time to just walk away from this franchise. I mean, once you jump the shark, there's no going back. Unfortunately, they didn't get that memo, as I hear there's a sixth installment coming out soon. Ugh.I'll start with a little bit of praise. At least the PA team tried to do something different. The first 4 were basically cookie cutters, and while 4 wasn't awful, you got the feeling that they kind of exhausted their formula of cameras positioned around a house while filming paranormal activity (usually at night), yet somehow the protagonists stick around much longer than any sane person would. And different is usually a good thing, right? Except when it isn't. And this different sucked.I actually bought into the characters at the beginning, as the PA franchise does a pretty job of character development. That made it all the more frustrating as the movie went south, which made me care less what happened to them and I found myself actually looking forward for the movie to end.Basically, we find out that certain newborn males are 'marked' to become possessed. Jesse is one of those, and at 18 years old the witches are coming for him. Without giving up to much info, this all ties back to Katie in the original PA, as we find her screaming Micah's name, just as she did at the end of PA1. Don't ask me how we ended up back to that point, but we did. At least we get to see how she killed him, I guess.The story basically makes no sense, and it just seems like the writers either made things up as they went, or they got completely hammered one night and wrote this atrocious script. Oh, and did I tell you that there isn't one scary moment in the whole movie? Yeah, that makes this even worse. It's hardly suspenseful, let alone the least bit scary.The more I think about this movie, the more it pisses me off. It was just that stupid. And I only have myself to blame, since I knew this was going to be bad before I watched it. I should learn to just trust my instincts. Though, I guess Im a glutton for punishment.

paranormal activity:the marked ones is another paranormal activity film. this film doesn't try to be scary it tries to be fun and creepy. in some areas it does great. but it fails as a horror filmthe plot Jesse investigates the death of his next door neighbor and he soon realizes that something has been following him. He starts of thinking that its a good spirit but he finds out he is wrongTHE FILM IS ENJOYABLE. Just give it a try and you most likely will have funit contains a lot of jump scares and that might get a little bit annoying