About fifteen minutes into Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, a presumably troubled man three rows behind me angrily exited the near-empty theatre at Carlton Cinema. I think he muttered “bullshit” before he left. He wasn’t done, though, returning shortly thereafter, only to leave again ten minutes later. This time he was even angrier, saying something like “Fucking home movies” before leaving for good. My mind drifted from the less-than-stellar movie I was watching for a minute or two. I wanted to know more about this guy and his expectations for the movie. Did he think that this version of Paranormal Activity was going to be filmed differently than the rest because of the colon in its title? God, I hope this didn’t ruin his day. That would be sad.
The Marked Ones marks the fifth installment of the Paranormal Activity series. I have not seen the previous four, and have no explanation for why I chose to watch this one, except to say that sometimes I enjoy watching bad movies, and I assumed this one would be bad. It was.
The movie “stars” (and I use this term loosely) Andrew Jacobs as Jesse, a recent high school graduate who begins to experience powers and exhibit strange behaviour following the death of his mysterious next-door neighbour, Anna, the victim of an apparent attack by Oscar, the valedictorian at Jesse’s high school graduation.
The first sign that something is amiss is the fact that Jesse has marks all over his arms. His powers present themselves rather innocuously at first, though, as he can lean back really far without falling down, and blow up an air mattress really quickly; Jesse’s newfound party tricks are pretty high quality YouTube material. As the movie unfolds, however, we learn that Jesse is a Marked One, the victim of a coven using demons to create an army of young and possessed males. Oscar was also a Marked One; he explains to Jesse – looking very possessed while doing so – that he killed Anna because she put “it” inside of him and “changed him.” Following this riveting exchange, Oscar kills himself.
From this point on, Jesse becomes more possessed, more withdrawn, and less able to control his actions. His friends try to save him by following him to the spot where Ali, an apparent Caucasian (this reference to race will make more sense as you read on) relic from previous installments of the series, advises them that the “final ritual” will take place. After this ritual, it will be over but Jesse “won’t be Jesse anymore.” Whatever that means.
I was too distracted by the fact that the final scene included characters from previous Paranormal Activity movies to fully understand what happened at the “final ritual” location. I just know that these characters made little to no sense to me because I hadn’t seen the previous movies. I’m pretty sure that Jesse was fully possessed and all of his friends died, though. A happy ending.
Sometimes I notice myself checking my watch a lot in movies. That isn’t a good sign for me because it is an indication that I am counting down the minutes until a movie is over. This movie was only 84 minutes, and I checked my watch about 84 times. It wasn’t scary (sorry, someone pulling hair out of their eyes isn’t scary anymore), the acting wasn’t good (possessed Jesse had about as much personality as unpossessed Jesse), the storyline was simplistic (guy gets possessed, friends are concerned, friends try to help), and I was bored. Just like “fucking home movies” guy. The guy next to me seemed to like it a lot, though; he kept excitedly saying “Oh shit!” during the movie. He also tapped his feet a lot. That was irritating.
Anyway, as I was watching The Marked Ones, I thought to myself, “Damn, there are a lot of Latinos in this movie.” I always thought these types of movies took place in the comfort of white, upper middle class suburbia. This development was a clear marketing strategy; The Marked Ones is a Latino spinoff of a previously white teen-dominated series (really).
What is funny – or troubling, depending on how you look at it – is how the Latino-heavy cast is portrayed. A lot of the characters say “homes” a lot (like “homie”, but a bit different). Jesse does shots of tequila with his grandmother a few times. Oxnard, California is the setting for the movie, and its Latino citizens have lots of tattoos and will try to steal your backpack if you’re out late at night playing basketball, even if you’re just trying to buy a snack from a vending machine. Oh, and of course, there is a terrifying Latino gang member who has big and dangerous weapons. In other words, this Latino spinoff of a popular movie franchise attempts to appeal to the Latino population by portraying them as… you know… caricatures of themselves. So, probably more troubling than funny.