![]() So let's just focus on the first hour or so, where we meet our new heroes Jesse and Hector, best friends who have video cameras so they can film themselves doing dumb shit like riding a laundry basket down a flight of stairs. It's odd, to say the least, and the appearance of another series regular isn't very organic, either - and it adds even MORE nonsense to this concept to boot. I mean, the person literally shows up and explains a few things, without a single "Oh, since that happened to me I've been doing this and that", or even seeming like they are traumatized from their experience (though the trailer has footage from this scene that didn't make the final, so perhaps a longer cut will change that). However, I will say that some of it seems shoehorned in - an appearance from a returning character (not Katie) is so brief, and the dialogue so exposition-heavy, I couldn't help but wonder if it was added late in the game, as if they got cold feet about making a film that was entirely free of the increasingly convoluted mythology the series has (sort of) established. That is not the case here if anything it's more connected than the last "true" sequel (it at least explains more about what's going on) and a good chunk of it won't make a lick of sense to anyone who hasn't seen (and retained a solid memory of) the 2nd and 3rd films.īut getting into more about that would be spoiler territory nearly all direct references to the previous films are confined to the 3rd act, so I can't talk about them without ruining some of its surprises. Think Prometheus quality of the film aside, you can't say that any part of it REQUIRES you to have seen Alien or its sequels - it just adds to (or subtracts from, depending on your POV) the experience. Now, maybe Paramount has a different idea of what "spinoff" means, but in my house, that means it's something that doesn't require a full working knowledge of the flagship series - it takes place in its universe but otherwise tells its own contained stories. And yet, again and again, they sneak into Anna's apartment to continue their filmed investigation.When Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones was announced, it was as a "Latino-centric spinoff" of the series, hence the lack of a number in its title (an actual Paranormal Activity 5 will hit this October after taking a year off). The three kids discover, sitting around one of those old low-tech electronic Simon devices one night (a fun throwback detail), that the device appears to be tapped into the paranormal spirits, acting like a Ouija board, answering "Yes" or "No" questions, to the astonishment of the three kids huddled around Simon. Jesse and Hector loop in one of Jesse's cousins, Marisol (Gabrielle Walsh). There are some legitimate scares, although most of them are of the "It was just a cat!" variety. Naturally, the boys have to break into her apartment (now a crime scene) in the middle of the night to investigate. ![]() Why would those two naked ladies choose to stand in the exact spot where the camera can pick up the action through the grate?" The fact that what the boys observe is disturbingly ritualistic is erased by the reality of the real live boobs on display down there. Again, the "found footage" trope requires that you turn off your brain that pesters you with questions such as, "That apartment down there has four rooms. The boys attach the camera to a wire, lower it through the grate, and, to their amazement, observe frumpy Anna, in the nude, painting a red circle on the stomach of a gorgeous naked woman. Weird moaning sounds and bumps come up through the grate at night. Soon, the boys become curious about Anna (Gloria Sandoval), a downstairs neighbor. Their energy together feels unselfconscious it doesn't feel like acting. The only reason this banal footage has any entertainment value is because of the two actors. They do shots of tequila with Jesse's feisty grandmother (Renee Victor). Hector draws a penis on Jesse's face while he sleeps. At first, they just film each other doing dumb stunts involving laundry baskets and staircases. The only thing they have any interest in is fooling around with their new video camera. Both have just graduated from high school and seem to have no plans, no jobs, no goals. Jesse (Jacobs) and Hector (Diaz) live in a crowded apartment complex, with multigenerational family members crowded into small rooms. Evil spirits are up to their old tricks in "The Marked Ones", and this time the action takes place in Oxnard, California, in a working-class Latino neighborhood, a welcome change in style and feel from the other more generic suburban installments.
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