At first, it seemed like the fun might be back in the Paranormal franchise with "The Marked Ones". There's a much needed change of environment, good comic relief and even a few decent horror images. All of this is completely negated by the movie's utter stupidity. While the first film was a worthy cultural phenomenon, the series is becoming a chore. If "The Marked Ones", the first big release of the year, is a sign of things to come, then it is going to be a LONG year. This is the fifth "Paranormal" film, and is more of a spin-off than a sequel. It follows Latino teenagers in California and (SURPRISE) strange things begin to happen to them. This movie is clearly trying to hearken its own previous films while also laying new ground, but fails on both fronts. It tries exorcism horror
and fails. It tries haunted house horror
and fails. It tries mythological horror
and fails. In fact, what made the first films so great was their simplicity; we could place our personal fears within the story. With all of this convoluted, lazy and stupid mythos, all relatability has been thrown out the window. Worst of all, it's clichéd and predictable. That's never good, but especially for a horror film that relies on being surprising. Instead, the creepiness is laughable, and the found footage element has become less of a device and more of a gimmick, too often being boring instead of scary. So while the first few films caused nightmares, this one will just put you to sleep.