Since its 2007 debut at the Screamfest Film Festival, the Paranormal Activity franchise has garnered both praise for its mythology and degradation from cynics and shaky-cam haters. Each movie has expanded the overarching narrative while finding innovative new camerawork techniques. First hinted at in a post-credits sequence from Paranormal Activity 4, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones does more than its share of world building, but in the end, it's more concerned with charm and mythos than camera gimmicks and scares.
The Marked Ones begins at the Lincoln High School graduation of Jesse Arista (Andrew Jacobs). Jesse's friends and family have a graduation party at their humble apartment complex, and we learn that one neighbor is an odd recluse, suspected of being a witch. Jesse and his friend Hector (Jorge Diaz) begin to taunt the woman, but when she is murdered, they're inspired to play detective in her abandoned apartment with their friend Marisol (Gabrielle Walsh). From that point on, Jesse undergoes a strange transformation and finds out he's been marked for possession by a demonic entity. The trio search frantically for answers, leading them to a few familiar faces from installments past.
The casting is as strong as ever. Jacobs impresses with his ability to be a fun-loving, normal teen one moment and eerily distant the next. Jorge Diaz delights in a humorous and believable performance as Jesse's loyal, easily persuaded best friend. In a nice touch, Hector seems to only understand Spanish when it's spoken to him slowly, as several asides would suggest. There's also a clever scene that employs the electronic game Simon as a new type of Ouija board (arguably the cleverest gimmick this go-round), and a couple of surprise effects sequences break away from the series' previous "keep it simple" modus operandi. But it's hard to tell if these are truly impressive or simply unexpected in a low-key, low-budget horror franchise.
The film doesn't deliver as many scares as previous installments, but instead chooses to focus on the Latin culture of its new setting and expanding the mythology built in the first four (perhaps five, if the hotly debated canonical status of Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night is to be believed) chapters. Viewed as merely a supplemental entry, The Marked Ones more than holds up for fans of the series, but its spin-off status may also reek of a cash grab to some. The movie's frantic conclusion makes use of newly introduced elements and raises provocative questions to increase buzz for the next installment, due in the fall of 2014.