<em>Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones</em>: Blame It on <em>The Blair Witch Project</em>

: Blame It on
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Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (Paramount Pictures)

Back in 1999 there was a horror flick titled The Blair Witch Project which featured a handheld camera. This gave the film a sense of immediacy and made viewers feel they were part of the story. Since that time the handheld trick has been used over and over again and rarely to such good advantage as when it was done in Blair Witch. In the latest Paranormal Activity film the handheld camera is back and it is just nauseating and stupid in how it is utilized this time.

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones centers on two friends named Hector (Jorge Diaz) and Jesse (Andrew Jacobs). They live in Oxnard, California and enjoy life as teens. Hector has gotten a new camera so everything in the film is recorded because of that fact. This means the audience must sit through an hour and a half of jumpy handheld camera motions.

The relation to the other Paranormal Activity movies is brought about when the boys discover the woman who lives in the apartment below Jesse's might be a witch of some sort. When the woman is murdered Jesse and Hector break into her apartment and discover some odd looking devices as well as a journal of sorts.

Shortly thereafter Jesse starts having some odd moments in his life which Hector records with his camera. The rest of the film is spent trying to figure out what is wrong with Jesse. It is interesting but then the movie ends and you realize you have wasted your time on a movie that is worth nothing. It has a really dumb plot, barely passable acting, and no real suspense. Plus there is no payoff to the film.

The film is rated R for profanity, nudity and violence.

Movies of this type need to make some kind of sense and you don't get that in this movie at all. You keep grasping at straws the dialogue hands you but in the end it is all for nothing. Plus it is insulting to the audience to imply or indicate that a person in fear for his life would continue to operate a camera. Dumb and dumber!

This is the fifth installment in the Paranormal Activity series. They are already working on another sequel. Haven't they squeezed the last dollar out of this thing? Apparently the powers that be don't think so.

I scored Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones a haunted 2 out of 10.

Jackie K Cooper
www.jackiekcooper.com

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