No series has become a yearly genre staple like the Paranormal Activity series since the Saw collection. They are making these faster than I can bother to watch them, as was the case last year when I didn’t get to Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, so I made a point to catch it this time around. Although it is the fifth entry in the series it was not assigned a number in the title because of it being a spin-off of Paranormal Activity 3 and not an official entry. Many people are have already been sick of this franchise for a long time now but something about the formula used in these films keeps bringing me back for more. I just want you to know (as with most movies) I went into this one with no predetermined judgments.

The Marked Ones starts off with a different setting than usual. Every other Paranormal to date centers around a medium/higher class white family, where as this iteration attempts to capture the ambiance of the lower class Spanish ghetto community. It does serve as a bit of fresh air because having cookie cutter families in interchangeable homes was starting to blend together. The Marked Ones introduces two recent high school graduate Latino-Americans, who take interest in their weird neighbor’s apartment, especially after she is murdered. They break into the vacant dwelling and spooky stuff ensues.

The Marked Ones gets has its good moments. There were a few neat effects that got me excited (in the only way a Manster can be ;]) including some subtle blink-and-you-miss-it occurrences and wire work. The main character even starts to gain ghost superpowers. Yet, for every positive aspect a negative one was right behind. Ultimately, the movie falls into the general stereotypes the series has amassed. Not enough ghost shit. Too much irrelevant dialogue and filler. Cheap jump scares and poor CGI. An unsatisfying ending.

The ending really did piss me off the most. Excuse me if you aren’t familiar with the overarching plot, but does every addition to the series have to give us a finale involving Katie & Micah and the witch coven sacrifice house? I saw it coming a mile away and now I am prepared for it all to show up once more in the upcoming Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension and its subsequent installments. But yes, I am still probably going to watch them.

3 ghost superpowers out of 5

★★★☆☆