**This post contains spoilers, including thoughts on the extended version and the alternate ending**
The Story- After his high school graduation in 2012, Jesse Arista (Andrew Jacobs) experiences a series of unusual changes in Oxnard, California. Jesse’s friends, Hector (Jorge Diaz) and Hector’s cousin, Marisol (Gabrielle Walsh) tag along, as Jesse looks for answers.
Meanwhile, Jesse’s erratic behavior endangers Hector, Marisol, his dog, Chavo, and his grandmother, Irma (Renee Victor). During his search for the truth, Jesse uncovers a strange connection between, Oscar (Carlos Pratts), the valedictorian of his graduating class, and his kookie neighbor, Ana (Gloria Sandoval).
Oscar’s brother, Arturo (Richard Cabral) sheds light on shocking revelations. Dark secrets about Jesse’s past are revealed, drawing concerns from his father, Cesar (David Saucedo) and his sister, Evette (Noemi Gonzalez). To make matters worse, The Midwives are closing in, with plans to prepare Jesse for a sinister ritual. Can Hector, Irma, Marisol, and Arturo save Jesse?
My Thoughts- I’ve always thought it was kind of weird how Evette and Cesar weren’t more directly involved in the story. Jesse has an amazing and loyal support system around him, including Marisol, Hector, Irma, and Arturo. But his father and his sister are basically side characters with minor roles? Although, I guess you could say giving Cesar and Evette bigger parts would’ve turned the movie into a cluttered mess, because The Marked Ones is loaded with characters, who play crucial roles in Jesse’s story.
Andrew Jacobs delivers a solid performance. During the early stages, Jesse is this enthusiastic and carefree kid, who just graduated high school. He wants to have fun, but as the infection slowly consumes him, he takes a hard turn towards a darker side. He’s a dick and bully, similar to an edgier teenager, who wants to be a tough guy. Big difference is, Jesse has demonic powers and supernatural strength.
Jorge Diaz fills the role of the goofy Paranormal Activity comedy character, a jokester sidekick, but he also cares about his best friend. Irma is everything you’d expect from a grandmother. Loving, overprotective (for good reasons) at times, and she refuses to give up on her grandson. Renee Victor brings a good sense humor to Irma and a lively presence, reminding you that she might be an elderly lady, but she’s still not too old to have fun.
Gabrielle Walsh fills plays a supportive friend, who’s not afraid to take risks to help Jesse. Arturo? There’s no denying Richard Cabral is the live-wire in the cast. The tattoos, and Arturo is supposed to be a “serious gangster,” but it’s hard to ignore Cabral noticeably hamming it up for an entertaining performance.
The Marked Ones is the first film in the series, where I’m torn on the need to record everything that’s going on. Early on in the movie, I can understand Jesse and Hector, two knuckleheaded teenagers, recording their adventures, or both of them doing stupid things that teenagers would do. They’re just having fun.
As the story progresses, with the exception of a few scenes, where they needed night vision and the light, there’s absolutely no reason Marisol, Jesse, or Hector should’ve been recording anything. The only reason I can come up with is, whoever had the camera is recording just so the audience can see what’s going on, but taking that approach kills a lot of the realism for a found-footage film.
Simon Says! While it’s not 100% confirmed or referenced, you have to assume Jesse is communicating with Tobi through the Simon Says game. One clue I can think of is, when Jesse wants to know, if Simon is his guardian angel, and he gets a red light for a response. Tobi is the ultimate puppet master in Paranormal Activity, so you can assume that’s who Jesse is talking to. If it’s Tobi, using Simon Says is a unique and clever method for using the demon here. Kristi and Hunter were kids, when they encountered Tobi, but Jesse is too old to go the imaginary friend route.
There’s a scene that’s exclusive to the extended version that’s one of my favorites. Jesse, Hector, and Marisol are attempting to create their own homemade portal, after looking through Ana’s witchcraft books. The dark church at night was a perfect setting, and the banging on the bathroom door was a nice touch, before Jesse and Marisol ran away.
Yeah, I know it’s a typical stupid horror movie scene. Why would you WILLINGLY try and open a satanic portal? Because it might be fun? Potentially a catastrophic playing with fire mistake, but it’s still a good, tense nail biting scene.
There’s also another eerie scene in the extended version, where the door to Jesse’s apartment mysteriously opens in the middle of the night, with Chavo sitting in front watching. Was it Tobi, who opened the door? Maybe one of The Midwives?
The extended footage for The Marked Ones features a few peculiarities. Certain scenes are simply extended with extra footage, including a fake-out jump scare from Hector, when he’s looking for clues with Jesse in Ana’s apartment. The scene, where Hector, Marisol, and Jesse are looking through Ana’s witchcraft books is swapped around with small time differences compared to the theatrical version.
Everything else is just more footage that doesn’t change the direction of the story. Jesse buying the camera at the pawn shop, Irma trying out her new Shake Weight, Hector eating spicy food, Irma attempting to cleanse the house of evil spirits, and Jesse’s dad presumably taking a dump.
The Marked Ones MOSTLY delivers a satisfying finale. Hector running for his life, trying to escape The Midwives and a fully possessed Jesse provides some good thrills and close calls. Also, a few genuinely bonkers moments, when Arturo blasts two Midwives with his shotgun, and the rah-rah “Let’s go smoke these b******” line.
The big surprise happens, when Hector unknowingly goes through one of the portals, traveling back in time to Katie and Micah’s house in 2006 to the ending of the original Paranormal Activity. I’m glad they finally showed how Katie actually killed Micah. Just a crazy scene, with a scared and confused Hector pleading for help, leading to Katie brutally stabbing Micah to death.
The similarities to Paranormal Activity 3 are obvious. Sure, you can spot a few differences. Unlike Dennis, Hector was actually able to open the front door. You’ll see the army of Midwives in greater numbers, and of course there’s the time travel portal.
One thing that really bugs me is, the room with the unicorn painting on the floor that covered The Midwives symbol, and the other satanic symbol on the opposite wall. I’m supposed to believe that unicorn painting’s been in the same spot since 1988? And Hector hid in the same closet, where Dennis and Kristi hid in PA 3, with an identical camera angle.
The second to last final shot? Oh boy. Jesse lunging at Hector to knock him and the camera down (presumably killing Hector) is way too similar to what happened at the end of Paranormal Activity 4, with Katie lunging at Alex. The only difference is, a Midwife pops up to turn off the camera and end the movie.
To my knowledge, the alternate ending was never released on DVD or Blu-Ray. Jesse survives after a sort of exorcism style ritual, with help from Arturo, Marisol, and Hector, but the demon jumps to a security guard!
Kind of hard to tell what might’ve happened to everyone after the security guard attacks. But it’s easy to assume Jesse, Hector, Marisol, and Arturo survived. In the theatrical ending, Marisol and Arturo are both dead. There’s a good chance Hector is dead, and Jesse is still fully possessed. So I guess you could say it’s possibly more of a happy ending. To add an extra side note, there’s also a part in the alternate ending that shows Jesse staring at a fire after the chaos, but the clip ends before that happens. Skip to 0:36, if you’re only interested in watching the alternate ending.
The Marked Ones takes a unique approach for callbacks and references to the previous Paranormal Activity films, without dwelling on the past too much, or relying too heavily on storylines involving Kristi, Katie, or Hunter. Hector finds a VHS tape titled Katie and Kristi 1988 (Paranormal Activity 3) in Ana’s apartment, and there’s the picture with Ana, Jesse’s mother, and Grandma Lois (Paranormal Activity 3 again). There’s a news article in Oscar’s room about a psychic, who visited the home of a murder scene, referring to Dr. Fredrichs and what happened at the end of the original Paranormal Activity.
Katie and Kristi (as kids) make brief appearance. A genuine surprise and one of the better jump scares in the series, when Jesse sees the ghostly vision of Katie and Kristi just standing there with black eyes.
Ali Rey returns! Remember, Ali is Hunter’s stepsister and Kristi’s stepdaughter, so she knows what’s going on. Ali is definitely an ideal choice to drop more info on The Midwives, and after what she went through in Paranormal Activity 2, you can understand why she feels the need to help anyone in a similar situation.
It’s ironic and kind of sad how Jesse and Oscar’s stories are so similar throughout the movie. They both start out as two happy kids, who just graduated high school, with potentially bright futures. Jesse is having fun playing around with his powers. He develops some charisma, and women love him.
As the possession starts to consume them, Jesse and Oscar are no longer the victims. It’s clear they’re too far gone, with Jesse starting out as the main protagonist, who needs to be saved, only to wind up as the relentless villain. Think about that evil smirk on Jesse’s face after he pushed or threw Irma from the top of the stairs, or the scene, where he used his powers to torture Chavo.
One pet peeve I’ve always had about The Marked Ones revolves around Ana’s apartment. Arturo, Jesse, Marisol, and Hector. Why is it so easy for people to just wander in and out of a crime scene, where someone was brutally murdered?
I can’t get over how they decided to basically go with an ending that’s too close to how the final moments of Paranormal Activity 4 played out. There’s one minor change to close things out, but it’s almost the same ending.
Still, The Marked Ones was a much needed breath of fresh air for the Paranormal Activity franchise years ago. Breaking away from the tedious formula involving setting up cameras around the house, the security camera footage, and the Night #1, Night #2, and so on transitions brings a refreshing spark to The Marked Ones. It’s also the first film in the series that’s not confined to a house and the outside of the house. Watching Jesse, Hector, and Marisol travel around, going from one place to the next, helps add a layer of unpredictably, because anything can happen anywhere.
Five films in, and we do learn more details about The Midwives. There’s another connection between Jesse and Oscar, because their mothers died after childbirth. A bit weird that happened, and how they emphasized both deaths for plot points. Kristi survived giving birth to Hunter.
There’s a bigger bombshell, when it’s revealed that whatever’s going on with Tobi is not just limited to Katie, Kristi, Hunter, Jesse, and Oscar. Missing first born sons connected to The Midwives is a world wide thing, and they’re clearly trying to build an army. Grandma Lois’ house is obviously the base of operations for The Midwives. Ana? She can’t be the only one. It’s impossible to believe there’s only one Ana, someone, who lays the foundation for The Midwives, their initiation process, and their rituals.
A new set of characters really helps here. The Marked Ones happened at a crucial point in the series, where the story finally takes a break from focusing on Katie, Kristi, and Hunter.
The Marked Ones also features two oddly brutal death scenes. It’s odd, because you can clearly see the similarities for both deaths. Oscar committing suicide, and Marisol being thrown or dropped through the glass at Lois’ house? Oscar’s death works as a nasty ending for him and a good jump scare. The sound of Oscar’s body hitting the top of the car works perfectly. Seeing the car basically explode is enough for a squirmy reaction, because you know that had to hurt. You can say the same thing about Marisol’s death. Hector is cautiously looking for her, and bam! Marisol’s body lands right in front of him in a bed of broken glass.
The Marked Ones features a handful of tense moments, some good humor, heightened levels of chaos, the finale delivers solid thrills, and a few freaky scenes throughout the movie. Jesse slowly pulling threads or strings out of his eyes, and it’s hard to forget about that scene with a naked Ana painting satanic markings on a mannequin. Jesse stalking Hector and Marisol in the dark alleyway is another good one. I’ve always loved the cleansing scene at Jesse’s apartment. That demonic roar, when Jesse is in mid air is something else.
Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones has its problems, including some familiar found-footage horror tropes and cliches. Please stop recording, and focus on running away and protecting yourself! Still, if I put The Marked Ones up against the previous movies, it’s my top pick for the best film in the series. Time traveling and portals? No more playing it safe, or sticking to the formula. After four films, you can actually see a commendable effort for change to make something different, and the results are largely positive.
Rating- 8/10
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