This year was the first in awhile that did not have a Paranormal Activity movie. The fifth installment in the series was postponed until next October, and a “cousin” film was announced to the franchise titled Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones.
The movie takes place within the chronology of the franchise’s events but follows different characters. The trailer landed online recently. Check it out and some thoughts below.
I’ve never been a fan of the Paranormal Activity franchise. I thought all the films were rather boringf, however even I could tell that Paranormal Activity 4 was particularly bad. The fans could, too, and the box office numbers showed that.
The franchise has become involved with more and more confusing mythology and gone off the rails. The scares seem to be waning as well. However, the genius of Blumhouse Productions seems to be that an unsuccessful Paranormal movie still makes them millions upon in profit thanks to the tiny budgets in play.
Sure, it looks like they’re trying to do something different with The Marked Ones, but even this trailer suggests the movie is running on fumes. The scares have become cliche as each film runs through the same exact steps as the last. This one is only different because the characters are. The trailer seems like it gives most of the thrills away and even they don’t look that thrilling. We’ll see soon if the public is truly done with this franchise come January when Blumhouse puts it to the test.
Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones hits theaters January 3, 2014.