![]() There is a fantastic scene where Arturo and his buddy, Cholo, step up to give Hector and Marisol much needed assistance in recovering Jesse from dire straights that gets an enormous rise out of the audience. Even the small roles of Oscar, a school mate sharing Jesse’s predicament and Oscar’s brother, Arturo, are great additions to the story. It also helps that they are surrounded by a better than expected (for the franchise) supporting cast, highlighted by Gabrielle Walsh as the duo’s caring high school friend and, especially, the uncredited (at least on IMDB) woman portraying Jesse’s grandma (UPDATED: the actress is Renee Victor – Doc) who has a number of great scenes including sharing shots of tequila with the boys and, later, forging ahead with an attempted exorcism. The film effectively establishes their friendship as authentic and genuine.and Jacobs and Diaz are fantastic in the roles. This makes for a far better experience and a much better film than 2012’s Paranormal Activity 4. Jesse and Hector are instantly likable, as likable as Sam and Neal from Freaks and Geeks or Troy and Abed from Community. They feel like real friends, like real people, normal people, people the audience likely know in their lives regardless of their Latino backgrounds. Where the previous films sometimes lack interest in the first and second acts, this one is thoroughly engaging with its charming and funny leads. The best thing about Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones is the casting of Andrew Jacobs as Jesse and Jorge Diaz as his goofy best friend Hector. When the coven kidnap the teen, his friends race to the rescue. Things get even worse for Jesse after a failed exorcism attempting to rid him of the spirit that has possessed him. Things turn terrifying when Jesse begins to lose control and starts to hurt those around him. Soon after he begins to experience strange, unexplainable changes that both excite and frighten him and his friends. Jesse later wakes from a nightmare with a bite mark on his arm. Jesse, along with his friends Hector and Marisol, creep into the dead witch’s empty home after she is murdered to discover pictures of Jesse and his deceased mother among the alters scattered throughout – and below – the apartment. Connected by the presence of a bruja living below him in his apartment complex in Oxnard, California, Jesse becomes entangled in the supernatural web of the mysterious coven chasing after the first born. The script for Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones succeeds as it moves out of the Katie and Kristi families examining the series’ mythos peering in from the outside. The film is a return to the best elements of the series nearing the tense scares and pacing found in Paranormal Activity 3. Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones works on many levels with or without the Paranormal Activity core, even if it is buried deep within the franchise’s mythology. However, the chosen style fits the teen characters and easily adapts to how they would capture such events as they would unfold – at least, in the first two acts of the film. Director Christopher Landon manages to keep the found footage style but leaves the stationary cameras behind for the more typical hand held camera devices for the most part, this works in the film’s favor, but lacks the signature style of the Paranormal Activity franchise and the much anticipated time stamp at the bottom of the screen telegraphing its scares. The leads, Jesse (Andrew Jacobs) and Hector (Jorge Diaz), are a welcomed change of pace providing a charismatic and engaging pair of friends suddenly surrounded by the supernatural. It provides a fresh, entertaining and often humorous slant to the witch-demon-ghost story that is wearing thin to even its most adamant supporters. This shift (away from its usual upper class white cast) does wonders for the franchise. The film is billed as a Latino cousin to the main storyline with a predominate Spanish speaking cast. Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones is the latest in the popular Paranormal Activity found footage franchise shifting its locale to Oxnard, California. Soon after, Jesse wakes with a bite mark on his arm followed by a series of frightening changes in his life – he has become a marked one. When the suspected witch is later discovered dead, Jesse and Hector, along with Marisol, investigate the woman’s apartment only to discover pictures of Jesse lying in a ritualistic black magic alter. Shortly after Jesse and Hector graduate high school, the teens witness fellow classmate Oscar racing from the apartment of Anna, a neighbor who is rumored to be a bruja.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |