This fifth installment of the Paranormal Activity franchise explains a bit more about the cult surrounding Toby who are after the first born sons.

• Scare factor: ★★★☆☆
• Originality factor: ★★☆☆☆
• Entertainment factor: ★★★★☆
• How shaky is the camera? Sometimes very shaky

This fifth film of the Paranormal Activity franchise doesn’t focus on Katie and Hunter and their families, but we get to know another family with another story that can explain a bit more about the cult of women and what they want. It stars Andrew Jacobs, Jorge Diaz, Gabriellę Walsh. Directed & written by Christopher B. Landon. 

Duration: 1h 24m

Plot

Jesse Arista and his best friend Hector are graduated from high school in 2012. They spent the summer together and Hector films everything they do. Suddenly they see a boy from high school Oscar running away scared from Oscar’s neighbor’s house. According to them, Anna, the woman who lives there is a bruja. She is then found dead and the boys sneak inside and find a box full of tapes of Katie and Kristi and a book about witchcraft. That book writes about doors that can be opened to other places, unholy places. 

That night Jesse is bitten by something and it appears that he has acquired supernatural powers. First it’s all fun and games but when his behavior becomes disturbing, Hector is alarmed. He and his friend Marisol go investigate Ana’s apartment and find a secret hatch and all sorts of things associated with witchcraft. They seek help from Oscar’s brother Arturo and Ali Rey, the only survivor of the second film. They have to help Jesse before it’s too late and before the coven gets their hands on him.

Continue reading below this announcement.

Short Review

While this seems to be more of a separate movie, it is still very much connected with the previous films. First of all, now we know what happened to the box with video tapes that Katie stored in Kristi’s basement before she moved in with Micah. In the third movie we saw that she brought the boxes and that there was a break-in in the second film and the boxes were gone. We already know what’s on them, but never knew who took them. In this way it connects with Katie and Kristi. 

The story also connects to Ali who was the stepdaughter of Kristi and was the only survivor, because she was away that night. Her father and Kristi were killed and Hunter was taken. In the fourth movie we learned that Hunter was adopted. We learned that it was Lois and her cult that made a pact with the demon Toby to give to him the first born son in the family. Now we learn a bit more about this.They contact Ali and she tells them what she has found with her own research.

This film is more aimed at a younger audience. It’s all about Jesse and Hector and Marisol and not about the adults. Only grandmother Irma plays a role and a fun one at that. They pull pranks, have fun and Hector films everything just for fun, not because there’s an acute cause to film the house because strange things are happening. Of course strange things are going to happen and instead of things being moved or Toby being seen or felt, this time the supernatural things happen to and with Jesse himself. 

That way this installment is not so much about an ominous creepy atmosphere where anything can happen at any time but rarely does to raise the suspense, but more about evolving the story with a whole type of different scares. It’s more in-your-face scary and a lot of special effects are used. The book they found already spoke of doors and now portals are being added. Portals to other places and times. This results in some creepy images of a young Katie and Kristi. And even time travel. 

With the addition of the Latin-American supernatural, the story brings us to a Botánica, where they seek help for an exorcism. It adds a whole new vibe to the film. It also does feel more like a normal movie where the editing plays an important role in telling the story of what happened to Jesse, instead of footage that seems to be random, waiting for something to happen. 

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones adds more new things to the universe of Paranormal Activity, but isn’t as creative as the first three films. While we learn more about the cult that is behind it all, a lot remains unexplained. 

SPOILERS:

So we know where the stolen box of video tapes went. We know about the cult of women. But now we know they have a name. Ali has done some research after the murders of her family and found out that the coven is called the Midwives. They mark young boys, first born sons. Ana marked Jesse by drawing a symbol of Hattsuc on the pregnant belly of Jesse’s mother. They want to form an army of possessed boys. But with what end remains unknown. 

In the fourth film, Alex and Ben found out that the possession has three phases, activation, affirmation and a sacrifice. All the phases Jesse is going through. When he gets taken by the coven, Hector, Marisol and Arturo go after him, They find themselves at an old house. It’s Lois’ old house where the third film ended. Now Jesse is fully possessed. Hector has to run for his life and when he runs through a door, it turns out to be a portal and Hector finds himself in the kitchen of Katie and Micah just on the night that Katie killed Micah. Katie sees Hector in the kitchen, yells for Micah who comes running and is then stabbed by Katie. Then Jesse appears through the portal and it is plausible that Hector is killed by Jesse. The screen turns black as we see the face of Lois hovering above the camera. Although a bit more is explained, it still remains unclear what exactly the Midwives cult wants and why. 

Read more about the Paranormal Activity franchise:

• Paranormal Activity (2007) review
• Paranormal Activity 2 (2010) review + explained
• Paranormal Activity 3 (2011) review + explained
• Paranormal Activity 4 (2012) review + explained
• Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015) review + explained