Trailer Park 6: Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones

While Trailer Park's changed a bit, click here for the basic rundown and a directory of past installments!

 

In the past week or so, Paramount Pictures released the trailer to the new Paranormal Activity spinoff film, The Marked Ones. And since it's that Halloween season again, I thought I would talk about it rather than, you know, talk about something amazing like The Twilight Zone or The Sixth Sense. Priorities.

Now I will establish this up front: I don't watch horror movies. I enjoy a good thriller, but I'm not a huge fan of gratuitous blood and jump scares. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed The Sixth Sense and The Birds, but I can't tell you the next time I'll watch either of them again. Anyway, jumping off the found footage style of The Blair Witch Project, Oren Peli created a low-budget, very entertaining (according to audiences) horror film. Since then, it's become a widespread thing and now we get a new one for next year...kind of.

The first time I watched this trailer, I didn't feel it. Second time I watched it, still wasn't scared. The trailer starts off in a Latino town, a party, and an old lady dies. And of course, our band of scallywags decide that they should break into her house, because that's the logical thing to do. I mean, it's like you knew her! Note the sarcasm. Anyway, they walk in, find out she was stalking him, and our main amigo wakes up the next morning with a strange mark on his arm. This is where I feel the movie's going to drag.

For the next thirty or forty minutes of the movie, I feel, are just going to be them researching the cause of the markings and finding nothing. None of that will be interesting, I guarantee. People came for a horror movie and be legitimately scared, but instead they see a man go super saiyan on a couple of gang members. That won't be scary at all, and it is likely used only as a special effects distraction from the real scares. What the first films succeeded in was their suspense and not knowing when or how something was going to happen. Director/writer Christopher Landon doesn't seem to understand, substituting suspense and shocking resolution for predictable scares and creepy imagery. Even the lady talking to Jesse (the main amigo)'s amiga knows how everything is going to pan out. Maybe if people stop filming every strange thing that happens to them, the poltergeist will leave-- just a thought. But I guess then Paranormal Activity 5 can't take place across Vine, so I guess we'll have to sit through it. All in all, I'm going to say this trailer FISHTAILED. Paranormal Activity 4 failed to entertain most fans, and I don't see this spinoff bringing them back for more.


So what say you? Are you going to see this when it comes to town in January? Or are you going to stick with some older favorites? Which Paranormal Activity is your favorite? Comment below, and let me know!

Quick Reviews

Since my schedule has kept me from posting more on here, I want to make up for that with a few brief reviews on certain films I've seen recently. I do hope to write some more on here, including some critic spotlights and a new Trailer Park on the new Paranormal Activity trailer, but until that time comes, hopefully these are enough to hold us over. Enjoy!
 
Super 8: Clearly a tribute to the great director Steven Spielberg, Super 8 exceeds in its nostalgic feel and an inspiration for young filmmakers. The tone is easily the strongest part, blending Jurassic Park with E.T, but the performances by the young actors are phenomenal. The finale, however, is not as stirring as the rest of the film, but Michael Giacchino's beautiful score still makes it an amazing moment in the film. All in all, if Star Wars Episode VII is anything like this, Star Wars fans have absolutely nothing to fear. 3.5/5 Stars

The Letter Writer: Written and directed by Christian Vuissa, The Letter Writer means well in its message that every word should be something to build people up, but severe character inconsistensies, unresolved plotlines, and a generally weak screenplay overshadow mostly beautiful cinematography (especially for a TV movie) and flawless performances by Bernie Diamond (in his final film appearance before his death) and Stella McCormas. One particular sequence that stood out as poorly done is where lead character Maggy (played by Aley Underwood) faces unfortunate events that come out of the blue which are resolved in about ten minutes. People have come out saying they cried and were emotionally affected, so either I have no heart or the movie was too obvious in what it was trying to do to affect me. Hopefully, it's the latter. 2.5/5 Stars

The Encounter: Directed by David A. R. White, the film means well, but shoddy filmmaking-- overuse of unnecessary shaky cam, poor screenwriting, awkward camera angles, and hit-or-miss acting--make a film that could have been used to easily reach non-Christians an embarrassment. The only thing saving this film from itself is an extremely dedicated performance from Bruce Marchiano, once again playing Jesus in a string of PureFlix Entertainment films, and his chemistry with former WCW champ "Sting" Borden, but not even that is given enough screen time. Parts are really good, like the verbal showdown between Marchiano and Sting, but White's inability to accentuate these sequences leave the film as, overall, extremely lackluster. 1.5/5 Stars

Peter Pan: One of Disney's classics, it's surprising that today's animators don't look back at the simplicity of these older cartoons. Peter Pan is a short, 70-minute adventure of Wendy, her brothers, and Peter Pan and the Lost Boys, as they explore the world of Neverland, running into mermaids, Indians, and Captain Hook and his pirate crew. Full of slapstick humor and an equal amount of heart, Peter Pan is apt to please everybody. Another thing to note is that sequence of the film ("What Makes the Red Man Red?") that, although fun, may offend some viewers for its stereotypical portrayal of Native Americans. All that aside, this film is beautifully animated with some great musical numbers, and, considering that the film is 60 years old, the film still holds up as well as Snow White, and entertains as much as the films in the Disney Renaissance. 4/5 Stars