![]() New Movies and Shows To Watch: HBO Max's 'The White Lotus' Season 2 + More Quentin Tarantino Denies He Stole 'Django Unchained' Idea from Kanye West: "That Didn't Happen" New Movies On Demand: 'Don't Worry Darling,' 'Barbarian,' + More Stream It Or Skip It: 'If Only' On Netflix, Where A Divorcing Woman Gets To Relive 2008 As Her 2018 Self Stream It Or Skip It: 'Fortune Feimster: Good Fortune' On Netflix, In Which The Comedian Confronts Her Butchness, Or Lack Thereof Matthew Perry Pulled Out of 'Don't Look Up' After Breaking 8 Ribs in CPR When Heart Stopped Beating Stream It Or Skip It: 'The French Dispatch' on Hulu, in Which Wes Anderson Further Perfects His Wonderful Peculiarities The novelty of this format has long since worn off and it's about time the filmmakers and studios woke up and performed an exorcism of their own.‘SNL’ Star Chris Redd Attacked Outside NYC’s Comedy Cellar Before Performance But yet another entry in this 'cheap and easy' found footage subgenre only serves to increase the pressure on the upcoming Paranormal Activity 5. While The Marked Ones is intended as a standalone movie, there are a couple of moments that briefly reward the attention (and patience) of Paranormal Activity fans. One can but dream, and for large parts of the turgid storyline the mind does wander off in surreal directions. The cacophonous warbling is reminiscent of Edith from classic British sitcom Allo Allo, although Rene Artois sadly isn't on hand to brand her a 'stupid woman'. Welcome comic relief comes from Jesse's superstitious grandmother, who likes to perform egg-based exorcisms and have a sing-song after a few drinks. Andrew Jacobs and Jorge Diaz imbue the young leads with a sense of adventure, determination and likeability, despite their dialogue mostly involving reactionary wails of 'oh s**t!'. To their credit, the cast all work hard to sell the supernatural events to us, despite the central characters exhibiting behaviour that's beyond dumb. The latter appears to be expected of audiences in order to be gripped by the events of this movie. ![]() Now that the novelty has worn off, the mechanics are brutally exposed and we can only sit there and wonder why a character - supposedly fighting desperately for survival - is still holding and pointing his camera in the right direction throughout the supposedly terrifying ordeal. The found footage conceit - which once appeared so fresh in The Blair Witch Project and was rejuvenated by Paranormal Activity's use of static cameras - is now in dire need of a rest or reinvention. The cheap tactics used are the same that led to the languid likes of The Chernobyl Diaries and The Devil Inside provoking howls of derision. It all inevitably culminates in a lot of frenzied running around in the dark, with creepy figures appearing out of nowhere whenever a character turns around and objects being hurled by an unseen force at the camera. Triple yawn.Īs events escalate, with Jesse initially testing out his superpowers in sequences that evoke Chronicle, the signposted attempts to orchestrate scares become increasingly overfamiliar and utterly bereft of imagination. There's an overwhelming sense of déjà vu as the usual demonic paraphernalia and imagery are discovered, an Ouija board-style electronic device is used to communicate with the spirit world, and a demonologist turns up to monotonously drone on about ancient symbols in a bid to reinforce the gravity of events. Or perhaps turned insane by his pal Hector's pathological insistence on filming his every move - even when he's asleep and having a penis daubed on his cheek with a felt tip pen. Marketed as a 'cousin' rather than direct sequel to the mostly impressive franchise, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones revolves around the harebrained sleuthing of Jesse (Andrew Jacobs) and Hector (Jorge Diaz), two Latino youngsters who recklessly probe a murder in a nearby apartment.īefore long, Jesse's increasingly volatile behaviour suggests that he may well be possessed. This horror subgenre has numbed enough brains, with its limited format looking increasingly stale and the shaking camerawork threatening nothing more than motion sickness. Anything to prevent it from reaching the public, like this lazily cobbled together offshoot of the Paranormal Activity movies. Burn it, hide it, recycle it or relabel it 'SuBo Sex Tape'. PLEASE stop finding footage of idiots encountering demonic entities.
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