Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones is a 2014 American found footage supernatural horror film written and directed by Christopher Landon. Released on January 3, 2014, in the United States, it is the fifth installment of the Paranormal Activity film series. It is also Landon's second directorial film, after Burning Palms. Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $90 million worldwide.
Plot[]
In June 2012, 18-year-old high school graduate Jesse Arista lives with his father Cesar, sister Evette, and grandmother Irma in Oxnard, California. He enjoys the summer with his best friend, Hector Estrella. In the apartment below lives a mysterious woman named Ana Sanchez, who everyone believes to be a witch. When Ana is found murdered, Jesse and Hector spot classmate Oscar Lopez running from the scene, suggesting he was responsible. The two investigate the apartment where they find black magic items, VHS tapes, and a journal of spells that can "open doorways to unholy places".
After Jesse, Hector and their friend Marisol Vargas try out a ritual, paranormal occurrences gradually take place in Jesse's apartment. One night, the trio communicate with an unknown entity through a game. Jesse finds a mysterious bite mark on his arm and also discovers he has superhuman abilities such as enhanced strength and levitation, which is proven when he knocks out two thugs that assault him. He and Hector, at first, view his abilities as a "gift". At a party, Jesse takes a girl to Ana's apartment to have sex and encounters Oscar, who scares Jesse's girl away, and has black eyes and the same bite mark on his arm. Oscar tells Jesse that it's only a matter of time before "something inside them" will take over, and they will harm those they love before disappearing. When Jesse and Hector search for him outside, Oscar commits suicide by jumping off a building, landing on a car.
The group discovers a secret trapdoor in Ana's apartment, where they find a witch altar and photos of Jesse, his pregnant mother, Ana, Oscar, and Lois. A strange woman in black enters but leaves after finding nothing. Jesse is lured to the trapdoor one night after hearing his dog Chavo crying and whining for help, but the door slams shut and Jesse encounters the younger versions of Katie and Kristi, both with black eyes, before being attacked by an unknown force.
Jesse gradually becomes dark, suicidal, and violent as a result, which disturbs Hector and Marisol, who later meet Arturo, Oscar's criminal brother. Arturo tells them that Oscar was in contact with Ali Rey, who had researched demons after her father Daniel and step-mother Kristi were killed and half-brother kidnapped by a possessed Katie. They meet with Ali in a park, where she tells them that Jesse has been "marked" by a worldwide coven of witches called "The Midwives", who have been brainwashing women to give up their firstborn sons to create an army of possessed young men. Ali gives them an address to where a final ritual is supposed to take place and warns that Jesse will no longer exist if the demon fully consumes him and the ritual is completed.
Concerned for her grandson, Irma visits a botánica and tries to cleanse Jesse, but he telekinetically thrashes the living room. The next morning, Irma is pushed down the stairs by Jesse and taken to a hospital. While Hector and Marisol drive to the hospital, Jesse ambushes them in the street and attacks Hector, but Marisol knocks him unconscious with a bat. As they are attempting to leave, a van smashes into their car and Jesse is kidnapped.
With help from Arturo and his friend Santo, Hector and Marisol go to the address, which turns out to be Lois' house. When they enter the garden, coven members with knives rush in to attack but Arturo shoots them both, then urges Hector and Marisol to run into the house, while he stays alone and holds off the witches.
They arrive and laying in the doorway is Santo found dead. Marisol disappears, and Arturo is thrown into a window near Hector, having been overpowered and killed by the coven. Later, Marisol falls through a glass roof, killing her. Hector runs into a figure resembling Ana and flees towards a closet to hide. When he comes out, a possessed Jesse then appears and chases Hector, who runs into a room and shuts the door. Jesse asks a panicked Hector to open the door with a normal voice, but after Hector refuses, Jesse breaks down the door, forcing Hector to go through a strange marked brown door. The camera blacks out after he enters.
The door he went through sent him back in time to the household of Katie and Micah. Hector enters the living room and sees Katie going downstairs to the kitchen. After unsuccessfully attempting to get her attention, Katie turns around to see Hector and screams for Micah, who assumes Hector is an intruder and tackles him, but Katie violently stabs Micah to death with a kitchen knife. Terrified, Hector runs away, but a completely possessed Jesse appears out of nowhere and attacks Hector, causing him to drop his camera to the ground, presumably killing him. After a moment of silence, a Midwife witch picks up the camera and turns it off, ending the movie.