Paranormal Activity Spinoff, The Marked Ones, Scares Up First Trailer

This is the first year since 2009 that we won’t have a new Paranormal Activity movie in theaters … but that doesn’t mean one isn’t on the horizon. Fans of the found-footage horror series will have to wait until January for the fifth film in the franchise, a spin-off installment titled The Marked Ones. Knowing that PA fans probably will be looking for information on the film as Halloween approaches, Paramount Pictures posted a new trailer on YouTube, which we shared with you above.

Paranormal producers have been talking about launching a Latino-focused branch off of the existing Activities series, and Marked One -- as the trailer promises – is “only the beginning.” The trailer is heavy on Catholic symbolism. It’s also brimming with seriously disturbing imagery, from these eyeless monsters:

Paranormal Twins

To this sick dude pulling a bloody thread out of his eye:

Paranormal Eye

Writer/director Christopher Landon has a serious eye fetish, and it’s creeping me out.

The Marked Ones borrows more elements from V/H/S and its sequel than it does from Paranormal, with teenage characters infiltrating a place they shouldn’t see, then paying the price for their intrusion by being “marked” and blessed with despicable powers. The series will try and construct a new mythology around new characters (played by relatively unknown actors). It’s a cheaper way to expand a proven series. We’ll see if it works.

This doesn’t mean that the Activity story you know and love is finished. Producers plan to have Paranormal Activity 5 in theaters on Oct. 24, 2014, with director Gregory Plotkin at the helm. But we don’t have specific plot details on Activity 5, and no sign of a cast (so we don’t know if Katie Featherston will continue to explore the haunting of her now-iconic Paranormal protagonist, also named Katie).

And now that there’s a Latin spinoff of the Paranormal franchise, we can’t wait to see how the Scary Movie spoofmeisters respond. Carlos Mencia, stay near your phone.

Sean O'Connell
Managing Editor

Sean O’Connell is a journalist and CinemaBlend’s Managing Editor. Having been with the site since 2011, Sean interviewed myriad directors, actors and producers, and created ReelBlend, which he proudly cohosts with Jake Hamilton and Kevin McCarthy. And he's the author of RELEASE THE SNYDER CUT, the Spider-Man history book WITH GREAT POWER, and an upcoming book about Bruce Willis.