Movies
[BD Review] ‘Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones’ Is A Remarkable Return To Form!
Remember the original run of Star Trek films? The ones that hit between 1979 and 1991? If you don’t, there was a popular axiom at the time that dictated that every other entry would be good. With Trek, fans reasoned that the even-numbered entries wound up being the best. Now another Paramount franchise is beginning to develop a similar pattern, except this time it’s the odd-numbered installments that seem to knock it out of the park.
In a remarkable return to form for the series, Christopher Landon’s Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones is heads and tails better than 2012’s Paranormal Activity 4 and 2010’s Paranormal Activity 2 (right now it’s neck and neck with PA3 for me). It also expands the universe of these films in a way that gives the upcoming sixth film a shot at breaking the “every other movie” pattern. An entertaining and successful crowd pleaser in almost every way, The Marked Ones also happens to be the “biggest” entry to date by far. Also, while it may feel like a spin-off, the film is very much in canon. When all is said and done for the series and the Blu-ray boxed set comes out, I wouldn’t be surprised if they shifted the numbers to make this the official 5th entry.
One of the things that really works about The Marked Ones is that the film realizes what PA4 seemingly forgot. Found footage doesn’t have to be boring. It’s such an established shooting style/conceit at this point that the audience accepts that a character is filming without needing to be constantly reminded of it. There are a few moments early on that address the presence of the camera but, for the most part, the film allows itself to unfold as organically as any other cinematic experience.
It also doesn’t hurt that the characters really pop here. Andrew Jacobs’ Jesse is a sympathetic and engaging lead surrounded by a supporting cast of empathetic characters led by his best friend Hector (Jorge Diaz). PA4’s Alex seemingly had no other life outside of filming things, asking people to film things and being unknowingly filmed while doing boring things. Everyone around her seemed to wander around doing pretty much nothing. Here, you get a rich sense of family from Jesse’s home life. This is a good kid surrounded by good people (including a hilarious grandmother) who have actual shit going on in their lives and you don’t want anything bad to happen to them. Except it does.
While The Marked Ones may not have that lingering spookiness that will have you leaving your lights on when you get home from the theater (a la PA1 and PA3), it does have an unmitigated sense of fun that no other entry in the franchise can match. At times it even feels a bit like Chronicle in that regard, but that doesn’t mean they left out the scares. Even if you don’t take the fear home with you, the movie knows how to work an audience. I was startled several times alongside the crowd I saw it with (and not from empty jump-scares, but from legitimately interesting stuff).
It’s also worth noting that there’s an element of sexuality to the film that has been absent in prior entries. While every PA film to date has been rated “R”, they’ve felt fairly “PG” to me. This is the first one that really earns it. In turn, embracing the more adult aspects if its characters allows the film to up the ante when it comes to the actual horror side of things. It’s like Landon realized the ceiling for what he could do was actually a lot higher than in something like PA4 (which felt arbitrarily subdued). And where PA4 ended with a whimper, this one actually builds to a worthwhile (and legitimately fun) conclusion.
Fun, scary and remarkably cinematic within the found footage conceit, The Marked Ones might be the first Paranormal Activity movie that feels like an event film while you’re watching it. Not only does it make up for the abject disappointment of PA4, it manages to tie into the mythology of the series in a way that will invigorate anyone who has ever been a fan.
Ghostface is back on the big screen this weekend… well, sort of… with the release of Scary Movie, which marks the Wayans brothers’ return to the horror spoof franchise for the first time since Scary Movie 2 back in the day. It’s likely to be the talk of the horror community for the weekend, but don’t overlook the other six genre movies that were freshly unleashed today.
Here’s all the new horror that released on Friday, June 5, 2026.
The horror spoof franchise is back with Scary Movie now playing in theaters!
Marlon Wayans (“Shorty”), Shawn Wayans (“Ray”), Anna Faris (“Cindy”), and Regina Hall (“Brenda”) reunite for the new Scary Movie, with the cast also including Dave Sheridan, Lochlyn Munro, Cheri Oteri, Chris Elliott, Jon Abrahams, Damon Wayans Jr., Gregg Wayans, Kim Wayans, Benny Zielke, Cameron Scott Roberts, Heidi Gardner, Olivia Rose Keegan, Ruby Snowber, Savannah Lee Nassif, Sydney Park, and Felissa Rose.
Twenty-six years after outrunning a suspiciously familiar masked killer (“Ghostface”), the Core Four are back in the killer’s crosshairs and no horror movie IP is safe…
Scary Movie will slash through reboots, remakes, requels, prequels, sequels, spin-offs, elevated horror, origin stories, anything with the word legacy in it, and every “final chapter” that absolutely isn’t. A whole lot has changed in the horror genre since the Wayans Brothers were in charge of the franchise; their involvement ended with Scary Movie 2 back in 2001!
Michael Tiddes (A Haunted House) directs Scary Movie 6 from a script written by Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, original Scary Movie director Keenen Ivory Wayans, Craig Wayans (Scary Movie 2), and Rick Alvarez (A Haunted House).
From IFC, shark attack movie Chum is now available on Digital.
Alice Eve (Haunting of Queen Mary) stars in shark attack movie alongside Eric Michael Cole, Jim Klock, Elle Haymond, Lisa Yaro, Johnny Gaffney, and Sarah Siadat.
This one sounds very similar to last year’s Dangerous Animals…
Here’s the plot: “A newlywed couple joins friends on a Mediterranean yacht excursion, only to find themselves caught between a predatory shark and a psychopathic killer in their midst-transforming a sun-drenched escape into a fight for survival.”
Jonathan Zuck directs Chum, from a script by Jonathan Zuck and Joe Leone.
Samara Weaving (Ready or Not 2: Here I Come) and Kyle Gallner (Strange Darling) come together in Carolina Caroline, a sexy crime thriller now playing in theaters.
It’s not a horror movie, mind you, but it’s worth a mention here all the same.
Kyra Sedgwick (Family Movie) and Jon Gries also star in the romantic crime thriller.
Director Adam Carter Rehmeier’s film stars Samara Weaving as Caroline Daniels, whose desire to leave her small Texas town brings her into the orbit of a charismatic con man (Kyle Gallner), and together they weave a path of crime and passion across the American Southeast.
Adam Rehmeier previously directed the films Dinner in America and Snack Shack.
Tom Dean wrote the screenplay for Carolina Caroline.
Similar to Steven Spielberg’s upcoming big screen blockbuster Disclosure Day, Signal One explores humankind’s enduring question: what if we aren’t alone in the universe?
The sci-fi thriller is now available on Digital.
Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan), Josh Hutcherson (Five Nights at Freddy’s), David Thewlis (Harry Potter), Raoul Bhaneja (Possessor), Emma Ho (“The Expanse”), and Dennis Quaid (The Substance) star in Signal One from director Jonathan Sobol (The Art of the Steal).
When tech billionaire Sam Houston (Quaid) hires the brilliant computer scientist Annika (Fuhrman), she ventures to an isolated facility run by the brilliant, nihilistic creator of LITTLEMOUTH, a machine which can communicate with alien intelligence.
Annika soon learns some humanity-altering facts: that we are not alone in the universe, that alien intelligences are communicating around us at every moment, and that we are likely too primitive to even remotely understand what they are trying to tell us.
When the goal of the endeavor shifts from listening to talking back, the project rapidly devolves into chaos. With contact comes consequences, and soon Annika and the team must work to ensure the very survival of our species.
A schoolyard dare becomes an urban legend in the creepypasta-inspired horror anthology The Summoning. The indie film is now available on Digital from Brainstorm Media.
“A babysitting gig becomes a nightmare of urban legend when three teens summon Baby Blue. Survival depends on uncovering the past to escape a mother’s wrath from beyond the grave.”
Felipe Vargas (Rosario, Hive), Sergio Gonzalez, Brandon Piskorik, Corey Benson Powers, and Brian Sepanzyk direct the segments. Valeria San Martín, Justina Ceballos, Daniela Flombaum, Nannu Spannauss, Agustín Olcese, and Giovanni Onetti star.
The Summoning is written by Camilo Zaffora.
Happy Death Day actress Jessica Rothe stars as a mom struggling to keep her grip on her sanity and memory in the mind-bending Affection, now available on Digital at home.
In Affection, “Afflicted by a mysterious condition that resets her memory, Ellie becomes trapped in a cyclical nightmare with a man who claims to be her husband. She soon must uncover the horrifying truth of her existence—before she forgets it all again.“
Joseph Cross (“Big Little Lies”) and Julianna Layne (“Chicago P.D.”) also star in the sci-fi horror thriller. Affection marks the feature debut by writer/director BT Meza.
Daniel Kurland wrote in his review out of the film’s premiere, “Affection is steeped in existential questions and fears that plague modern society, while it embraces the ethos of the ’80s through bold body horror. Add to that Rothe’s revelatory performance, and Affection is a hidden gem that will connect with your mind, body, and soul.”
Lucile Hadžihalilović’s latest dark fairy tale, The Ice Tower, loosely reimagines Hans Christian Andersen’s fable “The Snow Queen,” and it’s now streaming on Shudder.
In the ’70s set film, “Jeanne, a 15-year-old orphan, witnesses the shoot of a film adaptation of the fairy tale The Snow Queen, and she becomes fascinated by its star Cristina (Marion Cotillard), an actress who is just as mysterious and alluring as the Queen she is playing.“
Clara Pacini stars as Jeanne. August Diehl and Marine Gesbert also star in The Ice Tower, and look for a cameo from director Gaspar Noé (Climax, Irréversible).
“For me, The Ice Tower solidified Lucile Hadžihalilović’s place amongst the most fascinating creators of fairy tales today,” said distributor Yellow Veil Pictures co-founder Joe Yanick.
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