Fingerprints

What a treat...this one has it all! A good mystery, a great ghost story, a taste of the slasher genre, some deadpan humor....throw it all together and you get a cross between "Scream" and "Ghost Story"...a nice throwback to the '70s and '80s classic horror genre. I enjoyed every single minute of this roller coaster ride. Good film quality, nice camera work, remarkable special effects for the budget, decent acting...and even Lou Diamond Phillips. What more can you ask for? Too bad mom didn't get "offed", though...her Mommie Dearest personality certainly warranted it. Great effort on the part of the director and cast. I give it 8 stars.

Lou D. Phillip stars as a teacher who lives in a small town haunted by the memory of the sudden loss of a busload of children years before. A young woman (Leah Pipes) returns from rehab to her family home, only to encounter the ghost of a little girl who slowly leads her to the lost children and the reason for their disappearance. That part of the movie is OK, and follows modern ghost movie traditions. But some bright bulb apparently decided to also make this a slasher film, with big boobs on display and lots of blood-letting for the JASON and FREDDY crowd. Th slasher segments all tie into the missing children plot, but they were absolutely unnecessary and damn near ruined the movie. We know who the masked killer is way too early, too. Ignore the cheesy slasher scenes, some of which look like they were filmed and inserted as an afterthought, and focus on the ghost plot. You will be rewarded. The ending is a dilly.

I enjoyed watching the film Fingerprints. It is about a teenager called Melanie, who arrives in Emerald after a period of rehabilitation on drugs. When she lived in California, she took an overdose of heroin with her boyfriend he died but she was saved by the paramedics. when arriving Mel is welcomed by her older sister Crystal. Crystal tells her about an accident between a school bus and a train in 1957, which was due to a problem with a railroad crossing gate, and all of the children died. theses days there is an urban legend that if you put the car in neutral in the same place, the children will push the car and their fingerprints will be printed in the car bumper. Later Crystal invites Melanie to go to a party. When they leave the party with two friends of Crystal, they drive to the spot where the accident happened and Melanie sees a little girl. Mel speaks to her and finds that her name is Julie. Soon Melanie has visions and daydreams about the children and the accident, her mother believes that she is on drugs while Melanie tries to discover the truth about what happened in the fatal accident. This is a very good film to watch RECOMMENDED!.

A horror movie must have many given aspects, before it captures the loyalty of it's audience. The initial ingredient of course is suspense. This must be followed by a solid story line which conjures up the dark side of imagination. Lastly, it must be held solidly by the actors which must convince the audience of their fear, terror and apprehension. In this movie which is called " Fingerprints " several key aspects are definitely present. The story is that in a small town, a dramatic and mysterious event took place which centered around the deaths of a dozen children. It seems a bus load of school children were killed when their vehicle was hit by a passing train. Years later Melanie (Leah Pipes) a returning resident arrives to finish high school, learns this may not be true. Her parents worry about her as she is also a recovering drug addict who suffers from residual delusions. From the moment she starts school, she becomes aware of her tenuous situation with her strict parents, her insincere counselor and the reoccurring apparition of one of the dead children. The movie has the surprising addition of two Hollywood veterans, Lou Diamond Phillips who plays Doug and Geoffrey Lewis playing old man Keeler. Unfortunately, the film also contains several repetitive themes borrowed from 'The Sixth Sense', 'Scream' and 'Holloween' and further does not resolve some very tense and dramatic moments. As a result, the movie is deemed acceptable, though it tries very hard to become the corner stone of an anticipated sequel. ****

Nifty little combination ghost story / teen slasher film. The storyline isn't unique, but it has enough twists, turns and odd angles to keep you watching.

The main characters are better fleshed out than in most films of this type while the supporting characters are functional and believable. Lou Diamond Phillips in a larger than cameo role lends some acting credence to an otherwise no name cast. Despite the lack of well known actors, the acting is a cut above the norm for the genre as is the overall writing.

The film has its highs and lows, but for the most part it delivers what fans of ghost stories are looking for, though it might not have quite enough gore for the hard core slasher fan, but it has a little too much for a pure ghost story.

Well worth the watch if you like the teen thriller, ghost story, bloody mystery genre. This film is an interesting mix that you don't often find.