The Crying Dead

I've been waiting to see this movie for over a year now. Since it was stilled called The Whispering Dead.

Was a nice surprise. They definitely went outside the normal ff box. It was a great mixture of horror, and comedy.

The characters were very likable, It was scary as hell at some points, and very funny in others.

It was great seeing quality acting in one of these films for a change.

It wasn't anything like Grave Encounters or PA. I'm OK with that.

Haven't seen that done before. Really worked.

All around great acting, action, and a worthwhile story.

I just had to review this movie. I was one of those foot footage, stuck in an old haunted hospital, fans who has been waiting forever to see this. I waited while grave encounters comes and goes. Then grave encounters 2, then several movies just like GE, even one directed by Oliver Stones son. In my opinion GE is and probably always will be #1 on the list.

Now back to back to this mess of a movie. The editing is bad, the acting for the most part is bad and the story is very rushed and doesn't allow you to connect with anyone. Most of these movies will either start out slow others start out with a bang but in most cases will move in some kind of direction and allow you to somewhat connect with an actor or actress. This one however is all over the place. OK, we are led to believe they are shooting a pilot or sample for a TV series, but it just doesn't seem realistic. It just comes across and a bunch of kids with too much time on their hands wondering around an abandoned building with camcorders. To top that off it may have a jump or 2 but overall its not very scary at all. The CG was amateurish and unnecessary and the main "ghosts" of the movie were really not scary.

All in all 2 thumbs down and for the amount of time they had to re-do it they could have done a lot better!

SAD SO SAD!

These found footage, first person spookhouse movies generally work on me if they're done halfway well. I loved The Blair Witch Project and Grave Encounters really had me going (despite some overtly goofy CGI effects). The Crying Dead also had me most of the way there but then lost me when the spooks came out. IMO there's two big problems that deflate the scares. One is the ghosts. They just aren't that scary. Three little girls, in Halloween facepaint, double-exposed as they traipse about in the dark hallways. Kinda spooky but not very. Despite some early implications that these aren't normal kids they don't behave very strangely or look very menacing (nothing like the ghouls in the poster image). I really think they needed an additional layer of bizarre to them... a hint at something... other. The second problem, for me, was the editing... or pacing of the movie. The movie starts off with a scene that sets up the threat, but it's on the verge of laughable because it's just so overt so early on. There are also scenes from later in the movie that are repeated early on during the slow stuff... I think to assure impatient viewers that there is some action coming. This wouldn't bother me as much in a regular film but it doesn't fit the found footage conceit here... particularly since those scenes are duplicates of later footage. In a way the film plays its hand in these early scenes and the rest is just going through the motions. Sadly, the nature of the haunting just isn't very imaginative... nothing beyond ghostly little girls with 'powerz'. Once they show up it's just rinse and repeat... they don't get any weirder or scarier than when we first saw them, early on. They really needed something more.

Despite those two points I still kinda enjoyed the movie. It did have me on edge at times, just by the nature of how it was filmed... the suspense is good even if the payoff is lame. The actors did a great job with what little they were given... all my gripes are with the writing/editing.

One other thing I'll mention... the music in the closing credits is the same sort of generic heavy metal that a hundred other horror movies toss in. I think it would have left the audience with a bit more of a after-scare if something more creepy and subtle had been used... something that carried on the mood of the film rather than blaringly contradicting it.

So I started watching this for the first time this morning. I have to just say right off the bat, anyone who is familiar with the former Linda Vista hospital in Los Angeles then you would immediately recognize the shots outside of the hospital, it's a very iconic building. The same year this movie came out is when AMCAL Multi-Housing Inc. bought the building and renovated it into apartments. That is one of a few reasons why that scene was filmed out back of the hospital, since in this movie the hospital goes by a different name. I kinda giggled when Chris' character said it was "in a remote region of the northern California wilderness".

Yeah The Crying Dead was OK, but I wish someone would really kill (no pun intended) it with a ghost investigation movie.

I recently had the pleasure of screening the found-footage horror film The Crying Dead. When the idea of yet another found-footage horror film comes across there is always a little doubt in whether or not the viewing will be worth the time allotted. Most in the genre are a waist of time and very paint by the numbers.

To my surprise The Crying Dead was the exception. Though much of the plot is predictable the execution is grand. With good writing and directing the story easily flows from one event to the other. As a viewer I was never bored nor restless.

The acting is above average and the actors themselves succeed in portraying believable characters.

The scares are plentiful which makes for a great horror film.

I recommend anyone into good horror movies to give this one a try.