Gallows

I love found footage horror when it's done well, and there's a lot to choose from, and a lot of it sucks. So when I see one that doesn't have me cringing and eye-rolling from start to finish, I give it a break.

The Gallows moves along quickly, the storyline mostly makes sense and is engaging enough, the characters are identifiable, typical and even likable, and the ending was somewhat original and unexpected, so to me, this is worth a viewing.

The majority of bad reviews seem to be from people who already hate found footage, so it's hard to give those reviews any credence. But if you are like me and enjoy found footage horror, and understand going in that most of those films are pretty bad, then this film is for you.

As one of the most marketed horror films of 2015, The Gallows was strictly made to pick up money from teen audiences. The story revolves around a drama class at high school and drama between characters. The story is set up terribly making no sense at times and the characters were unlikable and had terrible dialogue. The writing was awful from the start. Besides the found footage technique which wasn't really needed, there is an element of originality with some of the concepts so I'll give it points for that. However, the film crashed for good once the ending rolled along, it was just terrible. Skip The Gallows unless you're looking for a movie with lots of jump scares or something to laugh at with your friends at the films absurdity.

From thequickflickcritic.blogspot.com/

I went in to "The Gallows" with an open mind. And, MAN, was my brain shut down but at HYPER speed.

Aimless wandering through the seemingly interminable catacombs of a haunted high school. Entering dark and ominous halls and rooms which were everything short of SCREAMING at these clueless kids "You'll get killed" and for no discernible reason whatsoever. And, I swear, one more shot of a hand slowly opening a door to who knows what the hell (yet usually not a DAMN THING) and I'll put the flippin' noose around my own neck for crissakes!

The ending (and thank God there finally WAS one) was admittedly and actually kinna cool. But it was WAY too little too late to keep this weak and wearisome found footage flop from hanging itself by it's own regurgitated premise rope.

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Remember back when the found footage style was a unique style of filmmaking and only a handful of films used it? (I.E. The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity, Rec.) But it's common knowledge nowadays that it's become a cliché and a cheap gimmick for studios to save on production costs. Most of the time, there is almost no effort put into the film's storyline, characters, or scares. The Gallows certainly doesn't help its case.

Pros:

-A few decent performances

-Good production design

-Has the potential to be scary

Cons:

-Insufferable main character

-Bullshit plot twist that makes no sense

-Plot itself is nonsensical

-Relies on cheap jump scares

-Has a few good ideas, but they're usually screwed up somehow.

-Found footage style is given no explanation

3/10 (Horrible)

The positive thing about The Gallows is the fact that it was well promoted worldwide, you can find it in every shop selling flicks and all magazines were talking about this found footage flick. But the hype was a major let down for me. I can understand that teens will love this kind of horrors because there's the usual nerd loves cheerleader story and pranks being done until things go really wrong.

Bur for me there wasn't any frightening moment or so typical with those found footage flicks a jump scene. And you have seen it all before, people levitating, being thrown in the air, the usual stuff.

On part of the effects, it's well done but it's so low on horror that I even thought to push the stop button and go hang myself...

Gore /5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 2/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5