The Messengers

Well made ghost horror might not be the greatest movie ever made, but manages to entertain effectively.

Let us first of all say that this movie does exactly what it says on the tin. It is a ghost story and never pretends to be anything else. Anyone looking for a highbrow horror tale here can look elsewhere.

Getting back to the story though, and a family with a mysterious past move to a new home in the middle of the country, a home with a chequered history of its own, and it is not long before daughter Jess encounters the secrets of the house...

Husband Roy is desperate to make a go of this new life, by making a successful harvest with the fertile soil in the fields next to where they now live, and despite some troubles between mother and daughter it seems that they are going to try putting their problems behind them.

The house has other ideas though.

The Messengers makes no apology for what it is - an old-fashioned ghost story with a hint of horror and which benefits from a slightly shallow plot to aid with fast story telling and scares. Yeah, it's not exactly earth shatteringly terrifying but it does a better job of building tension than most of its peers.

Its special effects are reasonably decent, and never look too fake bar bar one single occasion in the cellar.

The acting too is acceptable and does the job - Kristen Stewart does her best with the material and produces what the role requires.

But the fun here is with the overall feel of the movie - it just works as long as you don't try to expect too much from it.

The only oddity is 'Cigarette Smoking Man' from X-Files William B Davis making an unnecessary and pointless appearance twice as a real estate broker - a side story which was totally inept and served no purpose and gave the actor all of 20 seconds of screen time.

That aside, good movie and worth seeing as long as you don't expect more than it is.

There is evidence to suggest that children... would really rather watch something else.

As suspense/horror movies go, this one isn't amazing. Its hardly original; more like Hitchcock's The Birds meets Verbinski's The Ring. Honestly. Its a perfect combination of the two.

Personally I'd recommend watching the afore mentioned separately, each being better alone than this film. Really, the only thing it seems to have in abundance OTHER than unoriginality, is cheap pop-out scares. I mean, yeah, its kinda fun the first time or two... but after about half a dozen, you start to wonder if there is anything else to be had.

The acting wasn't entirely horrible, I'll admit to that much. The Turner kids who played Ben are certainly entertaining to watch, giving a cute contrast to the grungy atmosphere of the movie. Cancer Man... wait... no, sorry, William Davis could have done better in my opinion, as could Miller... but considering the type of movie this is, one doesn't have a lot of room to nitpick.

As a quick side note, I DO commend this movie for not being gratuitously gory. Its rare to find modern movies in this genre that don't blatantly use blood and guts to invoke fear.

All in all, this movie isn't the worst of its kinda, but it is in no way the best. If you want cheap, minimal-gore thrills that will make you jump, go see it. If you're looking for a deeper, more thought-provoking thriller... I strongly recommend looking elsewhere.

I won't lie to you, I enjoyed this movie. Yes, it was rather generic. Yes, it borrowed some plot points from other movies. And yes, there were way too many crows. Yet despite all the negative I continued to hear about it, I went and saw it anyways, and I'm glad I did.

Many plot points, such as a haunted house in the middle of nowhere, parents not listening to their kids, and ghosts out for revenge are ideas that Hollywood has used and recycled more times than a person can count. However, The Messengers manages to put these together into one movie, without going for too much at once. Certain scenes were rather predictable, so I won't claim that the movie really innovates on any of the standard horror elements, but there are plenty of moments that had me jump in my seat, and had the female members of the audience squealing and clutching their boyfriends.

Overall I felt at the end of the movie that, while not amazing, it was worthy of my time and money to see with a couple friends on a lazy afternoon.

After having problems in Chicago, the Solomon family moves to a remote North Dakota farmhouse to start anew, but their attempts at an idyllic farming life is disrupted when their teen daughter Jess (Kristen Stewart) and her 3-year-old brother Ben start seeing and being attacked by supernatural beings who won't allow them to live in peace.

The Messengers starts off decently although it eventually becomes a generic horror film that's a lot more humorous than frightening. After reading the premise, I thought this could have been a decent movie since it sounded creepy and it held potential. Unfortunately, the film didn't live up to its potential although I should have expected this since the trailer was awful. The screenplay was probably the worst part about it. It was full of silly sequences and bland dialog. The characters were not developed at all and most of them were acting like a bunch of idiots so it was hard to feel sympathy for them.

The directors did a horrible job at building up suspense. They mainly relied on cheap scares like loud noises and random jumps. The music was really over the top and it just made it easier for the viewer to telegraph the next "scary" moment. I also didn't like how they pretty much just used one location for the whole movie. The house was the centerpiece of the story and that's where the majority of the filming took place so it got a little boring after awhile to see the same area. Also, I didn't like the close-ups of the actors. During a conversation, the camera would continually jerk from character to another in the span of five seconds and it got really annoying. The directors did create a decent atmosphere and they do get some points for making their movie stylish. However, since we have come a long way in terms of style and effects, it's not really that hard to make your movie look nice especially if you are working on a Hollywood film.

The acting was atrocious and if this movie had been released in December, I'm sure it would have received several Razzie nominations. Kristen Stewart showed some talent in Panic Room but you wouldn't be able to tell she has talent by watching her performance in The Messengers. She was okay at acting scared and that's it. The rest of the time she was dry and unconvincing. Penelope Anne Miller was just awful when it came to everything. It sounded like she was reading her lines and she had some of the worst facial expressions I have ever seen. Dylan McDermott was just very wooden and he showed almost no emotion. John Corbett gave the best performance and he had a couple of good scenes. The twins who played Ben were also decent and managed to out act many of the adult actors. Overall, this lame horror film is not worth watching because of it's blandness and lazy film-making. Rating 4/10

I don't know what people expect from thriller/horror movies if they are willing to call this one tragically bad or "lame". Not all thriller movies can be the best - and this one is not one of the "best" you'll ever see. But that's no reason to slam it quite so badly. There have to be a bunch of movies that are in the average range, obviously, not all movies can be the best. This one is definitely in the average range - BUT it's one of the better "average" thrillers you'll come across. The reason it's in the upper levels of "average" is because it's directed by the Pang Brothers. They are responsible for The Eye and Bangkok Dangerous and their brilliant stamp is all over this little thriller. Take notice of how beautifully framed each scene is, the effective use of silence throughout, the play on colours & textures, the minimalist dialogue etc. It's beautifully filmed and well acted by all but the mother character and it creates a lovely tense atmosphere with plenty of scares and spooks (but no blood and guts - so that will "disappoint" some). The biggest problem with the movie is the screenplay itself. It's not the most riveting story in the world & the plot has several flaws (like so many thrillers do). But it doesn't matter, in the hands of the Pangs this taut little thriller still a far better movie than most and easily worth the rental. Just don't go into it expecting the next best thing. It is what it is. An average but gripping movie.