Gallows Hill

"Gallows Hill" (aka "The Damned") was actually a good enough movie, despite it being generic in every sense. The storyline was nothing new, but still the movie was entertaining for what it was and for the way it was directed.

A group of Americans are traveling in Columbia when they are in a landslide accident. Seeking refuge at a nearby old inn, the marooned come across an old man living all by himself. When they hear the cries of a young girl from the basement, things take a turn and things are not all what they appear. But as they release the girl from her confinement, little do they know what they have unleashed.

The storyline is good and there is a good continuous flow to the movie. Just a shame that the movie followed every book of "how to make a horror movie" there is, and it all was something seen before.

The acting in the movie was good, and the people had a proper script and proper characters to work with. And as such, that whole element added a layer of enjoyment to the movie.

I will say, though, for a horror movie, then there were surprisingly little scare moments in the entire movie.

"Gallows Hill" is a good enough choice for an evenings worth of movie entertainment.

A mediocre 5 out of 10 stars from me.

I watched this last night and feel compelled to make this the first review I have done on IMDb. I'm a huge Horror film fan and usually enjoy even the most generic of them. However, this is most definitely the exception.

I'm not sure what exactly it does that is so wrong, but somehow it manages to create zero atmosphere, zero scares, and zero enjoyment. It shouldn't be the case though, with many of the elements there which usually make an at least passable horror film.

(possible minor spoilers ahead in the check list, although I'm sure all are mentioned in the synopsis)

Old house in the middle of nowhere...check. Bad weather...check. Shifty old dude...check. Possessed kid...check.

Yet, for some reason it just fails miserably.

I watched 'Livid' the night before, and whilst not great, it did at least have a tense, foreboding feel about it. Which at least made it worth a watch.

The acting is poor in The Damned, the script is poor, the effects are poor and even the cinematography isn't great either. Not to mention it's almost completely devoid of any 'scares'.

It's the first Horror movie in quite a while in which I found myself utterly bored.

As the headline above says, this is best avoided.

Seriously, how do you make such a movie, watch it afterwards and think it is good to be distributed? Almost nothing saves it. The acting, the plot, the dialogues, the stereotype actions taken by the victims, nothing does the job. Don't watch, please, waste of time with dumb ending, and no one can care about the characters and what happened to them

Mediocre horror movie. If you're bored with nothing to watch, then go for it. But trust me you wont feel connected to ANY of the characters. In fact, i wanted the British woman with the pompish accent to die so quickly. Watching her act is like staring into the sun, it hurts my eyes. Other than that, decent (not great) mediocre horror movie.

Extremely Claustrophobic and Bloody Demon Doings. It is one of those that the Evil Entity can leap from Body to Body. The Atmosphere is sometimes Chilling and the Gore is Prevalent while Weak Characters are put in Jeopardy in a Regular Rhythm of Gross and Disgusting Displays of Horror Movie Tropes.

But there is enough Splatter in this B-Movie to give it a Pass on the Familiar way it goes about its Story. None of the People here are Relate-able and some of Their Back Stories are so Glossed Over the Victims remain Nothing but Props.

Some Creepiness is at hand and the Movie does make for a bit of Unsettling Reaffirmation that when told that a Road is Unusable, the Horror Movie Thing to do is, well You Know. This Leads to the Clichéd Set-Up of the "Cabin in the Woods" Variety of Pent Up Spirits and many Brutal Deaths ahead.

Overall, there is Something here that makes all of its Familiarity somewhat Watchable for Horror Movie Fans. Just don't Expect Anything other than a bunch of Semi-Clever Kills with an Eat Your Own Tail Ending.