Hangman's Curse

I was impressed by the cinematography of the film. Having seen a few family films lately that looked like they were filmed in someones backyard, the camera work in Hangmans Curse was surprisingly professional. I disagree with the comment made that the music in the final scenes was inappropriate.......the underlying message, hinted at but never voiced; possibly to avoid censure by antagonists, was hinted at more broadly by the choice of music in the end scenes. Very very nice work by the actors. Hopefully this company will finance more films of this caliber for those of us who are seeking something...better.

The movie starts up rather haphazardly and one is left wondering what is happening especially with a drug bust. The movie attempts a twist and turn but gives quite a number of clues away.

Great story of how students relate to each other - the bullies and the sports group. A few die violently due to strange causes; but all with a hangman graphic drawn in their locker. Police and security is unable to solve the case.

Enter a family of private investigators who live in a RV (recreational vehicle - a high end caravan) and take over the case. The sinister plot is unveiled complete with pentagrams and devil worship/voodoo stuff. A clear explanation to all this as the plot is unveiled.

If you watch the trailer, it gives away almost everything there. So don't watch the trailer on the DVD before the movie.

Watchable on that Sunday afternoon if you are not doing anything else. It's rated M 15+ here in Australia, probably because of a few scary, creepy scenes.

Being a huge Frank Peretti fan, especially of his early books (This Present Darkness), I was anxiously awaiting this movie. I was very disappointed. I had hoped for some of the spiritual conflict that is so prevalent in his books, but weren't in the movie.

I like David Keith, and he was excellent in the movie, but everyone else was, at best, mediocre. And Frank Peretti should stick to writing, his acting is just laughable and ruined the movie.

I thought this movie was a great movie overall. I loved it and the story line was awesome. I definately wouldn't consider it 'the best' movie but it was pretty good. Jake Richardson isn't a great actor..He is a ok actor.He was very hot when he was all 'goth', but at the end he definitly wasn't..n yeah. I loved the movie just not the ending of it because it was really stupid in my opinion to have them change their clothes and their personalitys..they ( Crystal & Ian ) were either fake when they were pagan/wiccan or at the end. Because they changed their personalitys completely and their clothes too. N I thought the whole Brother/Sister spy-kid like black outfits were very pathetic..even if Elijah (the guy twin person) was extremely hot . Yes.

I originally saw this 2003 movie on DVD a couple of years after its release and, preparing to re-watch, I couldn't remember anything about it, except the wacky professor, played by the author of the book, Frank Peretti, who comes across as a shorter Dr. Emmett Brown from "Back to the Future." I saw an interview with him and he really IS as eccentrically animated as he appears in the film.

The plot revolves around a Spokane, Washington, high school, which is supposedly haunted by the ghost of a kid who committed suicide ten years earlier. Several jocks have freaked out after seeing the apparition and subsequently went into a coma. The school enlists the services of the Veritas Project, a team of investigators who work undercover to unravel paranormal phenomena. They're like the family version of Mulder & Scully from The X-Files. David Keith plays the father, Mel Harris the mother and the teen twins are played by Leighton Meester and Douglas Smith. The dad pretends to be a janitor at the school while the kids act as new students.

To enjoy this movie you have to accept the highly unlikely premise of a family team of investigators and the fact that this is a tame horror movie from an author who's writes Christian supernatural fiction with this movie being geared toward youths (tweens, teens & pre-teens). You also have to accept that, while the movie had a limited theatrical release, it had the budget of a TV movie ($2 million) and it shows.

With that in mind, there are several things to appreciate about "Hangman's Curse": The cast is likable, formidably headed by Keith; for once in a high school flick we get students who actually LOOK like they're in high school, rather than mid-20s; I like the forbidden wing of the school and its subterranean burrows (reminiscent of the boiler room sequences in the Nightmare on Elm Street flicks); there are loads of creepy arachnids; and there are some quality cuts on the soundtrack.

On the downside, the acting of the peripheral teens is understandably weak and the convoluted story could've been relayed in a clearer, more compelling manner.

As far as the Christian-oriented content goes, it's so light that I can hardly see how anyone would be offended. For instance, a group prays before their meal. Woo, like that doesn't happen every day in every community throughout the Americas. Since the protagonists are Christians, it makes sense to portray them accordingly. If anything, the movie plays it too low-key in this regard.

The film runs 1 hour, 46 minutes and was shot in Spokane, Washington.

GRADE: C+