User reviews

Lou D. Phillip stars as a teacher who lives in a small town haunted by the memory of the sudden loss of a busload of children years before. A young woman (Leah Pipes) returns from rehab to her family home, only to encounter the ghost of a little girl who slowly leads her to the lost children and the reason for their disappearance. That part of the movie is OK, and follows modern ghost movie traditions. But some bright bulb apparently decided to also make this a slasher film, with big boobs on display and lots of blood-letting for the JASON and FREDDY crowd. Th slasher segments all tie into the missing children plot, but they were absolutely unnecessary and damn near ruined the movie. We know who the masked killer is way too early, too. Ignore the cheesy slasher scenes, some of which look like they were filmed and inserted as an afterthought, and focus on the ghost plot. You will be rewarded. The ending is a dilly.

The teenager Melanie (Leah Pipes) arrives in Emerald after a period of rehabilitation on drugs. When she lived in California, she had an overdose of heroin with her boyfriend that died, but she was resurrected by the paramedics. Mel is welcomed by her older sister Crystal (Kristin Cavallari) that tells her about an accident between a school bus and a train in 1957 due to a problem in a railroad crossing gate where all the children died. In the present days, there is an urban legend telling that if you put the car in neutral in the same place, the children will push the car and their fingerprints will be printed in the car bumper. Melanie has a cold reception from her mother, and later Crystal invites her to go to a party. When they leave the party with two friends of Crystal, they drive to the spot where the accident happened and Melanie sees a little girl. Later Mel befriends her and finds that her name is Julie (Sydnee Harlan). When Melanie has visions and daydreams with the children and the accident, her mother believes she is on drugs while Melanie tries to discover the truth about the fatal accident.

"Fingerprints" has a promising beginning with a plot with huge potential and scenes that startle. However, the terrible and messy resolution of the mystery is frustrating, with many holes. The heroine, her sister and her boyfriend are nice and empathic characters; however the rest are totally unpleasant or uninteresting. What has triggered the insane killer after many years? How the killer has selected the victims? The attitudes of Melanie's abusive mother are not normal and irritate. What has happened to Penn's car that was parked side by side with Melanie's car when they arrive in the train station? The last scene with the police cars arriving is absurdly ridiculous and senseless since nobody called the police. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Almas Condenadas" ("Condemned Souls")

I don't suggest watching this movie even when you have much time to kill. It's full of clichés, its plot is beyond predictable and there are major logical flaws. The killing scenes are stupid and funny. The sexy actors and sexual material don't help much. The abusive mother,goofy,affectionate father, the hot sister and the problematic daughter constitute the family. Then there is the friendly teacher, the abusive- psychopathic guy who happens to be very handsome, the good and handsome boyfriend-to-be and the silly and slutty cheerleaders. So there's everything needed to constitute the teen-slasher scary movie, but it just doesn't happen. I advise you to sit and watch The Urban Legends again, rather than watching Fingerprints. The only thing i liked about the movie was Leah Pipes, whose performance was worth much superior movies.

Melanie Wood (Leah Pipes) is told by her older sister Crystal (Kristin Cavallari) about an urban legend of a haunted railroad crossing. A bus full of kids supposedly were killed by a train at that site. Melanie rejoins her family in their new home after a stint in rehab for heroine. She's the only who can see a mysterious girl who turns out to be Mary (Sally Kirkland)'s dead sister Julie. Doug (Lou Diamond Phillips) is the school counselor.

This is a low budget horror that suffers from a lack of vision. The kills are not that good. The killer isn't that cool. I like Leah Pipes and Andrew Lawrence is a good douche bag. The other actors are not so good. It's a fine ghost story but Harry Basil is a limited horror director.

A horror movie must have many given aspects, before it captures the loyalty of it's audience. The initial ingredient of course is suspense. This must be followed by a solid story line which conjures up the dark side of imagination. Lastly, it must be held solidly by the actors which must convince the audience of their fear, terror and apprehension. In this movie which is called " Fingerprints " several key aspects are definitely present. The story is that in a small town, a dramatic and mysterious event took place which centered around the deaths of a dozen children. It seems a bus load of school children were killed when their vehicle was hit by a passing train. Years later Melanie (Leah Pipes) a returning resident arrives to finish high school, learns this may not be true. Her parents worry about her as she is also a recovering drug addict who suffers from residual delusions. From the moment she starts school, she becomes aware of her tenuous situation with her strict parents, her insincere counselor and the reoccurring apparition of one of the dead children. The movie has the surprising addition of two Hollywood veterans, Lou Diamond Phillips who plays Doug and Geoffrey Lewis playing old man Keeler. Unfortunately, the film also contains several repetitive themes borrowed from 'The Sixth Sense', 'Scream' and 'Holloween' and further does not resolve some very tense and dramatic moments. As a result, the movie is deemed acceptable, though it tries very hard to become the corner stone of an anticipated sequel. ****

Having read the reviews and seeing the IMDb rating of 4.9 (1312 votes) at the time of writing, I had low expectations of this film.

This is a low budget horror that effectively merges a ghost and slasher storyline, as a young girl plagued by visions tries to uncover the secrets behind a decades old bus crash. The film builds a genuine sense of suspense and has enough scares to lift it above the usual low budget horror. This is in no small part due to a hugely likable and confident performance by the lead actress Leah Pipes.

The limitations in budget do show in the special effects but if you put this aside it is a very effective and creepy horror film.

What a treat...this one has it all! A good mystery, a great ghost story, a taste of the slasher genre, some deadpan humor....throw it all together and you get a cross between "Scream" and "Ghost Story"...a nice throwback to the '70s and '80s classic horror genre. I enjoyed every single minute of this roller coaster ride. Good film quality, nice camera work, remarkable special effects for the budget, decent acting...and even Lou Diamond Phillips. What more can you ask for? Too bad mom didn't get "offed", though...her Mommie Dearest personality certainly warranted it. Great effort on the part of the director and cast. I give it 8 stars.

I enjoyed watching the film Fingerprints. It is about a teenager called Melanie, who arrives in Emerald after a period of rehabilitation on drugs. When she lived in California, she took an overdose of heroin with her boyfriend he died but she was saved by the paramedics. when arriving Mel is welcomed by her older sister Crystal. Crystal tells her about an accident between a school bus and a train in 1957, which was due to a problem with a railroad crossing gate, and all of the children died. theses days there is an urban legend that if you put the car in neutral in the same place, the children will push the car and their fingerprints will be printed in the car bumper. Later Crystal invites Melanie to go to a party. When they leave the party with two friends of Crystal, they drive to the spot where the accident happened and Melanie sees a little girl. Mel speaks to her and finds that her name is Julie. Soon Melanie has visions and daydreams about the children and the accident, her mother believes that she is on drugs while Melanie tries to discover the truth about what happened in the fatal accident. This is a very good film to watch RECOMMENDED!.

Horror movies shot on video were once a genre for the scrappy independents. I now believe that part of horror history to be over. This was not shot like a horror film. It uses shaky camera motions and cutaways instead of real technique or any inspired moves. The fast motion shots are very obviously sped-up footage. The lighting does nothing but expose the flaws of the production. They look wacky and gimmicky. The horror SFX are lacking in believability. The good performances and a good script were wasted. I looked up the production company so I would be sure not to watch any more of their films. The Movie Channel should have found a find better cheaply-made horror film than "Fingerprints."

Nifty little combination ghost story / teen slasher film. The storyline isn't unique, but it has enough twists, turns and odd angles to keep you watching.

The main characters are better fleshed out than in most films of this type while the supporting characters are functional and believable. Lou Diamond Phillips in a larger than cameo role lends some acting credence to an otherwise no name cast. Despite the lack of well known actors, the acting is a cut above the norm for the genre as is the overall writing.

The film has its highs and lows, but for the most part it delivers what fans of ghost stories are looking for, though it might not have quite enough gore for the hard core slasher fan, but it has a little too much for a pure ghost story.

Well worth the watch if you like the teen thriller, ghost story, bloody mystery genre. This film is an interesting mix that you don't often find.

What can I say. Silly plot, bad acting with teens that look closer to mid twenties or maybe thirty. Boy friends who start up sex on a moments notice and look way to pumped up.

A absolutely absurd plot that contains some paranormal elements and a real world slayer, or mad butcher who could never be believed.

I only ask, who watches and pays for this trash? The Mom of the main heroin acted as if she needed to be in a padded cell.

I am amazed by the absolute trash that gets produced and eventually ends up on DVD for unsuspecting viewers to laugh at.

The mad slasher part could have been done away with and perhaps given this very bad flick a better rating by moderately intelligent viewers.

Someone commented on this being an urban legend from somewhere other than Texas. This is a good movie based on the urban legend of a little town in Texas. Where in fact in 1957 a school bus load of children were in fact killed in a train accident when the railroad crossing signs failed to opperate. All the children were killed. The film centers on a fictional Texas town of Emerald. However the real legend comes from a small town near San Antonio Texas. The Film was filmed in Oklahoma City & Gutherie as well as Texas. The high school scenes were in the historic Harding High School building in Oklahoma City. The Scenes of the older homes were filmed in the Heritage Hills neighborhood of Oklahoma City

I really liked this movie. Mostly because I'm familiar with the urban legend. As all urban legends the same story seems to have happened in different places. Here in Long Island the same urban legend exists at a place called Mount Misery (which is not longer a railroad track but an underpass to a highway). Having experienced this legend myself at Mount Misery (came to a complete stop, put my car in neutral and was pushed up hill until I was clear of where the tracks used to be). I wonder if the neutral experiment works at the tracks in San Antonio as well.

Anyway, I liked the movie, thought is was consistent all the way through. There are some holes, but hey it's a horror flick not a documentary.

"Fingerprints" is an all around mixed bag. Some brilliant moments of creepiness mixed with moments of complete Duh…

At its heart is a ghost story. However, someone came up with the idea to make it a slasher film as well. While the paranormal elements tend to work well, the masked killer segments do not, partially to do with the fact that the killer's costume is laughable at best.

The premise is quiet simple, if not clichéd. A small town with a big secret and tragic past. Enter a castaway to learn about, and then attempt to solve the mystery. One big problem that I had was with the flashback sequences. They seemed to really cheapen the film and story. A few flashbacks would suffice, but the movie tries to hurl them at you and make things more confusing and less entertaining.

The acting is also a mixed garden salad. Plump full of ripe tomatoes and rotten prunes. I was pulled out of several scenes because of this and found it harder to concentrate on the plot. The main characters are well portrayed, particularly Leah Pipes as "Melanie" and Andrew Lawrence as 'Mitch". During the finale and reveal, things became quite rushed (budget issues?) and I was left a bit unsatisfied. However, everything is presented to you in a nice little package, so at least you understand the story.

Not bad if you're looking for a ghost story. It may even be appealing to some slasher fans. It's a middle of the road type film, not really bad, but not really good either. I guess it all depends on what you're looking for. For me, it was half and half. So on a scale of 1 to 10, I'll give it an even 5… Right smack dab in the middle.