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.

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.

Basically, that's it...

The mood and look of the film were very good. The primary concept was fine, although somewhat familiar.

Many times with these Horror movies what really lets them down is subpar acting. But, I must admit that in this case I truly did not feel that there was anything wrong with the acting, all concerned did a fine job representing their roles.

And, without spoiling anything, one thing that I felt that did stand out, although it was very brief and somewhat minor towards the end, was that there was an added ability of the 'Entity' that was kind of a cool idea and revealed some surprising things.

But, ultimately, and I can't honestly point out exactly what was missing here, but the resulting story just seemed to end up without quite as much of a 'Punch' as I think it could have.

So, a somewhat familiar type story told in a competent way, but all in all not really anything that stands out in any way. A mildly decent watch if you don't have a whole lot else going on... : )

OK so apparently Witches are the new concept to exploit. And apparently they can't die or something. This film was an opportunity to make a really sincerely scary horror film, but "the Damned" just doesn't hold it's weight. The movie was somewhat confusing, and overall it just wasn't scary enough. It started off a little creepy and atmospheric but that's only because the viewer is led on by gloomy surroundings and the location of the hotel they end up at. But once the "secrets" are revealed, it's pretty much all downhill. IFC has some very good films but this is one of the weaker ones. "The Squad" is a horror film that is also about witches and I totally recommend it over this movie.