Gallows Hill

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.

The Damned (or Gallows Hill, if you prefer) contains all the usual clichés we have seen in horror movies countless times before. Group of people get stranded during bad weather, find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time, run into creepy old guy, get into trouble, horror ensues.. yadda yadda yadda....

OK, more precise: a group of guys (some American, some Colombian, two are supposedly mother and daughter, even though they look like at most 8 years different in age) are in Colombia for charity work. While on the move they are advised by a police officer to take a different road, but like usual idiots in a horror movie they decide to take the first option.

You guessed it, they end up stuck and have to find shelter in a nearby abandoned inn, run by the cliché creepy old man. While one of the ladies has to go to the bathroom she hears screaming from a young girl voice. She goes down into the basement and finds a young girl locked up. Of course, being horror movie idiots, they liberate the young girl against warnings and the party begins.

The movie starts with a short intro movie showing old pictures of witch execution, making me believe i would be a great supernatural horror movie for the October month.

Instead, it is tame, unscary, has little to no suspense and annoying characters who don't if they should speak English or Spanish the whole time. The demon girl characters totally fails to convince and never had me interested or scared.

After an hour or so, I decided my time was too valuable for this and switched it off. Simpy avoid.

4/10

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.

And a good half of this movie is spoken in it. I've encountered this several times. Keeping up with Spanish subtitles is not an easy task.

In what feels like the world's most expedited setup, you need to pay close attention as characters, relations, and motives fly by. It seems like Gina (Jill's father's dead ex-wife's sister, if you've got your ears tuned in) is doing some faux interview with her friend Jill (filmed by her new love interest, Ramon, who is apparently part of the "family," as everyone and their brother implies throughout). Later, Gina tries to get some "dirt," implying she wants to be an investigative journalist... This subplot is not explored.

No, Jill's father and his fiance spring up in Columbia (surprise!) by examining Jill's credit card statements, because his wedding is in like 8 days or something? Oh, so they're in this mad rush because Jill's passport is at Gina's, they need to catch a plane, and they're hauling up a mountain dirt road in the middle of a tropical storm. What's the worst that could happen?

They get stranded at an old inn located in the middle of nowhere, and all the phone lines are cut. Jill hears a little girl in the basement, so she must rescue her. Which is the undoing of just about everyone.

I don't know how many movies I've seen this in, but what you've got here is another body-jumping movie. People get killed, and the demon (or in this case, a witch) moves into another nearby vessel. The Damned (or Gallows Hill) employs a number of tried and true tricks and tropes, so the whole thing comes off a little cliche.

There were two characters here, where they make it seem like there's a language barrier. Then, surprise, surprise, they speak fluent English after all (one guy, introduced in the first scene, starts speaking it 40 minutes in!). Assuming this is just for the convenience of the plot, but really seemed like a cheap trick.

There are some things I liked about this movie. First of all, it's got a claustrophobic and atmospheric location. Things do heat up as the body count rises, and there is some good gore. This witch knows all your sordid secrets, and it seems everyone here has something horrible to expose. Also, the ending is somewhat unexpected (albeit improbable. I thought the witch said she was strong?).

I would consider The Damned to be a semi-interesting, though convoluted, retread.

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.