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Review #387 of 365
Movie Review of The Messengers (2007) [PG-13] 89 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $8.50
Where Viewed: United Artists Denver Pavilions Stadium 15, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 3 February 2007
Time: 10:10 p.m.
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer
DVD Release Date: unscheduled
Directed by: Oxide Pang Chun (Mon seung) and Danny Pang (Bar Paradise)
Screenplay by: Mark Wheaton (Firestorm: Last Stand at Yellowstone) based on a story by Todd Farmer (Jason X)
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Kristen Stewart (Zathura) • Dylan McDermott ("The Practice") • Penelope Ann Miller ("Vanished") • John Corbett ("Sex and the City") • Evan Turner (debut) • Theodore Turner (debut) • William B. Davis ("The X Files") • Dustin Milligan (Final Destination 3) • Jodelle Ferland (Tideland) • Tatiana Maslany (Booky Makes Her Mark) • Shirley McQueen ("Renegadepress.com")
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
For the people who cannot get enough of the malevolent ghost story movies, welcome The Messengers. The truly mysterious things about these films are why people find them scary, why people don't find them repetitive, and why people continue to flock to them in droves. Oh, and why don't the people that move into the ominous, scary, one-step-removed from Mrs. Bate's house, obviously haunted houses in the first place. Well, never mind, here's the set-up for this one. Jess (Kristen Stewart) did something really terrible back in Chicago. Her out-of-work father, Roy (Dylan McDermott) spent two years and twenty year's worth of family's savings keeping the family afloat paying their living expenses and her little brother Ben's medical expenses—apparently he was hurt during the really bad thing she did. It's not clear what mom, Denise (Penelope Ann Miller) was doing all this time except becoming so estranged from her daughter that for a while it's not clear if she's Jess's mom or her young step mother. So, when the family is close to running out of cash, Roy gets the brilliant idea to buy a farm in very rural North Dakota near where he grew up and plant a crop of sun flowers to save his family from financial ruin. I am absolutely not making this up. When they drive up the winding country road in the middle of close to nowhere, the house looks like a strong wind would blow it into Minnesota.
"… derivative, recycled, and repetitive …"
Ah, but Roy assures everyone, he'll have the place up and running and good as new in a few days. While planting his dream sunflower crop! Suddenly, now, he's all industrious? Well, anyway, shortly after moving in, the flash backs we've already seen from the beginning of the film where something terrible happens to the Rollins family in that house, begin to come true. Ben (Evan and Theodore Turner) sees creep stuff. A wondering vagabond named Burwell (John Corbett) shows up just in time to save Roy's newly purchases sunflower seeds from being consumed by angry crows who might also have been in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds if they had long enough life spans. In no time, Roy offers Burwell a bunk and food in exchange for labor on the farm. He also swiftly turns down an offer of 15% more than he paid for the farm from a mysterious banker named Colby Price (William B. Davis) without telling his wife about it, of course. No, the family is here to stay. Creep things happen, but no one but Ben can see them, until one night when Roy cuts his hand on the tractor, and Roy decides it will be best for Jess and Ben to stay home while Denise takes him to the doctor. Bad idea. Never leave the kids alone in a haunted house. Well, the malevolent ghosts work their terror destroying everything, breaking stuff, and trying to grab Jess and Ben and do whatever it is that malevolent ghosts do to living people. Jess and Ben barely escape when the oblivious Burwell runs up to the window and asks what's going on. Well, of course, Roy and Denise think that Jess is just crying out for attention and wanting to return to Chicago rather than live in the dismal little town where her only friend is a really atrociously bad basketball player. As you can probably predict if you've seen a few of these films, the ghosts just want Jess and Ben's help at catching the bad guy who did killed them in the house. Rather than just saying so, though, they haunt them and lock them in rooms, and cause other people to think they are crazy. Yeah, it makes a lot of sense, actually.
The twist is not all that unpredictable if you follow the clues left by the messengers—which seem to be the crows? Well, I'll leave it up to you to figure that out, if you get the urge to spend a little dough at the real cinema this weekend and have already seen the umpteen far better films out right now due to the Oscar®-nominee reboot. But, seriously, folks, I'd love to know why people like these films. This is about the fourth for fifth one I've seen in the past couple of years, and they aren't that scary, aren't that realistic, aren't that captivating. They just aren't that well-written. I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record on this, but people writing, directing, and acting in these films need to begin their experience by sitting down and watching Poltergeist. They should not attempt to clone the film by any means. However, they should pay very, very close attention to why the film works and why it is so scary. Then, they should work hard to replicate the intentions. That was a film that capitalized on so many real childhood fears from clowns to scary tree branches blowing outside the window and casting creepy shadows on the wall at night. Anyway, suffice it to say, no one has still yet even come close to the fright and fear factor of Poltergeist, and until they do, these films about malevolent ghosts will continue to collect dust on the list of just didn't quite cut-its.
The twist is not all that unpredictable if you follow the clues left by the messengers—which seem to be the crows? Well, I'll leave it up to you to figure that out, if you get the urge to spend a little dough at the real cinema this weekend and have already seen the umpteen far better films out right now due to the Oscar®-nominee reboot. But, seriously, folks, I'd love to know why people like these films. This is about the fourth for fifth one I've seen in the past couple of years, and they aren't that scary, aren't that realistic, aren't that captivating. They just aren't that well-written. I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record on this, but people writing, directing, and acting in these films need to begin their experience by sitting down and watching Poltergeist. They should not attempt to clone the film by any means. However, they should pay very, very close attention to why the film works and why it is so scary. Then, they should work hard to replicate the intentions. That was a film that capitalized on so many real childhood fears from clowns to scary tree branches blowing outside the window and casting creepy shadows on the wall at night. Anyway, suffice it to say, no one has still yet even come close to the fright and fear factor of Poltergeist, and until they do, these films about malevolent ghosts will continue to collect dust on the list of just didn't quite cut-its.
Ben sees the ghosts that grown-ups cannot.(Click Still Photo to Purchase)
As for the directing of The Messengers by Honk Kong brothers Oxide and Danny Pang, well, they did a pretty good job. The special effects are ok, the tension builds well, there are some great shots of the house and the crows etc. On the scale of these versus some of the previous ones, this one is a little better than average. The acting was decent. It's very hard to understand why Roy and Denise won't believe anything that Jess says even once it is revealed, finally, what she did that was so bad back in Chicago. What she did was irresponsible, a huge mistake, but not something that would make most parents or guardians suddenly think their child is a pathological liar capable of making up stories of being attacked and harassed by malevolent ghosts. In any case, Dylan McDermott spends too much time brooding and Penelope Ann Miller spends too much time looking perky. John Corbett's performance was somewhat more inspired and eerie. And, of course, the cameo role of the sneaky banker, Colby Price was aptly played by William B. Davis to creepy perfection. The Rollins family flashbacks were probably the scariest and best part of the film with a doe-eyed Michael Rollins (Jodelle Ferland) hiding in the kitchen cupboard straight out of Stephen King's The Shining to avoid getting killed. Unfortunately, Michael does not fare as well as Danny Torrance. The Messenger falls on the spectrum of better than average but still far too derivative, recycled, and repetitive to be worth a rush to the multi-plex. This one will be fine next Halloween on DVD or digital download.
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
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Other Projects Featuring The Messengers (2007)
Cast Members
Kristen Stewart
• Dylan McDermott • Penelope Ann MillerJohn Corbett
• Evan Turner • Theodore TurnerWilliam B. Davis
• Dustin Milligan • Jodelle FerlandTatiana Maslany
• Shirley McQueen Co-Directors
Oxide Pang Chun
• Danny Pang Screenplay Writer
Mark Wheaton
| DVD | VHS | |
The Messengers (2007) Review-lite [150-word cap]
For the people who cannot get enough of the malevolent ghost story movies, welcome the Pang Brothers's latest film The Messengers. Jess (Kristen Stewart) did something really terrible back in Chicago. Her out-of-work father, Roy (Dylan McDermott) spent two years and twenty year's worth of family's savings keeping the family afloat; and, when the family is close to running out of cash, he gets the brilliant idea to buy a farm house in North Dakota and plant a crop of sun flowers. Despite its strong resemblance to Mother Bates's house on the hill, they move right in and become embroiled in battle between a family of malevolent ghosts and the one who made them that way. The twist is not all that unpredictable if you follow the clues left by the messengers—which seem to be the crows? Save this one for DVD or direct movie download.
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