Hong Kong horror specialists Danny and Oxide Pang (The Eye, Bangkok Haunted) ponder the paranormal sensitivities of young innocents in this tale of an unsuspecting family who falls prey to a malevolent entity after moving to into a haunted sunflower farm. Roy (Dylan McDermott) and Denise Solomon (Penelope Ann Miller) have decided to give up life in Chicago and relocate their family to secluded North Dakota sunflower farm. While the tranquil sway of the lush yellow fields at first offers a
welcomed reprieve from the hustle and bustle of the big city, the family soon begins to suspect that they are not alone on the farm when teenage daughter Jess (Kristen Stewart) and her three-year-old brother, Ben (Evan Turner), begin to see a series of menacing apparitions that are apparently invisible to adult eyes. As Jess and Ben's encounters with the malevolent spirits grow increasingly violent, the parents of the tormented teen soon begin to question their daughter's sanity. Soon, the dark history of the family that once lived in the remote farm and the troubled past of the frightened Jess begin to merge as she struggles to warn her parents about the terrifying confrontation with the supernatural that is about to unfold. John Corbett, Jodelle Ferland, and Brent Briscoe co-star in a rural tale of terror from Ghosthouse Pictures and producer Sam Raimi. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
The Asian-horror-movie moment feels long since passed, both here and abroad. Let our zombies walk or even sprint again! Give our creepy kids back their pupils!
[The film is] hampered by hauntingly lame performances by McDermott and Miller, who phone in their parts, and a screenplay that has the sophistication and complexity of a college dorm message board.
Patchwork filmmaking designed by a corporate mentality devoted only to the defense of the lowest common denominator. The viewer is assumed to be stupid and easily duped.
Um filme falho (especialmente com relação ao seu roteiro), mas que oferece belos exemplos do dom que os cineastas têm para criar planos e cenas perturbadores.
The Pang Brothers. I'm thinking Danny and Oxide should change their names to Hit and Miss. Why, you ask? Because that is the perfect description of their work.
The DVD has just enough special features - not so many as to numb the senses, but contains basically what you might be interested in knowing about in regards to making the film.
Chinese directors Oxide and Danny Pang have proven they can handle a good supernatural ghost movie with films like "The Eye" trilogy and "Bangkok Haunted" under their belt back in Asia, and their first English language feature in the western world was not too bad neither. The Pang brothers usually write their own
material but with "The Messengers" they were working with a fairly routine and unoriginal plot that held no real surprises except for the unexpected twist near the end. The film relies mostly on "Boo" scares but there are a couple of moderately creepy moments and scary occurances. It was entertaining enough but won't go down as one of the directors' best efforts, but it's better than a lot of other PG-13 ghost flicks out there.
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