The MessengersI/i> is textbook, and the course it's teaching is HSL: Horror as a Second Language.
The Messengers (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:18
Fresh:1
Rotten:17
Average Rating:3.6/10
Consensus: The Messengers is an atmospheric but derivative rip-off of countless other horror movies.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for mature thematic material, disturbing violence and terror.
Runtime: 1 hr 31 mins
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Theatrical Release:Feb 2, 2007 Wide
Box Office: $35,374,833
Synopsis: Twin filmmakers Danny and Oxide Pang's creepy 2003 feature THE EYE earned them enough kudos to make the leap to Hollywood, and their first effort is the creepy chiller THE MESSENGERS. A... Twin filmmakers Danny and Oxide Pang's creepy 2003 feature THE EYE earned them enough kudos to make the leap to Hollywood, and their first effort is the creepy chiller THE MESSENGERS. A Chicago-based family comprised of Roy (Dylan McDermott), his wife, Denise (Penelope Ann Miller), their teenage daughter, Jess (Kristen Stewart), and young son, Ben (played by twins Evan and Theodore Turner) try to put the hard times behind them with a move to a picturesque farmhouse in North Dakota. Jess quickly becomes convinced that the house is haunted after some peculiar occurrences while she's alone there with young Ben. But Ben can't articulate what he's seen, and Jess's story is met with skepticism by her parents. It soon becomes apparent that past family tensions are slowly boiling to the surface. Meanwhile, the ghosts keep coming, and the Pang brothers never keep their audience waiting for long before another nerve-jangling scene shudders into view. But as the ghosts torment their new residents, Jess does a little research on the old farmhouse and discovers a few secrets that may just hold the key to why this is all happening. Packed full of CGI effects and a few moments that may cause a jump or two, THE MESSENGERS is a horror movie aimed at a young audience and not horror aficionados, as indicated by its PG-13 rating. [More]
Starring: Dylan McDermott, Penelope Ann Miller, John Corbett, Kristen Stewart
Starring: Dylan McDermott, Penelope Ann Miller, John Corbett, Kristen Stewart
Director: Oxide Pang, Danny Pang
Director: Oxide Pang, Danny Pang
Screenwriter: Todd Farmer
Producer: Sam Raimi, William Sherak, Jason Shuman, Rob Tapert
Composer: Joseph LoDuca
Studio: Columbia Pictures
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Release:
Jun 5, 2007
Reviews for The Messengers
No one says, "Gimme the bat, Wendy," or, "Here's Johnny!" But they come close.
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.
If the ghosts were magnets and the Solomons were paperclips, the two parties couldn't be in a bigger rush to collide.
Every movie has to have its own sense of logic, horror movies perhaps most of all, but as this story heads towards its climax it begins to contradict what it's told us to believe all along.
It's awards season, so we'd like to nominate The Messengers for the yet-to-be-established Tippi Hedren Award for best use of malignant ravens in a motion picture.
With The Messengers, the Pang brothers devise scenes so scary that they stain the imagination and never scrub out.
The Messengers isn't a particularly frightening or gory horror movie, but directors Danny and Oxide Pang do have a special talent for torturing the reputations of their actors.
The most frightening aspect of the film is that it will soon be haunting the bargain bins of shoddy video stores.
The objective view gives the audience too much room to unravel its schematic plot, which is far less inspired than its creepy visuals.
It isn't until the end that things spin out of control. No one says 'Gimme the bat, Wendy' or 'Here's Johnny!' But they come close.
The Pangs painfully hew to a vision of an idealized Americana with the 'happy ending' coming off as especially egregious.
The Messengers borrows so heavily from The Amityville Horror, The Birds, The Grudge, Poltergeist, and others that it has no room left for anything of its own.
The grown-ups fare worse: They speak . . . very . . . slowly . . . as if to pad the running time out. This may in fact be the most ridiculous performance John Corbett has ever given.
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