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The Messengers

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The Messengers (2007)

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Reviews Counted:81

Fresh:9

Rotten:72

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

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • Desperate for a fresh start after a tough two years in Chicago, the Solomon family retreats to a desolate sunflower farm in North Dakota. But the calm of farm life is shattered when 16-year-old Jess (Kristen Stewart) and her 3-year-old brother Ben begin to see nightmarish apparitions throughout their new home -- visions that nobody else can see. As the visions grow darker, they become fear-inspiring experiences and Jess' parents (Dylan McDermott and Penelope Ann Miller) start to question their daughter's sanity. Now, Jess must find a way to save her family and win..
  • Source: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
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    Reviews for The Messengers

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    41 - 60 (sorted by date)
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    Why do movies like this always have such unsatisfactory endings? Who pays to watch this stuff, anyway? You? Hope not.

    Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
    02/05/07
    Liz Braun
    Liz Braun
    Jam! Movies

    If the ghosts were magnets and the Solomons were paperclips, the two parties couldn't be in a bigger rush to collide.

    Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
    02/05/07
    Geoff Pevere
    Geoff Pevere
    Toronto Star
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    The plethora of horror movie cliches -- even those still residually effective -- weigh so heavily in The Messengers that whatever moments of terror that might have been had are left positively weightless.

    Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
    02/05/07
    Tim Cogshell
    Tim Cogshell
    Boxoffice Magazine

    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.

    Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
    02/05/07
    Stephen Whitty
    Stephen Whitty
    Newark Star-Ledger
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    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.

    Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
    02/05/07
    John Anderson
    John Anderson
    Newsday
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    With The Messengers, the Pang brothers devise scenes so scary that they stain the imagination and never scrub out.

    Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
    02/05/07
    Matt Zoller Seitz
    Matt Zoller Seitz
    New York Times

    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.

    Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
    02/05/07
    Peter Hartlaub
    Peter Hartlaub
    San Francisco Chronicle

    Even though The Messengers turns out to be deeply and irrevocably flawed, it's still the best movie Ghost House has released to date

    Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment 1 Comment
    02/05/07
    Ethan Alter
    Ethan Alter
    Film Journal International

    The film's problems boil down to story. The Messengers has none, or nothing beyond the sketch of an idea: family with troubled past moves into spooky new home.

    Full Review Source: Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema | comment Comment
    02/05/07
    Mark Pfeiffer
    Mark Pfeiffer
    Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema

    the running motif of crows run amok has too much of Hitchcock's THE BIRDS about it to stand on its own, even in the Pang's capable hands. Then again, any script that dared use that motif was setting itself up for a fall, and that's exactly what it got

    Full Review Source: Killer Movie Reviews | comment Comment
    02/05/07
    Andrea Chase
    Andrea Chase
    Killer Movie Reviews

    The Messengers falls flat with its tedious plot, clichéd storyline and unsurprising twist.

    Full Review Source: ReviewExpress.com | comment Comment
    02/04/07
    Michael Black
    Michael Black
    ReviewExpress.com

    Scary awful. It’s a new genre I just made up.

    Full Review Source: FilmsInReview.com | comment Comment
    02/04/07
    Victoria Alexander
    Victoria Alexander
    FilmsInReview.com

    And what crop is Dylan growing, you ask? Sunflowers. Yes, sunflowers. Agriculture's baby-step from farming dandelions. Why not just harvest weeds?

    Full Review Source: MovieJuice! | comment Comment
    02/04/07
    Mark Ramsey
    Mark Ramsey
    MovieJuice!

    The Pangs might know how to knee-jerk shock an audience ad nauseam, but the remainder of The Messengers suffers from shamelessly thudding banality.

    Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
    02/03/07
    Rob Humanick
    Rob Humanick
    Slant Magazine

    However, in their (The Pangs) first serving of an American-made boofest served with all the fixings of a horror-induced bunt cake the taste still remains strikingly superficial

    Full Review Source: Movie Eye | comment Comment
    02/03/07
    Frank Ochieng
    Frank Ochieng
    Movie Eye

    Viewers who prefer to see blood splattering and internal organs being sliced and diced will be disappointed.

    Full Review Source: Worcester Telegram & Gazette | comment Comment
    02/03/07
    Daniel M. Kimmel
    Daniel M. Kimmel
    Worcester Telegram & Gazette

    Boo? Bah.

    Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | comment Comment
    02/03/07
    MaryAnn Johanson
    MaryAnn Johanson
    Flick Filosopher

    The script is so tired and derivative that even though there are tiny scares here and there, it's boring after a while.

    Full Review Source: Greenwich Village Gazette | comment Comment
    02/03/07
    Eric Lurio
    Eric Lurio
    Greenwich Village Gazette

    The Pangs are technically proficient enough to deliver the requisite jolts, but déjà vu haunts the film as surely as its pasty-faced, hitch-stepped ghoulies, and it's hard to shake the impression that we've seen this movie before.

    Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
    02/03/07
    Scott Tobias
    Scott Tobias
    AV Club

    The scare tactics are tried and just as tired as they always are.

    Full Review Source: Mark Reviews Movies | comment Comment
    02/02/07
    Mark Dujsik
    Mark Dujsik
    Mark Reviews Movies
     
     
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