Movie Review: The Messengers
this is a review of The Messengers (2007)
movie information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425430/
date Viewed: 5/26/07
so.. Ive battled for a while with the notion that I might be mildly desensitive to violences/gore on TV and movies. course I always chalked it up to the movie just, you know,sometimes suck more than I can possibly put into words.
So when several of my horror movies buff friends recommended "The Messengers" to me. I thought I was in for a good scare. Mike and I sat down to watch it at about 12:15am last night. We had the lights off, m&ms and popcorn, sodas... we were set.
Except one little thing….
Hairy Texan Mountain Men scare me more than this did.
I can see why it might frighten some. The movie is based around the premise that little kids can see/sense ghosts because they haven’t closed off their minds like adults have. This is an interesting concept and something many ghost hunters to believe to be 'fact' (as far as Facts can go in the realm of the "supernatural")
Plot (or what they try to pass off as one anyway)
Dad Mom and their teenager trouble starting daughter, and little non-verbal rug rat move out to the country in South (or was it north?) Dakota to raise sunflowers on some dilapidated farm they’ve bought. It takes the movie a while to get into the reason why Bratmisterflex doesn’t speak and why mom and dad are so spastic on the teen. Seems in Chicago, she was drinking, got into a wreck with her baby bro in the car and the kid's not spoken since. Dad has lost his job (it’s not really covered why he lost it or why it took him 2 years to not find a new one and decide to move the family out to the boonies) and mom's got guilt issues and so the only solution is to move out to BFE and raise plants. It’s never clarified if Dad actually has a clue how to raise sunflowers except for a comment made brief and early in the film that his "Dad" did it too.
This house also has a crow/raven issue. They are everywhere on the property and that’s not really ever explained either. But I digress.
No one has lived in this house for 6 years but once the Family moves into it the bank man, played by the X files- Cigarette smoking man looking as pallid as ever, shows up with an offer from “someone else” saying they will not only pay what the family did for the house but an additional 15%. See now any smart person would have said “hell yea were do I sign” and moved into a nice apartment in the city somewhere. But nope, not these folks; they are in it for the “long haul” after all you cant have a horror movie if you move from the place right?
Enter: The Stranger. See Dad cant afford to hire any help he tells the local feed store guy when he mentions that there’s plenty to be had thanks to all the lay offs (Lay offs from what? When?) But when dad’s working on the field and getting terrorized by the Hitchcockesque Crow action The Stranger shows up and scares them off by shooting his shotgun into the air. Dad instantly hires the stranger, with room and board as payment until the first harvest. Stranger says that sounds good. And Dad doesn’t find anything fishy here, at all?
Right so. Maybe I’m paranoid...
So you have Bobby Joe and Mary Sue, there kids Annie May and baby-Jed and the stranger (not their real names no, but strangely befitting). Dad and the stranger work on the field (and the stranger seems to know a good deal about Sunflower Farming) while Momma Mary Sue is scrubbing this stain off the wall that wont stay away, Teenage Troublemaker Annie May beats the cute-boy-in-town at basketball and lil Jed’s pointing at ghosts running on the ceiling ala the Grudge that no one else is seeing but him.
The movie goes on like this, anticlimactic, for some time.. and then suddenly!! Dumdumdummmmmmm!!
Dad cuts his hand working in the field, Ohnoes! And he needs stitches! So mom says to pack up the kids lets go to the hospital, but Dad says no leave the little demons here so they can get eaten by the ghosts! Plot Woman! Plot stick with the script!
Dad and mom leave. The Ghosts all play helter skelter on the house in another grudge like rip off, Troublemaker almost gets sucked down into the basement, lil Jed shows up in the hallway which never is the same scene for scene, and then she pulls herself out grabbing him and trying to get out. She is “Saved” by the stranger who tells the cops that he didn’t see anything. It’s all chalked up the Teenage Angst.
*yawns* Parents don’t believe her anyway because “it’s happening again” - right. So.. Drinking and driving makes you see ghosts? Sweet.
The plot continues in a downward spiral from here. At some point Daughter finds a locket she cant open, the after the ghosts attack her again - which the hospital calls self inflicted wounds, right, uhuh- it opens up and she sees the picture of the mother that used to live in the house. Daughter runs off to find cute boy and they go to the feed store because she remembers seeing the woman before. Cute boy and Troublemaker rush into town, look up on the bulletin board in there and.. and and… guess who she sees? The Father of the family who “Disappeared” from the house is none other that the Mysterious Stranger!!!
At this point I think Mike and I threw m&ms at the TV screen.
See things have already gone horribly wrong back at the farm. Stranger gets attacked by the crows, causing him to suddenly remember he’s a murderous psychopath when he sees Ma Kettle trying to leave the house because she finally sees the mom’s ghost come thru the wall on that cantberemovedeveromg stain on the wall. Ma Kettle trying to leave reminds him of his wife trying to leave and he rushes up to the house, and theres some exchanging of words calling her his wifes name, yadda.
Things, like the Plot, get fuzzy here. Troublemaker and Cuteboy return to find no one home, and then go upstairs to find mom, except instead they find a pitchfork trying to kill em through the door. They get downstairs, cute boy gets knocked out, Trouble maker gets down into the basement. Long story made short, theres a showdown and Stranger gets sucked to the grave by his loving family when they ooze out of the floor in the basement.
Everyone lives happily ever after, including baby Jed who talks again in a touching moment at the end with his sister. Puke.
This movie was about as scary as cornflakes (unless your Jebby, then you know, Cornflakes can be pretty scary). The plot was a bad mix of Hitchcock’s Bird and the Grudge but a lot less entertaining to watch. The idea that kids can see ghosts has merit but it’s poorly addressed. Ma and Pa might be some of the most unobservant self consumed parents I’ve seen in a long time make me wonder how they’ve managed to even raise one kid to teenager-hood. If I came home and found my teenage daughter white and trembling from fear, I would notice that as a real concern and not chalk it up to her being a troublemaker. Good lord.
And since Troublemaker never showed previous signs of self-inflicted injury, I mean besides the drinking thing, why would the parents assume she was self mutilating now? Doesn’t make a lot of sense but I’m sure the Pang brothers thought it made perfect sense when they directed it.
Rating (1 star to 5 stars): *
Why? Cigarette smoking man as a banker amused me and the special effects were decent.
Would you buy it? No.
movie information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425430/
date Viewed: 5/26/07
so.. Ive battled for a while with the notion that I might be mildly desensitive to violences/gore on TV and movies. course I always chalked it up to the movie just, you know,sometimes suck more than I can possibly put into words.
So when several of my horror movies buff friends recommended "The Messengers" to me. I thought I was in for a good scare. Mike and I sat down to watch it at about 12:15am last night. We had the lights off, m&ms and popcorn, sodas... we were set.
Except one little thing….
Hairy Texan Mountain Men scare me more than this did.
I can see why it might frighten some. The movie is based around the premise that little kids can see/sense ghosts because they haven’t closed off their minds like adults have. This is an interesting concept and something many ghost hunters to believe to be 'fact' (as far as Facts can go in the realm of the "supernatural")
Plot (or what they try to pass off as one anyway)
Dad Mom and their teenager trouble starting daughter, and little non-verbal rug rat move out to the country in South (or was it north?) Dakota to raise sunflowers on some dilapidated farm they’ve bought. It takes the movie a while to get into the reason why Bratmisterflex doesn’t speak and why mom and dad are so spastic on the teen. Seems in Chicago, she was drinking, got into a wreck with her baby bro in the car and the kid's not spoken since. Dad has lost his job (it’s not really covered why he lost it or why it took him 2 years to not find a new one and decide to move the family out to the boonies) and mom's got guilt issues and so the only solution is to move out to BFE and raise plants. It’s never clarified if Dad actually has a clue how to raise sunflowers except for a comment made brief and early in the film that his "Dad" did it too.
This house also has a crow/raven issue. They are everywhere on the property and that’s not really ever explained either. But I digress.
No one has lived in this house for 6 years but once the Family moves into it the bank man, played by the X files- Cigarette smoking man looking as pallid as ever, shows up with an offer from “someone else” saying they will not only pay what the family did for the house but an additional 15%. See now any smart person would have said “hell yea were do I sign” and moved into a nice apartment in the city somewhere. But nope, not these folks; they are in it for the “long haul” after all you cant have a horror movie if you move from the place right?
Enter: The Stranger. See Dad cant afford to hire any help he tells the local feed store guy when he mentions that there’s plenty to be had thanks to all the lay offs (Lay offs from what? When?) But when dad’s working on the field and getting terrorized by the Hitchcockesque Crow action The Stranger shows up and scares them off by shooting his shotgun into the air. Dad instantly hires the stranger, with room and board as payment until the first harvest. Stranger says that sounds good. And Dad doesn’t find anything fishy here, at all?
Right so. Maybe I’m paranoid...
So you have Bobby Joe and Mary Sue, there kids Annie May and baby-Jed and the stranger (not their real names no, but strangely befitting). Dad and the stranger work on the field (and the stranger seems to know a good deal about Sunflower Farming) while Momma Mary Sue is scrubbing this stain off the wall that wont stay away, Teenage Troublemaker Annie May beats the cute-boy-in-town at basketball and lil Jed’s pointing at ghosts running on the ceiling ala the Grudge that no one else is seeing but him.
The movie goes on like this, anticlimactic, for some time.. and then suddenly!! Dumdumdummmmmmm!!
Dad cuts his hand working in the field, Ohnoes! And he needs stitches! So mom says to pack up the kids lets go to the hospital, but Dad says no leave the little demons here so they can get eaten by the ghosts! Plot Woman! Plot stick with the script!
Dad and mom leave. The Ghosts all play helter skelter on the house in another grudge like rip off, Troublemaker almost gets sucked down into the basement, lil Jed shows up in the hallway which never is the same scene for scene, and then she pulls herself out grabbing him and trying to get out. She is “Saved” by the stranger who tells the cops that he didn’t see anything. It’s all chalked up the Teenage Angst.
*yawns* Parents don’t believe her anyway because “it’s happening again” - right. So.. Drinking and driving makes you see ghosts? Sweet.
The plot continues in a downward spiral from here. At some point Daughter finds a locket she cant open, the after the ghosts attack her again - which the hospital calls self inflicted wounds, right, uhuh- it opens up and she sees the picture of the mother that used to live in the house. Daughter runs off to find cute boy and they go to the feed store because she remembers seeing the woman before. Cute boy and Troublemaker rush into town, look up on the bulletin board in there and.. and and… guess who she sees? The Father of the family who “Disappeared” from the house is none other that the Mysterious Stranger!!!
At this point I think Mike and I threw m&ms at the TV screen.
See things have already gone horribly wrong back at the farm. Stranger gets attacked by the crows, causing him to suddenly remember he’s a murderous psychopath when he sees Ma Kettle trying to leave the house because she finally sees the mom’s ghost come thru the wall on that cantberemovedeveromg stain on the wall. Ma Kettle trying to leave reminds him of his wife trying to leave and he rushes up to the house, and theres some exchanging of words calling her his wifes name, yadda.
Things, like the Plot, get fuzzy here. Troublemaker and Cuteboy return to find no one home, and then go upstairs to find mom, except instead they find a pitchfork trying to kill em through the door. They get downstairs, cute boy gets knocked out, Trouble maker gets down into the basement. Long story made short, theres a showdown and Stranger gets sucked to the grave by his loving family when they ooze out of the floor in the basement.
Everyone lives happily ever after, including baby Jed who talks again in a touching moment at the end with his sister. Puke.
This movie was about as scary as cornflakes (unless your Jebby, then you know, Cornflakes can be pretty scary). The plot was a bad mix of Hitchcock’s Bird and the Grudge but a lot less entertaining to watch. The idea that kids can see ghosts has merit but it’s poorly addressed. Ma and Pa might be some of the most unobservant self consumed parents I’ve seen in a long time make me wonder how they’ve managed to even raise one kid to teenager-hood. If I came home and found my teenage daughter white and trembling from fear, I would notice that as a real concern and not chalk it up to her being a troublemaker. Good lord.
And since Troublemaker never showed previous signs of self-inflicted injury, I mean besides the drinking thing, why would the parents assume she was self mutilating now? Doesn’t make a lot of sense but I’m sure the Pang brothers thought it made perfect sense when they directed it.
Rating (1 star to 5 stars): *
Why? Cigarette smoking man as a banker amused me and the special effects were decent.
Would you buy it? No.