Watching "The Messengers" is like watching "The Birds," "The Amityville Horror," "Dark Water," "The Sixth Sense" and "The Grudge" all at the same time.
Unfortunately, none of the good parts of any of these films made it into "The Messengers"; instead, it is one long feeling of deja vu, as every aspect of the film has been done before.
Kristen Stewart ("Zathura: A Space Adventure", "Panic Room") stars as Jess Solomon who moves to a quaint (haunted) sunflower farm in North Dakota.
Though the house is rife with ghostly goings-on, initially only the youngest son sees what's truly going on.
The family has a problem with crows, their basement is crawling with evil, and the mother spends a lot of time working on a stain that only gets worse. Sound familiar?
It is obvious that the writers have seen a lot of horror movies. Unfortunately, they didn't learn about suspense, horror, or even anything about script writing.
While "The Messengers" does have its share of moments that make you want to jump, they are mostly composed of a flash of an undetermined form and some loud music. Before the film reaches the hour mark, even someone with very little experience with horror films will be able to predict these scenes before they happen.
When it comes to horror, repetition just isn't scary, and repetition is all the ghosts in this film have to offer. They bear a striking resemblance to the ghosts in the "The Grudge." They look similar, share the same bag of tricks, and even move in the same ways.
To round out the film, the script falls flat. The only lines that sound natural are the ones that involve screaming. Everything else is either trite or unnatural.
Considering the screenwriter is from Texas, it seems he would have a better grasp of American vernacular. To make matters worse, there is a plot twist near the end that manages to be trite and confusing at the same time.
The large amount of decidedly recycled material could simply be considered homage if the film was an obvious spoof or had a few solid ideas of its own. This is not the case however, and instead, the film drags on through a parade of rehashed ideas.
On a positive note, "The Messengers" does a few things right visually. The sets for the farm were all very detailed, and the contrast between the bright sunflowers outside and the dark oppressive inside of the house heightens the ominous feel of the farm nicely.
While what the characters are doing is rarely interesting, the resulting cinematography is. Most scenes are framed nicely, if nothing else, and some are down right eye-catching.
Overall, this flick is not worth the trouble. If you want to see a good horror/suspense movie, take your cue from the writers of this film, and see one of the many films that "The Messengers" draws from instead.
Reach the reporter at: zachary.richter@asu.edu.
