The film opens with a family in a farm house being picked off by
a shadowy thing. We know this takes place in the past because it’s shot in black
and white. I’m not a big fan of children being menaced in horror
films--much less getting killed--but the Pang Brothers, the twin Hong Kong
horror filmmakers, show some much-needed restraint in these early scenes. Many
years later, Roy Solomon (Dylan McDermott) moves his family to a dilapidated old
farm house in North Dakota to grow sunflowers…of course, it’s the same damn
house where the massacre took place, although nobody appears to have told the
Solomon family this. But that’s ok, because the ghosts who still dwell within
the walls of the house are more than happy to remind their new tenants.
The Messengers focuses on Jess, the teenage daughter who’s well-played by
Kristen Steward. She’s had some good cinematic experience in running from bad
things, since playing Jodie Foster’s daughter in the far superior Panic Room.
Jess and her little toddler brother Ben are the only ones who can see the ghosts.
However, Ben’s not talking, and nobody believes a word Jess says, because she
was something of a wild child back when the family lived in Chicago. And so the
ghosts continue their haunting, which forces Jess to question her very sanity,
and which also makes little Ben happy, because he’s got some really funky new
playmates to hang out with.
While not a really bad film, The Messengers's main problem is that
it’s very predictable, especially in how the ghosts haunt the kids. Fans of
Asian horror movies (as well as their Americanized remakes) will recognize the
gray-colored specters crawling across the walls, ceilings and floors. Thanks to
the onslaught of the Ringu-inspired films that had been released within the past
five years, this once shockingly fresh treatment of ghosts has now become a
tired visual cliché. But the Pang Brothers can still create some pretty good
scare sequences--none are more effective than the eerie sight of a toddler
pointing out the ghosts to his big sister. And while there’s a nice twist at the
end, the film is so predictable that you see it coming from a mile away.
In addition to the well-done series of behind the scenes
documentaries, which can be watched one at a time, or all together, there’s also
a commentary with Steward. If you’re looking for a good scary movie for
a Halloween gathering, The Messengers is a safe bet. Just don't expect to see
any originality here.
--SF
