The Messengers (2007)

Jess (played by the annoying Twilight actress), recently got drunk and nearly killed her little brother Ben in a car crash. Both kids turned out okay physically, but Jess has extreme guilt and Ben can't speak a single word anymore. The family moves out to rural North Dakota (Saskatchewan) to make money growing sunflowers. Only Jess and Ben can detect that the decrepit house has a dark past, and might be haunted by the spirits of a family brutally slaughtered there years ago.The Messengers has eerie soundtrack that really fits the scenery; speaking of scenery it's great horror material, especially the rotten old basement and manure pit where the dead family was buried after the murder. The acting was okay (aside from Kristen Stewart, she was just another emo teenage girl).The cons far outweigh the pros. For one thing there are a ton of plot holes. Who was the creepy real-estate guy who kept showing up like a ghost, what was his purpose? Why was there a manure pit in the basement!? Ewww! How come when Jess was suspected of self-harm she was just casually released from the hospital as if she had a paper cut? How does a car accident cause a kid to be unable to speak?I don't know if anyone else noticed, but The Messengers seems to mimic the 1980 horror/slasher film The Shining. The Messengers spawned a 2009 remake called Scarecrow, which was pretty pathetic.I'm not saying this is a bad film, but there are several things to improve on. Change Jess' actress, give Mr. Real-Estate Agent guy a purpose and maybe think more where the scenery is placed... I lived in a farmhouse and never did we keep a manure heap in our basement...It was SO COOL to see Canadian actor William B. Davis play the minor role of the creepy real-estate agent, he played the role of the Cigarette Smoking Man on The X - Files, the CSM was my idol as a kid.

Even if you haven't seen as many haunted house movies as I have, odds are that you'll frequently have a feeling of deja-vu while watching "The Messengers". Now, I will say that the movie doesn't LOOK bad; for what wasn't a megabudget, it looks reasonably slick and is technically competent. But all the polish can't hide the fact that we have seen all of this before. The opening pre-credits sequence is familiar stuff, the central characters are stock characters, the shock sequences have been done before... the screenplay has absolutely no surprises. Well, except maybe for how it unfolds. Unlike other haunted house movies, this movie often takes its sweet time. For example, more than a THIRD of the movie passes before anyone gets a clue that there are supernatural going-ons in this house. Eventually, you'll start to tell the movie to get on with it because of the deadly combination of familiarity and slow speed. The only audience I can think of for this movie is for young kids who haven't seen a haunted house movie before and are whining to see a horror movie. (The movie isn't particularly graphic, which while may make it okay for kids, will at the same time disappoint die hard adult horror fans used to more graphic stuff.)

I vaguely remember watching this movie when it first came out, but decided to give it another go today. Maybe it's because I'm older now or maybe I'm just spoiled on good movies, but quite honestly, I wasn't even able to finish this movie. It was that terrible.To put it bluntly, it was incredibly generic. The acting is hardly believable and seems very dulled down. The plot was nothing original; just your basic, mediocre ghost story that we've all seen a couple hundred times. The only positive points that I can see are the setting and the general atmosphere, due to the setting, not the acting.I wouldn't waste your time on this movie unless you're new to horror or are scared very easily. The well-traveled horror movie fan will be sorely disappointed and bored by this movie.

The Messengers released in 2007 is another long line of horror films from the 21st Century, which was okay. It's okay in the fact it is watchable, but it certainly isn't a horror film that excites or a very memorable one at that.The story begins 6 years after the Rollin family left unexpectedly, and now the Soloman family who have been troubled of late move in to their abandoned farmhouse, leaving their lives in Chcago behind. This remote North Dakota farmhouse, is meant to be a fresh start for the family but their attempts at leading an idyllic country life are severely disrupted when Jess and her 3 year old brother start seeing things of a supernatural kind.To me The Messengers is nothing more than a generic horror film, something which is unoriginal and has definitely been done before. Saying this I do believe that the storyline had a lot more potential, had it done justice.The screenplay was simply boring. The dialogue was bland, and the scenes used did not flow into one another. The characters were also very undeveloped, and it was difficult to engage with any of the characters on an emotional level. Therefore it was also hard to sympathise for Jess who struggles to find someone to believe her and what she is going through.The Messengers comes under the genre of horror, which is surprising as the suspense element is severely lacking. The movie appears to rely on cheap scares such as loud noises or random jumps. The music was very unnecessary at points, as it just made the next 'scary' moment more predictable, instead of enhancing it. The house was the main focus surrounding the narrative and this is where the majority of the film took place, yet i don't feel they even did this justice. The same shot of the house seemed to be used throughout. Instead they should of came up with some more creative angles to use, which would of made it a lot easier to engage with not only the house, but also the happenings within the house.At times there was an eerie atmosphere, but this alone could not keep my undivided attention throughout. Overall, The Messengers is worth watching,(once maybe)but for me it is an example of lazy filmmaking.