The Damned (2014)

This is an old horror story recycled. David (Peter Facinelli) and his fiancee Lauren (Sophia Myles) travel to Columbia to retrieve his college girl daughter Jill (Nathalia Ramos) for their wedding. His first wife is dead. Also in Columbia is the first wife's sister Gina (Carolina Guerra) and his daughter's boy friend Ramon (Sebastian Martínez).Jill needs to get her passport for the trip which is 6-8 hours away in Medellin by bad road. Their vehicle becomes disabled as they make their way to an isolated hotel where the owner (Gustavo Angarita) is reluctant to let them in. This is where they meet Ana Maria (Julieta Salazar) the creepy looking girl on the cover. The film takes about 30 minutes to build up before the fun begins.Other than the English subtitles, this film offers nothing new to the formula. We have seen it done with college kids at a cabin in the woods, which is always my preferred location...I'm just shallow and simple.Parental Guidance: No English F-bomb. Not sure what was said when she dropped her cell phone. No sex. Nudity (Carolina Guerra)

Gallows Hill has an intriguing premise with pretty much opportunities to generate horror, paranoia and suspense; unfortunately, the irregular rhythm and slips of the screenplay betray the potential of the premise, making the intervals between murders and demonic manifestations a bit frustrating. On the positive side, during those cruel moments, the blood flows freely and it's well combined with subtle special effects. On the other hand, the characters tend to make the most absurd mistakes whenever the screenplay doesn't find a logical way to continue the story. The actors make a decent work in their roles, highlighting Sophia Myles as the stepmother who tries to keep her false family united and Julieta Salazar, who is able to bring an appropriately terrifying attitude to her character. In conclusion, Gallows Hill is a mediocre but moderately entertaining horror film. I will probably erase it from my memory in a few days, but it didn't bore me, and I can give it a slight recommendation because of that.

I watched this last night and feel compelled to make this the first review I have done on IMDb. I'm a huge Horror film fan and usually enjoy even the most generic of them. However, this is most definitely the exception.I'm not sure what exactly it does that is so wrong, but somehow it manages to create zero atmosphere, zero scares, and zero enjoyment. It shouldn't be the case though, with many of the elements there which usually make an at least passable horror film.(possible minor spoilers ahead in the check list, although I'm sure all are mentioned in the synopsis)Old house in the middle of nowhere...check. Bad weather...check. Shifty old dude...check. Possessed kid...check.Yet, for some reason it just fails miserably. I watched 'Livid' the night before, and whilst not great, it did at least have a tense, foreboding feel about it. Which at least made it worth a watch. The acting is poor in The Damned, the script is poor, the effects are poor and even the cinematography isn't great either. Not to mention it's almost completely devoid of any 'scares'.It's the first Horror movie in quite a while in which I found myself utterly bored. As the headline above says, this is best avoided.

Starting a few millenniums back, science; i.e., facts, began a battle with religion; i.e., superstition. Those who believe in the supernatural, miracles, extra-terrestials, etc., are unaware science has won. As such horror and sci-fi movies, long ago limited to genre, are measurable by HOW it's done, with limitations on what CAN is done. This film (on Netflix as GALLOWS HILL) is creative on the CAN as it's stars are not lost or partying kids or paranormal sleuths. The creativity on character relations is done with useful effect. Its setting is not the USA and the film usefully employs the language barrier. Okay, it is stuck inside a house and borrows some gimmicks. The actors, photography, dialog and editing are professional. Restraint is employed regarding gratuitous nudity and special effects and the opening and closing "narrative" is minimal enough to avoid the preachy manure many films of this budget use. In sum, in relation to the tons of horror films out there, this one is pretty good. The makers might think what I'm going to say is faint praise: GALLOWS HILL, a/k/a THE DAMNED, didn't make me feel like an idiot for watching it until the end. For a grouch like me, that's praise indeed.