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Jess and
her family has just moved away from Chicago
and out on the country-side to take over an old
sunflower farm. They're all having trouble adjusting,
but Jess is the one who's suffered the most from the
move. On top of that, it seems as if the farm is
haunted, and Jess and her younger brother, who can't
speak, are the only ones who can see the ghosts.
What do they want?
There are many things that are difficult to understand
about The Messengers, like what purpose did the crows
have and what exactly is the message? Well I never did
figure out what the crows had to do with anything but
I did get the message and overall, I have to say that
I got the movie as well. The Messengers has been the
victim of horrible reviews from just about everyone,
but being the Pang-fan that I am, I have to be honest
with you; I thought that it was great!
The Messengers doesn’t go for cheap scares (well,
there are a few), instead, it's the first American
horror movie that successfully manages to bring the
atmosphere and build-up from Asian horror movies into
an American one. Sure, people may think that it's
an Amityville rip-off, a The Birds rip-off, or even
a The Shining rip-off, but the truth be told, it's
just a classic, typically Asian, haunted house movie,
and a pretty damn good one at that.
Heading into this movie, I had low expectations. The
trailers made it look like yet another cheap haunted
house movie in the vein of "Boogeyman" (which I really
didn't like) and the Pang brothers have started to
loose steam as of lately (I found their drama thriller,
Diary, to be quite lackluster). Not to mention the
fact that it was rated PG-13, which is never a good
sign. Luckily, the Pang brothers successfully manage
to borrow elements from their previous horror flicks
as well as from other horror classics (yeah well,
I never said that it was an original movie) and still
make it feel surprisingly fresh. It doesn't fall into
the same category as movies like "Pulse", "Boogeyman",
"White Noise", "Dark Water" since it's entertaining
enough to be memorable, while as the other ones have
felt generic and forgettable.
I don't want to praise The Messengers too much though,
even though I definitely enjoyed it. I mean, this is
safe territory for the Pang brothers and I wish they
had done something more out of the box. But still,
it's got a great cast, it's got an entertaining story
with an unpredictable twist at the end (I know that
the twist was silly but I really liked it for some
reason) and I was overall very satisfied coming out
of the theatre. I even dare to say that this might be
the best haunted house movie of the year so don't
miss this one if you're a fan of the Pang brothers.
Nothing here.
I loved the soundtrack! The opening credits were
accompanied by some of the most beautiful music I've
heard since "The Others" and the score was overall
perfectly in tune with the movie. Great stuff.
Underrated haunted house movie that was unfortunate
enough to get released right after the ghost boom had
ended. I really enjoyed The Messengers though and will
definitely have to recommend it to anyone who's in for
a good and atmospheric horror flick. Don't miss this
as it's a spine-chilling horror experience.
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