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The Messengers

Released: 2/03/07

Viewed: 5:20 pm 2/07/07

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Dylan McDermott, Penelope Ann Miller, John Corbett, Dustin Milligan

Directed by: Oxide Pang Chun, Danny Pang

2929 Productions - Official Site of the Movie

I was kind of on the fence about seeing The Messengers at all because of how badly it was being bashed universally by critics. This poor thing was getting no love. Not only that, the film is centred on a little kid that can see the dead. I find the concept of little kids in general unsettling but little kids that see ghosts - that's the first good argument I've ever head for having a vasectomy. What eventually convinced me to check it out was its performance at the box office. I know that sounds a little shallow but I try to keep an eye on what people actually might want me to be reviewing. The messengers didn’t do great, but it did well enough to make 15 million and earn the number one spot on Super Bowl weekend. A weekend where people don't even show up at the movies on one of the days. I decided that its success was based on either the kids ruling the multiplex or that there was maybe something there worth checking out.

Sure enough The Messenger manages to be a nice combination of real scares and cruel head games. Genuinely frightening but in a very teenage kind of way. I was constantly tense and begging for a break form the scares. Normally in a horror movie I’ll welcome a nice scene of exposition. It gives me a moment to breathe and collect myself. But The Messengers is very subtle with its characterization and background to the point where you’d learn something about the past and then suddenly everyone’s being attacked by birds. The only thing scarier than a kid that can see ghosts – ghost birds.

After some trouble in Chicago Jess (Kristen Stewart) and her family relocate to the country to farm sunflowers. They’re looking for stability and a new beginning but instead they find ghosts. I don’t know why they’re so surprised. Driving up, one look at the house should have told them that something was amiss. It’s not like it was on top of a hill with lightning crackling behind it, but the house is way beyond being a fixer-uper and so much closer to being flat out haunted. I’m half surprised we didn’t see Scooby and the gang drive up half way through.

This is the American debut of the Pang brothers, an Asian directing team best known in the States for a film they did called The Eye. I've never seen it but based on the way they were able to shake me up last night, I'm sure it's a psychological thriller worth checking out.

The Messengers is a PG-13 horror movie so I honestly didn't expect much from it. The teen horror genre has got a few yelps out of me in the past year with films like Pulse and The Grudge 2, but for the most part it's all loud noises and cheap thrills. Scare tactics that attack an audience’s natural ability to react to a surprise rather than their real instincts on fear. A PG-13 movie that will mess with your head and really make you shake is a very rare thing.

Towards the end of The Messenger I became paranoid and obsessed with the littlest things around me. My eyes were darting at strange noises in the corner. I was desperately trying to convince myself that a rustle in the empty seats two rows ahead of me was just a mouse. (Probably was, I’ve spotted them there before.) The film was using the cheap tricks bad filmmakers use to get cheap scares but it was balancing it out with these achingly quiet, torturous moments of expectation. The kind of horror that makes you wait for the scare. The kind that doesn’t just make you scream but makes you anticipate the scream and that’s really scary.

There are many methods for moviegoers to deal with a scary movie. Some people are just ok with it and are not affected at all. Fellow pimp Phil has actually said that there’s nothing visually on screen that could frighten him. He’s like a statue, it’s not even right. I’m not so brave. I’m a squinter. If a scary moment is coming up I’ll squint my eyes and watch the film in blurred fuzz. (This can also be achieved by removing your glasses depending on how strong or weak your prescription is.) Sometimes, if I’m particularly freaked out I will squint and tilt my head down so that I can only see the very bottom of the blurred and fuzzy screen. This technique isn’t perfect, obviously. There are some things you just miss, but you’d be amazed how much you can tell what’s going on just by the sound.

There’s one moment in the film involving Jess and Ben hunting for the ghosts in the middle of the night that was an amazing example of “anticipation horror�. So much so that my squint system failed me. Back and forth from open to squint, waiting for them to show the ghost that was so obviously there but they would just not reveal! I couldn’t handle it. I was so freaked that my eyelids were rattling, though to be fair that could have had something to do with the constant squinting and opening. Like I said – the technique isn’t perfect.

The ending of the film might raise a few eyebrows. I liked it though. I thought that it grounded the ghost side of things and reconnected it with the real world. Though it does seem a little convenient and I think they could have explored it a little differently. But I was less bothered by the ending then I was by the fact that this girl kept going back to the house. She was beaten and scratched and terrified by ghosts, and argues with her parents in the car that they have to leave, but as soon as they pull into the drive way she escapes them by running… to the house. Gimmie a break. Just run away, problem child.

There’s not much new going on. This is a ghost story with a haunted house so you’re going to be seeing a lot of things that you’ve seen before, but if you compare the quality, of other PG-13 movies of the same theme, The Messengers is going to stand out. It’s beautifully shot and really well paced, and for a movie that never actually shows anything scary, it’s one of the most difficult movies I’ve had to sit through in a while. “Difficult good� not “difficult bad�.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10 - The Messengers was a nice surprise considering how badly it’s been beaten by the critics. While it’s not perfect, it’s a beautiful looking film with some solid but safe scares. I think its quality is being overshadowed by the fact that the target audience is 10 years younger than your average critic. But if kids can really see ghosts then we should really be yielding to them on what’s considered scary.

Even with a solid opening weekend I don’t think Messengers stands a chance against the next crop of big releases. Norbit will rules the weekend and Music and Lyrics and Ghostrider are going to have a good old fashioned slugfest for the Valentine’s weekend crowds. Messengers will drop off the charts quickly but have a better life on Netflix. It can wait to be rented I think, plus it might be easier to watch in your comfort zone. There were more than a few times where I would’ve loved to have my finger on the volume button. The Messengers is not DVD worthy though. It’s good for a fright but once the credits role you’ll be looking for a fresh horror fix.

The Grudge - Messengers and The Grudge share the same concept of a murdered family haunting a home. The Messengers just gives us a reason to avoid Sunflowers. I say be done with them. Good riddance. I find their ostentatious size to be pretentious.

Something I enjoy about both films is how important the houses are in each. Certain rooms and areas are significant to the ghosts and the haunting. I’m a strong believer that if you can connect the audience to the environment then the film itself will have a stronger impact. It’s a lot more fun to call your hero a “crazy biotch� when she’s going into the basement if we already know the horrible things that happen down there.

At the official site of the movie for The Messengers I was surprised to find a few cool things that I thought were worth sharing. They have token features like links to Myspace pages done in the characters profile, and phone messages that tie into the movie. They even set up an 800 number that has Jess exploring the basement. Pretty cool if it didn’t end with a voiceover plugging the film. Do they really think that people are just stumbling upon the number? I mean, I know that when I get bored I randomly dial 800 numbers, but I thought it was just me.

A few weeks ago where I debuted this “web� section in The Hitcher I pointed towards a map that listed real life hitching incidences. The Messengers has a similar map with stories of unexplained phenomena. You can tell it’s all submitted text from teenagers though because they like totally sound that way, for sure. They have a couple of other things over there worth checking out including a way to test how susceptible you are to contacting ghosts. A great idea that was kind of poorly done, but I appreciate the thought that went into this site’s extras.

The Hills Have Eyes 2 (teaser trailer) - This is a brilliant teaser. One of the best I’ve seen in a long while. What’s especially remarkable is that I don’t even like this franchise. I find nuclear tested freaks very unsettling. So much so that I outsourced to my readers for a review to the original horror remake. This teaser isn’t terribly scary or in your face but it’s very unique and stands out in a sea of trailers that follow the same patterns. It’s actually got me excited about a movie that I don’t ever plan on seeing.

On February first I took part in The Hourly Comic, a challenge where the participants are to draw a comic for every hour of the day that they’re awake. Sort of like a journal comic but very intense. It was a fantastic challenge but a little draining and a huge eye opener to how boring my life is. Maybe not. You be the judge. Head over to this thread in the boards and check out my results. Thanks for reading guys. I owe you a Spiderman review for the 10 on the 10th. It’s coming soon.