Tony ThioThe Messengers is a story of opposites. The family of 4 who relocates from Chicago to rural North Dakota in search of peace of mind, find anything but that. This haunted house story juxtaposes bright, idyllic exteriors with creaky, spooky interiors, and right from the start, with the unusual presence of crows, a sight that remains till the end of the movie.
The daughter, Jess (Kristen Stewart) isn’t too happy about the move that allows her father, Roy Solomon (Dylan McDermott), to run a sunflower farm. But she has no choice due to some trouble she had, which though not crucial, is revealed later in the movie. The toddler Evan and Theodore Turner has emotional issues and doesn’t talk. However, he is the only one that is able to see the ghostly apparitions that haunt their new home, and a fact that the flashy directors from Hong Kong, Oxide and Danny Pang, unloads on the audience in a chilling way.
The most haunting scene, and the only standout one, focuses primarily on this difference in the characters: Jess holding on to her baby brother, rooted to the spot in fear, while a ghost approaches her from behind. Her brother can see it, but she can’t, and the Pang brothers wait an impossibly long time before the hair-raising payoff.
Jess also encounters the apparitions, at first as unseen poltergeists, then as manifestations that chill her to the bones, brought onto screen with such devastating effect that only the Pang brothers of The Eye and Omen fame can achieve. Her parents, however, don’t believe her when she tells them, thinking that she’s just trying to get them to leave North Dakota, even when things get really bad and endanger the family.
As a whole, the acting is rather well done, especially Stewart, who was last seen in Zathura, but most remembered for her role as Jodie Foster’s daughter in 2002’s offering, Panic Room. Standing above the rest with her acting, she’s definitely a face to watch in years to come. John Corbett, of Serendipity, Raising Helen andSex & The City fame (as Aidan Shaw) also delivers a memorable performance as a farm hand with a alter-ego twist that proves to be the final piece of the puzzle.
Unfortunately, the film crumbles at the end, the 11th hour twist coming too little, too late. Also, there aren’t many innovations, with the Pang brothers borrowing heavily from other familiar horror movies: the undulating shrieks on the soundtrack that sends chills down the audience’s spines, the unusual massing of crows and the poltergeist crawling up the walls and along the ceiling. Thankfully, there are a few horror scenes that will make the audience cower in their seats.
To be fair, the build up of suspense still outweighs the negatives and if you can forgive the conclusion, it is a rather well-made horror movie.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Movie details
Opens: 15 March
Runtime: 90 minutes
Cast: Kristen Stewart, Dylan McDermott, Penelope Ann Miller
Director: Pang Brothers