As you may or may not have seen, The Gallows comes out today in theaters.
Lucky for me (*can you sense the sarcasm*), a theater by my apartment began screening it last night.
At the insistence of a friend, I went and saw it.
And for your sake, I'm reviewing it - and possibly saving you $10.50.
The Gallows is a found-footage movie based around four high school kids - three jocks and a drama queen - and a play called "The Gallows"... shocking. In the movie, the school is putting on this play to pay homage to the original play of the same name in which someone died in a freak accident. Dumb idea.
If you want spoilers, highlight the space below:
Basically, one of the football players - Ryan - and his cheerleader girlfriend convince the lead male actor in the play (also a football player named Reese) to destroy the set that night so the play can't happen. Another dumb idea. Once in the school during the night, they get locked in. Ryan does a bunch of stupid things like getting lost, calling out to the ghost of the kid who died, and climbing ladders to prove he doesn't believe. They also run into Pfeiffer - the drama queen - and she gets upset as to why they're in the school. As they try to escape, they die one by one as they're left alone (seriously, WHY do they split up?!), Reese makes the dumbest decision in history and it turns out Pfeiffer was in on the whole thing. I won't spoil exactly what happens or how, but it's... interesting.
What doesn't make any sense is that one of the students - Ryan - is running around with a camera and there is NO explanation as to why. Unlike Paranormal Activity where they were filming to see what happened during the night, or Blair Witch Project or any other found footage movie which usually explains why the person was filming in the first place, there was absolutely no explanation as to why it was being filmed. And maybe I'm thinking too much, but that bothered me.
While there are some jumpy parts and eerily long silences, I jumped maybe once or twice and got angry at the lack of these characters' logic.
Would I see it again? No.
Would I suggest paying full-price (aka primetime)? No.
What about matinee? Maybe - if jumpy, suspenseful movies are your thing, you're looking to kill time, or you're into slightly scary movies that won't haunt you in your sleep.
Honestly, I'm not mad I went (especially since I am an avid fan of the matinee and still use my student ID to get cheaper tickets) but I am a little disappointed in the quality of acting and the lack of explanation of some important things (at least what I thought was important).
Oh, and how dumb these kids were, but that is to be expected in "scary" movies nowadays.
Are you interested in seeing The Gallows? Were you before you read this review lol? Have you seen it and/or what are your thoughts?
Sounds like a typical modern "thriller" to me!
ReplyDeleteI love reviewing films and was thinking of going to watch this, I still might but thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I've never understood that need to split up, it's just silly!
The Everyday Life of Rachel
Right, very typical! I think if you have some time to kill and as long as you aren't expecting to be scared out of your mind, you should go see it.
DeleteAnd I am right there with you, why would you ever split up if creepy things are happening around you? lol