The Gallows Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: A high school decides to perform a play that was responsible for a student's death 20 years earlier.

Review: The reviews for this movie have been scathing, to say the least, but was it really that bad? Ehh, yes and no. I was mostly able to overlook the film's shortcomings until that ending. Arrrgghh. That fucking ending--it's easily one of the most contrived twists I have ever seen. I imagine, if you were already bored, the ending was probably going to make you flip a table due to its absurdity. Those on the fence, like me, were firmly pushed over the edge by the blatant disregard for logic. With that said, I do feel it's still not as bad as many reviews make it out to be, and it's certainly not the worst found-footage film I've watched.

The story isn't all that complicated. Twenty years earlier, this school put on some play, supposedly called the Gallows, and a kid was actually hanged during the production. In the present, they're redoing the play, for whatever reason, and some of the kids want to get out of the show. You realistically only have 4 main characters, Reese, Ryan (grrr), Cassidy, and Pfeifer. The first three go to trash the sets the night before the show, and they run into Pfeifer while there. It quickly turns into "Grave Encounters" as they can't escape the school. The ghost of the boy who died, Charlie, begins to pick them off in the slowest way possible. As they run around the school trying to escape, Reese discovers his dad was originally meant to have Charlie's role. This makes him borderline suicidal as he thinks the ghost wants retribution for taking the place of the dad. By the end, everyone dies except Pfeifer, but I'll go into more detail a little later.

Let's go over what worked first. The best aspects going for this film were the atmosphere and use of a school for the setting. The eerie, dark corridors are unsettling as you have no idea what might jump out. The school's stage as a set was also welcomed as many different areas were able to be utilized effectively. As for the ghost, I thought he was decent looking and his appearances were minimal enough not to overstay his welcome. He is a bit too Jason-esque, considering Charlie wasn't that intimidating of a kid, but okay. Killing people with a noose might feel kind of lame, but the whole executioner and gallows combo didn't bother me. You'd have to be quite the hard ass not to admit a few of the scares were decently implemented...even if most were jump scares. Finally, the effects are surprisingly well done considering the budget restraints.

As for the film's faults--hmm--where to begin? Let's start with Charlie's death...who the hell builds a working gallows for a play?! And not once, but twice! Oh, I know, we idiotically built a working gallows that killed a kid 20 years ago, let's build another one! The main characters are soooo fucking annoying especially that son of a bitch with my name. Their acting wasn't anything to write home about, but, considering they're amateurs playing themselves essentially, I don't hold it against them. However, the contrivances, baby, oh the contrivances; every single scene appears to introduce a new one. The entire plot of the movie is arguably a contrivance since the only reason Charlie is able to get revenge was because Reese pointlessly tried to wreck the set. Now, for that precious ending...Pfeifer greatly implied to be Charlie's daughter?! HAH! And no one knew who her mother was? No parent/teacher conferences? If that weren't pathetic enough, they had to include a scene of Charlie killing the police. So his spirit can leave the school? And what the hell, they summoned his spirit through voodoo or magic or some shit? Oooohh good lordy! You are absolutely killing me here. That entire last scene felt beyond forced considering this film is barely clocking in at 70 minutes (not counting credits). The studio was probably like, this is a fucking hour long movie--add filler!

I understand people really hate this movie, but it's merely mediocre. I'm more disappointed than anything. The early build up made it seem like the ghost would attack during the actual play performance and all manner of chaos would ensue. Imagine that shit: they're acting out the play when Charlie's ghost appears on the stage and starts killing people. The audience tries to frantically escape, but they're locked in. The ghost starts stringing people up in the rafters as he closes in on those he feels wronged him. Then we could have a revelation regarding the circumstance of the original hanging (there was tampering or something). Now that would be an epic horror movie! Instead, we get an isolated tale regarding a handful of characters running around in the dark; you know, business as usual for found-footage. Overall, there are things I liked and a lot I didn't like. I'm going to be more lenient since the production values looked high, there were good ideas, and they even had a hint of originality. This doesn't mean I can ignore the ridiculously stupid ending, cascade of contrivances, and infuriatingly stupid main characters. I wouldn't recommend this movie unless endings don't make or break a movie for you. Knowing how important the ending is to most people, I simply feel the casual viewer will not be as forgiving and won't care about the other things I see as positives.

Notable Moment: When Cassidy is killed. The tension is pretty good, and I liked the Michael Myers trick of slowly materializing in the shadows.

Final Rating: 5/10