The Messengers (2007)

An ominous darkness invades a seemingly serene sunflower farm in North Dakota, and the Solomon family is torn apart by suspicion, mayhem and murder.

Directors:

Oxide Pang Chun, Danny Pang

Writers:

Mark Wheaton (screenplay), Todd Farmer (story)

Stars:

Kristen Stewart, Dylan McDermott, Penelope Ann Miller

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kristen Stewart	...	Jess
Dylan McDermott	...	Roy
Penelope Ann Miller	...	Denise
John Corbett	...	Burwell
Evan Turner	...	Ben
Theodore Turner	...	Ben
William B. Davis	...	Colby Price
Brent Briscoe	...	Plume
Dustin Milligan	...	Bobby
Jodelle Ferland	...	Michael Rollins
Michael Daingerfield	...	Police Officer
Tatiana Maslany	...	Lindsay Rollins
Shirley McQueen	...	Mary Rollins
Anna Hagan	...	Doctor
Blaine Hart	...	Charlie

Storyline

It's been six years since the Rollins family just up and left and now the troubled Solomon family has come from Chicago, to rebuild their lives following their sons hospitalization due to their daughter's drunk driving accident. But as they start to settle in something odd and strange begins to occur to their son. Could something supernatural be at work, and did the previous family just leave...or are they still here? Trapped in the only place they've ever known? And what did cause their deaths? Most of all...is this 'killer' still very much alive?

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Plot Keywords:

sunflower | farm | north dakota | murder | ghost | 

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Taglines:

There is evidence to suggest that children are highly susceptible to paranormal phenomena. They see what adults cannot. They believe what adults deny. And they are trying to warn us.

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material, disturbing violence and terror

Details

Official Sites:

Metropolitan Films [fr] Sony Pictures [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 February 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Untitled Pang Brothers Horror Project

Filming Locations:

Canada Saskatchewan Production Studios, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$16,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£262,562 (UK) (6 April 2007)

Gross:

£704,195 (UK) (13 April 2007)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Screen Gems, Ghost House Pictures, Columbia Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Black and White (flashback scenes) Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The murdered boy is played by Jodelle Ferland, a female.

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Goofs

When Ben is standing at the cellar door, in one shot the fingermarks in the floorboards are gone.

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Quotes

Jess: [to her brother] You saw it too... didn't you?

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Crazy Credits

The opening titles, feature around surreal shots of the haunted site.

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Connections

References Cold Creek Manor (2003)

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Soundtracks

"All My Dreams Are Coming True"
Written and Performed by Ron Keel (ASCAP)
Courtesy Marc Ferrari/MasterSource

User Reviews

leaves me not really offended, though never impresses either, it's just a mediocre horror movie

I don't think that I would completely write off the Pang brothers, Oxide and Danny, as they don't completely go into the self-indulgent post-modernism that has panged, no pun intended, the horror filmmakers of late. Only once or twice they jump into 'Saw' territory. But even having not seen the majority of the Japanese horror movies that have give rise to the over-abundance of 'ghosts-in-my-house' wave (and, likewise, to their American counterparts), there isn't too much with surprise or shocks in The Messengers.

I'm sure they're self-conscious of the films they're paying homage/ripping off (the one scene involving the crows and their rendezvous with John Corbett's character is like a chummier mash of The Birds and North by Northwest; Shining and Close Encounters references seem a little more than clear to me too), yet they also succumb to having their film be really affect-less. It's never too stupid though; I didn't have a disliking toward any one character, with the exception being maybe towards the end with Corbett (I don't think I'm spoiling much there), and it's the sort of typical family-moves-into-a-creepy-house story that decides to hit the usual bases without going rapidly wrong on the marks.

But there's also the muddle that comes in dealing with the supernatural side of things, amid the average scares of 'what did I hear in the other room, I'll go check'. For one thing, the variations on who the ghosts and demons in the house are- if they're the family that used to live there, or if they might be the whatevers that killed off the family striking back at the new family in the house. There's fair acting from the family (Kristen Stewart of Panic Room fills in the teenage-girl niche, and there's competent work from McDermott and Miller; Colbert is a little creepy, but I guess that's the point; William B. Davis's bit part is the best real surprise of the movie), but it's all at the mercy of a standard script that might've been better, damn if I say it, as a half hour TV episode or something. Only sometimes, too, are there some potential unintentional laughs to be had, mostly towards the climax and with the very randomly placed crows that can only come in a pretty inexplicable flick such as this.

In the end, the Messengers is nothing new, and won't contribute much at all to the horror genre at large, but I wouldn't throw it in my 'I hate this movie so much' bin either, as it only continues to that non-threatening realm of the kinda-creepy PG-13 haunted house picture.