Fingerprints (2006)

Director:

Harry Basil

Writers:

Brian Cleveland (writer)
Jason Cleveland (writer)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Even the dead leave them.

Plot:

Fresh out of rehab, a young woman moves back in with her parents and sister, and soon becomes involved in a mystery that has left people in her town paralyzed.

Plot Keywords:

Railroad Crossing | Urban Legend | School Bus | Young Girl | Dead Children

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Leah Pipes	...	Melanie
Kristin Cavallari	...	Crystal
Josh Henderson	...	Penn
Andrew Lawrence	...	Mitch
Lou Diamond Phillips	...	Doug
Sally Kirkland	...	Mary
Geoffrey Lewis	...	Keeler
Ginger Gilmartin	...	Bethany
Glen Jensen	...	Kowalski
Morgan Brown	...	Reynolds (as Morgan Brown III)
Sydnee Harlan	...	Julie
Ashley Wyatt	...	Carolyn
Ben Hall	...	Mr. Pearl
Dylan Cox	...	Shawn
Gracie Veneklasen	...	Little Mary

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, language, some sexuality and drug/alcohol content - all involving teens.

Runtime:

Greece:95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:R | Australia:MA (2008) | Australia:MA | UK:18

Filming Locations:

Guthrie, Oklahoma, USA

Company:

Brothers Cleveland Productions

Trivia:

Brittany Snow was originally cast as Melanie, but dropped out in order to star in Hairspray; Leah Pipes then stepped in to replace her.

Goofs:

Continuity: The boards on the windows and the junk outside the depot appear and disappear between shots.

Quotes:

Bethany: I'm only going to ask you once and you'd better be honest. Are you on drugs again?

Soundtrack:

You Can't Be

Promising Story, Terrible and Messy Resolution

The teenager Melanie (Leah Pipes) arrives in Emerald after a period of rehabilitation on drugs. When she lived in California, she had an overdose of heroin with her boyfriend that died, but she was resurrected by the paramedics. Mel is welcomed by her older sister Crystal (Kristin Cavallari) that tells her about an accident between a school bus and a train in 1957 due to a problem in a railroad crossing gate where all the children died. In the present days, there is an urban legend telling that if you put the car in neutral in the same place, the children will push the car and their fingerprints will be printed in the car bumper. Melanie has a cold reception from her mother, and later Crystal invites her to go to a party. When they leave the party with two friends of Crystal, they drive to the spot where the accident happened and Melanie sees a little girl. Later Mel befriends her and finds that her name is Julie (Sydnee Harlan). When Melanie has visions and daydreams with the children and the accident, her mother believes she is on drugs while Melanie tries to discover the truth about the fatal accident.

"Fingerprints" has a promising beginning with a plot with huge potential and scenes that startle. However, the terrible and messy resolution of the mystery is frustrating, with many holes. The heroine, her sister and her boyfriend are nice and empathic characters; however the rest are totally unpleasant or uninteresting. What has triggered the insane killer after many years? How the killer has selected the victims? The attitudes of Melanie's abusive mother are not normal and irritate. What has happened to Penn's car that was parked side by side with Melanie's car when they arrive in the train station? The last scene with the police cars arriving is absurdly ridiculous and senseless since nobody called the police. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Almas Condenadas" ("Condemned Souls")