Hangman's Curse (2003)

Bullying students are becoming deathly ill after screaming the name of a legendary ghost. What's to blame? An exotic illness? An illicit drug? Or is it the supernatural? The clues are few ... See full summary »

Director:

Rafal Zielinski

Writers:

Frank Peretti (novel), Kathy Mackel (screenplay)

Stars:

David Keith, Mel Harris, Leighton Meester

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
David Keith	...	Nate Springfield
Mel Harris	...	Sarah Springfield
Leighton Meester	...	Elisha Springfield
Douglas Smith	...	Elijah Springfield
Jake Richardson	...	Ian Snyder
Bobby Brewer	...	Leonard Baynes
Daniel Farber	...	Norman Bloom
Edwin Hodge	...	Blake Hornsby
Andrea Morris	...	Crystal Sparks
William R. Moses	...	Coach Marquardt
Margaret Travolta	...	Debi Wyrthen
Tom Wright	...	Dan Carillo
Frank Peretti	...	Dr. Algernon Wheeling
Liz Schilling	...	Shawna Miller
Teresa Suter	...	Julie

Storyline

Bullying students are becoming deathly ill after screaming the name of a legendary ghost. What's to blame? An exotic illness? An illicit drug? Or is it the supernatural? The clues are few and time is running out for the students of Rogers High School. The only hope is the Veritas Project, a highly trained investigative team working undercover to expose the truth. Lives hang in the balance as they scramble to unravel the mystery and protect the student body from their own hatred and fear.

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Plot Keywords:

ghost | bullying | undercover | high school | based on young adult novel | 

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Taglines:

Watch your locker. Watch your back. Watch your soul.

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for elements of violence/terror and for brief drug material

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 September 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Veritas Project: Hangman's Curse

Filming Locations:

Riverside State Park - 9711 W. Charles Road, Nine Mile Falls, Washington, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$78,084, 14 September 2003, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$168,406

Company Credits

Production Co:

Namesake Entertainment,North by Northwest Entertainment,The Total Living Network

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

Ian's Lip piercing is alternates between left and right.

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Quotes

Blake Hornsby: Yo, Lord. I'd like to thank you for this wonderful day and thank you for this wonderful lunch and this wonderful family. And thank you for healing my friends and getting Norman the help that he needed. And that you for Elisha being so hot and thank you for the dad for being so cool and not kicking my butt because of what I just said. Yeah, amen. Let's eat.

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Connections

References Hawaii Five-O (1968)

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Soundtracks

Lonely Man
Written by Bob Herdman / Mark Stuart / Will McGinniss / Tyler Burkim / Ben Cissell
Performed by Audio Adrenaline
© 2001 Up in the Mix Music/Flicker USA Publishing (BMI).
All rights administered by EMI Christian Music Publishing.

User Reviews

Overall, an entertaining movie that you can watch with the kids.

I read some of the other comments that people left about this film and found many of them to be very biased for or against. I think it is pretty silly to criticize the film for being too "Christian" when it is of course written by a Christian author. That is like complaining that your ice cream is cold, creamy and sweet. If anything, the Christian message was toned down. Some of the criticism was that the movie was too much like an after school special. I suppose that this criticism is intended to complain against the movie being written with a moral and with the intent of reaching a youthful audience. But again I ask, why criticize something for being what it is intended to be? This movie clearly WAS written to teach a moral and reach a youth audience, and it did a decent job of it, all the while keeping the viewer entertained. Frankly, anyone who believes that "secular movies" are not "preaching" a message are naive. Every writer, intentionally or unintentionally inevitably pours their beliefs and biases into their work. In our society this is fine, unless the message happens to be from a Christian perspective. Then it is branded as "preachy" or "religious" and dismissed as propaganda by the disingenuous as though all other genres are innocent of such bias. I enjoy watching both Christian AND secular movies... but I am not duped into believing that one is "selling" a message and the other is not.

I've seen many Christian films and they often suffer from bad scripts, bad acting, bad production and bad soundtrack. Some get one or two aspects right, rarely do they get them all right. This movie had good production, good soundtrack and a good script. Overall, the acting was good also, though Frank Peretti should not have allowed himself to be cast in this film. I love Frank's books, he is an awesome writer, but we can't expect to be good at everything and movie acting is not his talent. He played the character way over the top, becoming a parody... like someone out of an episode of Scooby Doo. Had he done the wise thing and insisted on a professional actor to play the professor it would have improved this movie, but don't let this one sour point stop you from seeing this film. Especially if you are a parent with 12 to 16 year olds, because this is a movie that you can watch with them without ever having to worry about surprise nudity or foul language. I get so annoyed with writers who have no imagination and believe that a movie is unauthentic if the characters don't curse every third word from their mouths. I see Bogart, Cagney, Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne films that are just as compelling today as back in the day when they were made and guess what!! ...No Foul Language! Imagine that! I'd like to see more films made like Hangman's Curse that are able to keep me interested without resorting to swears and sex. For it's genre and intended audience, I give it a slightly generous 8 out of 10.