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The Messengers

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5.7/10 • 794

2007-02-021h 30m

MysteryThrillerHorror

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.

When the Solomons trade in the craziness of big-city life for the quiet of a North Dakota farm, little do they expect the nightmare that follows. Soon after arriving, teenage Jess (Kristen Stewart) and her younger brother see terrifying apparitions and endure attacks from a supernatural source. Jess must warn her disbelieving family before it is too late to save them.

Directors
Danny Pang Fat, Oxide Pang Shun
Editors
Armen Minasian

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Kristen Stewart

    Kristen Stewart

    Jess Solomon

  2. Dylan McDermott

    Dylan McDermott

    Roy

  3. Penelope Ann Miller

    Penelope Ann Miller

    Denise

  4. John Corbett

    John Corbett

    Burwell

  5. William B. Davis

    William B. Davis

    Colby Price

  6. Brent Briscoe

    Brent Briscoe

    Plume

  7. Jodelle Ferland

    Jodelle Ferland

    Michael Rollins

  8. Tatiana Maslany

    Tatiana Maslany

    Lindsay Rollins

  9. Evan Turner

    Evan Turner

    Ben

Reviews3

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tmdb17996075 Avatar

tmdb17996075

Feb 14, 2017

5/10

Americanized Pang brothers go mainstream and sadly the results are not very good. I actually wanted to like this film, because I enjoyed the Pang Bros. previous well-known horror film "The Eye" and for that reason alone, I had some really high hopes with this one too. Well, I guess it was my bad and I must say now that I'm genuinely disappointed; since I was expecting something that would be just as dark and scary as "The Eye", considering that we are talking about the same directors, but this time, they even had a bigger budget to work with. Proof that good directors can screw it up (or at least in my humble opinion) and that won't have anything to do with the financial resources. In "The Messengers", the Solomon family, moves to an isolated farm, with the purpose of starting a new life and leaving an unpleasant memory behind. However, as soon as they arrive to their new house, the teenage daughter Jess, starts to experience some really odd situations and she claims to see people living inside the cellar. Creatures that are not in peace with themselves and need to give her a message before it's too late. However, her parents, who are pretty much fed up with her and her dreadful behavior, don't believe a word she says. Unfortunately, it is only a matter of time for them to realize that Jess may not be lying this time, after all and that there's actually something in that house…something that has been waiting in the dark for a few years and is waiting to be released. I won't complain about the fact that these kinds of stories were already told about a thousand times. I'm not one of those movie fans who complain about the lack of innovation when it comes to the plot. Honestly, I think most films (especially horror films) out there, share a decent number of similarities and while many reviews comment on the simplicity and unoriginality of the plot, I will mainly focus on the fact that this film is overall not scary, which is my main concern. It seems like The Pang Bros. basically sold their talent to the devil, just to enter in the American film industry, without realizing that there was no need to copy the most superfluous and silly PG-rated contemporary horror flicks. "The Messengers" turns out to be one of those movies where nothing really happens...ever. It's just a nice variety of hallucinations and situations that end up being reduced to "Did it really happen or was it just my imagination?". No, I'm sorry but I just had about enough with these nonsense. I suppose the real action starts happening during the last twenty minutes, but that just doesn't do it for me. The denouement turns out to be somehow far-fetched and it left me with the hateful "That's it?" feeling inside my head. Overall, not the worst movie ever and it's not like it is unwatchable. It happens to be entertaining for moments and it has a small number of well-done ghostly sequences that made the whole thing endurable in some way. I also enjoyed the scenes with the crows, since they reminded me a lot of "The Birds", which is like partying with an old best friend, or something like that. The music during the opening and final credits is in my opinion the actual high point and that is not a very good sign, unfortunately. Another thing that is not exactly a good sign, would be the overhead microphone that can be seen more than once during the film. No comments about that little detail.

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
$16,000,000.00
Revenue
$55,060,212.00
Keywords
child murdernorth dakotalittle boyrural areasunflowerravendeath threat