The
Gallows (2015/Warner Blu-ray w/DVD Set)
Picture:
B+/B- Sound: B+/B- Extras: C Film: C-
You'll
want to be on the gallows when you watch this lousy found footage
film, which starts off interesting and quickly loses steam, relying
on boo scares and invisible hangings to give the audience a fright.
The
story, co-directed by Travis Cluff & Chris Lofing, centers around
a high school play where a student is hung and killed on stage during
a performance of the play 'The Gallows' in a noose. Fast forward to
2013, where the school (for some unknown reason) decides to put on
the play again and gets a small band of high school theater actors
involved, who one night decide to sneak into the stage and come
across a haunting and get trapped in the school where magically all
of the electricity is out and they have to fend for themselves
against an entity.
The
Gallows stretches its short running time of an hour and twenty
minutes with mostly just the teens talking to one another and zooming
in on different things 'thinking' it's a ghostly apparition but
seeing nothing. The excessive teen arguing weighs on the viewer as
do an overall 'staged' feeling that contributes to the bad actors
they got to play in the film. This makes the Paranormal Activity
films looks like Stanley Kubrick productions. Eventually when people
start getting killed there are a few cool moments here and there but
ultimately its aim is obviously towards a more teenage market with
its absence of gore (which in my opinion could have saved it).
Presented
in sharp 1080p high definition with a widescreen aspect ratio of
1.85:1 and a powerful, lossless Dolby Atmos 5.1 track (mixed down
from its original 11.1 Atmos theatrical presentations), the film at
least looks and sounds great on Blu-ray. There's also a DVD version
included in standard definition with an anamorphic widescreen aspect
ratio of 1.85:1 and a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 track.
A
Digital UV copy is also included in compressed quality for your
tablet or smart phone if you like to watch movies on the go. Extras
include the original film that inspired this one, Deleted Scenes, a
Gag Reel, and some trailers.
All
in all, The Gallows is just another entry in the found footage
genre that doesn't really sell and feels staged. Unless you a big
fan of this sub-genre, I would safely skip it. Let's hope there
isn't a sequel.
-
James Harland Lockhart V
www.facebook.com/jhl5films
