The Messengers (2007/Blu-ray)
Picture:
B Sound: B+ Extras: C Film: D
How silly
can a Horror film that takes itself too seriously get? The Pang Brother’s The Messengers (2007) throws any Horror film idea it can on the
screen and hopes for a good scare, but Danny & Oxide (yes, their names)
show they have no idea of what they are doing and the Mark Wheaton screenplay
(based on Todd Farmer’s unexciting story) is a sort of howler at times. When I saw this with an audience in a
theater, all were rightly laughing it off the screen.
A married
couple (Dylan McDermott and Penelope Ann Miller) have moved into a new house in
the middle of almost nowhere with their two children and faster than you can
say The Shining, they see something
dead and terrifying. Guess it was not
the script.
Then
there is the dumb subplot involving John Corbett’s character who knows more
about the house than they do and if all the supernatural and murder mumbo jumbo
is not enough, anytime the film runs out of transition points, crows start to
invade the farm!
The
digital work of those crows is bad, but all is made funnier by the ridiculous
shock appearances by them and the overly sweetened sound effects the mixers
keep throwing at the audience out of desperation. It all adds up to a mess on how not to do a
supernatural thriller and Sam Raimi’s name on this mess does not improve it
credibility.
The 1080p
1.85 X 1 digital High Definition was shot in Super 35mm by Director of
Photography David Geddes, C.S.C., but is so plastered with bad digital effects
that its sometimes X-Files look is
obnoxious in combination with the terrible dated-on-arrival effects. The PCM 16/48 5.1 mix is better than the
Dolby digital 5.1 mix, but the mix is a joke and almost has moments that are
too loud or shrill for no good reason.
The only extras are seven featurettes that are duds and a
cast/filmmakers commentary that is unreal.
- Nicholas Sheffo
