The Gallows (2015) #436

"The Gallows" was a highly advertised 2015 POV horror film distributed by Blumhouse Productions. It's a decent film with an clever premise that fails to deliver the scares that the commercials promised. I appreciate the setting (a high school at night), how the film avoids using CGI, and the minimal cast, but I feel that the film would have been more successful as a regular movie than being filmed in a POV format. For some reason, I feel that the advertising campaign was similar to that of "My Bloody Valentine 3D", and if it had been presented in the same style, this film would have worked. Having four teens with video cameras running around a locked up high school from a mysterious killer with only one method of killing loses it's appeal and believability rather quickly; if only they had a valid reason to keep recording while running for their lives like the characters in "The Blair Witch Project"!

While I like the direction that the story takes, the characters themselves are cliched and underdeveloped. The other detail I noticed while watching the credits was the fact that most of the cast share the same first names as their character; Reese Mishler as Reese Houser, Pfeifer Brown as Pfeifer Ross, Ryan Shoos who played Ryan Shoos (???), and Price T Morgan as Price. This was either extremely lazy script writing or a clever way to include the actors as they helped create the story. A few of the actors do feel like they are giving their all in their performances regardless of the strength of the dialogue in the script.

The pacing of the movie is solid, giving the viewer ample time to see the set up of the plot, be introduced to the characters and learn about their basic motives, and move on to the point of the movie. The ending has a twist that I was not expecting but one that works. Overall, my review of "The Gallows" is a mixed; it was fun to watch but it could have been so much more.