The Messengers

Introduction

Danny and Oxide Pang first came to my attention with the terrific Hong Kong/Thai horror `The Eye` and it was a film that brought them into reckoning to direct a film in the U.S. That film was `The Messengers`, written by Mark Wheaton and produced by the American Ghost House Pictures production company, which includes Sam Raimi.

The plot is outlined above so I won`t complicate things here.

Video

As you would expect for a film just months out of the cinema, the transfer is excellent and the cinematography is well served. The only flaw is the CGI, which is a little ropey at times, especially with the crows.

Audio

A well mixed DD 5.1 soundtrack with clear dialogue and good use of the surrounds for the jumps and more intense scenes. There are good English HoH subtitles available.

Features

The `Exhuming The Messengers` making of is a fairly comprehensive featurette, covering most of the aspect of the making of the film. There are spoilers so don`t watch it before the film.

I imagine the ten `Webisodes` were promotional shorts on the website, to give a taster of the film prior to its theatrical release and they run together for just over 26 minutes, almost as a complementary piece to the `making of`.

There is also the trailer for `The Messengers` and the menu is preceded by trailers for `Dead Mary` and `The Last Sect`.

Conclusion

I am a big fan of `The Eye` but have been less than thrilled by some of Hollywood`s Asian influenced horror films so wasn`t sure which way `The Messengers` would go: would I be disappointed by it, or would it convince me that Asian filmmakers could produce a fine film within the confines of an American studio? The answer is a bit of both (but mostly the former) with the Pang brothers showing they have a visual flair that transcends language boundaries but was surprised at the formulaic and generic nature of the film. Little is fresh and the film takes elements of `The Birds`, `Ju-on: The Grudge`, `The Amityville Horror`, `Poltergeist` and `The Shining` into this melting pot of a haunted house movie that had almost as many references as a `Scary Movie` film.

`The Messengers` is watchable, but I don`t know if it`s because I`m a slightly jaded DVD addict who has seen too many horror films or if it really was that predictable, but I saw just about every jump, twist and revelation coming so wasn`t shocked or scared by it. However, there is an effective scene in which Jess and Ben are approached by the spectre of a woman in a hallway and the tension is cranked up well, although it is never explained why only they can see the ghosts.

The film is set up in the first 30 minutes, but that`s where the storytelling ends and, in the absence of a plot, all that is left is atmosphere and (badly telegraphed) jumps. It is obvious that the Pangs did not have the creative freedom they enjoyed in Hong Kong and there was a fair degree of studio meddling at work, forcing them to create a film that was geared to the PG-13 U.S. market - the Pangs are better than this.