Movie Info
Movie Name: The Gallows
Studio: New Line Cinema
Genre(s): Horror
Release Date(s): June 30, 2015 (Premiere)/July 10, 2015 (US)
MPAA Rating: R
I just wanted out of this movie…
A tragedy during a play in 1993 leaves one student dead from an accidental hanging. Now, the school has decided to put on The Gallows as a tribute to the dead student. Jock Reese (Reese Mishler) has decided to join the play and has a crush his costar Pfeifer (Pheifer Brown). When his friends Ryan (Ryan Shoos) and Cassidy (Cassidy Gifford) suggest sabotaging the play to keep Reese from making a fool of himself, they find themselves trapped and fighting for their lives…and history could repeat itself.
Written and directed by Travis Cluff and Chris Lofing, The Gallows is a found footage horror film. The movie was released to largely negative reviews but made a strong profit due to its low-budget nature.
I wish my mom would quit talking about me on tv…
Paranormal Activity reignited the found footage phenomenon that was started by The Blair Witch Project. The Gallows was made by the producers of Paranormal Activity, but I don’t see the rather bland movie following in its footsteps.
The biggest problem with The Gallows is that it is a cliché, but it also lacks the scares that it at least needed to promise. A bad horror movie is forgivable and often expected, but a bad horror movie that makes very little effort to even illicit jumps from the viewer is weak.
The cast is also very dull. Often “found-footage” horror seeks to cast really normal actors, but I am genuinely surprised by how often the normal actors really do come off as normal. Here, the actors come off as actors…and badly. The only known “star” in the film is Cassidy Gifford (the daughter of Frank Gifford and Kathy Lee Gifford).
Who wants to play with my rope?
The found footage format is also very tired. To escape having to pay for good visuals, the camera generally “breaks” at opportune moments to mask the scares or action. This is combined with running and shaky camera work to keep the viewer from really seeing anything…the hangman character isn’t very interesting anyway.
The Gallows is quite bad. It isn’t a “so-bad-it-is-good” bad, but a truly bad-bad film. You will see worse movies than The Gallows, but The Gallows is almost more punishable because it is so basic and uninspired. With an strong opening and low budget, it wouldn’t shock me to see The Gallows 2 at some point despite the mundane nature of the horror.
