In all my years of watching movies, studying the art of film, and writing reviews here on The Odyssey, never have I seen a more vile and disgusting mess of a movie than "The Gallows."
Back in July, I had launched an assault on the film, bashing its use of marketing through movie trailers, poor effort in creating some kind of interesting concept, but worst of all, utilizing the found footage style. Believe me, the last thing I ever wanted to do on my own time was watch a “found footage” movie. The damn format has been slaughtered since "The Blair Witch Project" popularized it back in the 90s!
I slammed "The Gallows" for a good near 1000 words. Back then, I never saw "The Gallows," and for good reasoning. The first reason is based on what I said back then, and allow me to restate it: I do NOT respect a filmmaker who markets their horror movie by showing shots of the test audience! It’s a lazy, filthy attempt at selling your movie to the public, and it says that you did not fully develop an interesting story to show various shots of your film.
The second reason is a biggie: by comparing the film’s killer to the likes of Jason Voorhees from "Friday the 13th" and Freddy Krueger from "Nightmare on Elm Street," the movie came off like a complete jackass. The tagline showed in trailers and TV spots was “Jason had his machete. Freddy had his glove. Charlie ... has his noose.”
Well, directors Chris Lofing and Travis Cluff, you think your movie can be stood up to the likes of "Friday the 13th" and "Nightmare on Elm Street"? Let’s dive in, then, and see why that stance is a load of $#%^!
"The Gallows" is a FOUND FOOTAGE film that follows four high school students being stalked by the ghost of a former drama student who once attended their school. Back in 1993, a student named Charlie suffered a freak accident during a production of a school play called “The Gallows.” Fast-forward to 2013 and the school decided, “Hey, let’s bring it back and hope nothing horrible happens!” Three of the students wanted to sabotage it until the fourth discovers them and finds out what the others were up to. With no way out, the group must explore the school for alternative ways to escape.
Yeah, the whole plot sounds like the filmmakers read a horrible Creepypasta, called the writer, and asked them if they could adapt it. A haunted school play? "Carrie" made high school a gruesome scene already and I think that is the most creativity we’re ever going to get from that setting. The killer’s weapon of choice is ... a noose. Yep, it’s a desperate scream of “I want to be just like them!” It’s formula over substance.
And the substance is staler than moldy pasta. Every scare is more predictable than the next. Attempts to be creepy fail before they can even be set up. I haven’t seen a movie try so hard to stay scary since "It Follows." Every move this film makes tries to be scary; the reenactment of the scene in the end when Charlie was killed at the play, the reveal that one of the students is the daughter of the mom who was Charlie’s girlfriend, the cops getting murdered by Charlie, one of the students crying in the darkness as she uses the camera to look at her choke marks. It’s all poor quality jumps.
What irritated me with "The Gallows" the most was that after the movie ended, it had the balls to display its title in a massive sized font with an eerie red mist protruding behind it, acting like the film did something proud, something daring, something bold. I cannot detail all of the obscenities I yelled upon seeing that, but I can tell you this: I was not happy in the slightest.
To the directors, Chris Lofing and Travis Cluff, I say this: You did not prove anything with "The Gallows." Your film was not groundbreaking in any way. To call anything in your movie horror or scary is like calling the films of Nicholas Sparks realistic. You could have sold this movie like it was a normal horror flick, but you decided to take the douchebag route and try to act like you made the next horror icon, who turned out to be just as forgettable as the monster from "One Missed Call." From your box office numbers, you make selling drugs look like a more honest living.
