The Pang Brothers make their American directorial debuts with this ghost story that has the hallmarks of their Hong Kong roots but is transferred to the farmlands of North Dakota.
What the back of the box says:
As the visions grow darker, they become fear-inspiring experiences and Jess' parents (Dylan McDermott and Penelope Ann Miller) start to question their daughter's sanity. Now, Jess must find a way to save her family and win a battle with forces from far beyond the grave.”
The Solomon family, Dad Roy (Dylan McDermott), Mom Denise (Mary Louise Parker), Jess (Kristin Stewart), and three-year-old Ben (played by twins Evan and Theodore Turner), move to North Dakota and back to Roy’s roots. He grew up on a sunflower farm and has hopes to make it in the same profession, in fact it’s their last hope since they’ve spent their life savings on the farm.
Jess is a troubled girl and Ben has a medical condition in his past that has left him silent. Things seem better for the family at first and even Jess has a potential boyfriend in the form of Bobby (Dustin Milligan). Friendly stranger John Burwell (John Corbett) shows up and offers to help Roy raise the sunflowers. Ben soon begins to “see dead people” and Jess begins to notice his strange behavior.
Since Jess comes with a troubled past, no one will believe that something is wrong in the household, but soon the evidence is overwhelming enough that no one can deny that something is going on in the Solomon house.
The Pang Brothers are responsible for 2002’s Hong Kong horror film The Eye. It was quite an effective film and is scheduled for remaking this year. They bring their Hong Kong style to the rural areas of North Dakota and the mixture is actually quite effective. The ghosts more resemble their Oriental counterparts than what the wilds of North Dakota are used to seeing.
So instead of “bump in the night” we get twitchy, floating, fast-motion crawling entities. Those are pretty good, there are some effective jump scares, and the film oozes with creepiness. However, there’s a bit of faltering is in the story.
The villain is pretty easy to spot as well as the reason for the haunting. [spoiler]The ghosts are supposedly trying to warn the Solomon family of their potential doom at the hands of the villain, but the audience is sure made to believe that they mean the family harm to their final hour reversal just doesn’t feel right.[/spoiler] I thought that the movie was pretty good, but found the story lacking and pretty obvious.
The Messengers is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include a commentary with star Kristen Stewart, writer Mark Wheaton, Dustin Milligan, and visual effects supervisor Bruce Jones. Next is “Exhuming the Messengers” which you can either watch by chapters of use the play all button (which runs about 37 minutes).
It has interviews with producers William Sherak, producer Jason Shuman, producer Rob Tapert, director Danny Pang, Penelope Ann Miller, William B. Davis (“Colby Price”), director Oxide Pang, John Corbett, visual effects supervisor Bruce Jones, screenwriter Mark Wheaton, Dylan McDermott, cinematographer David Geddes, Kristen Stewart, Dustin Milligan, production designer Alicia Keywan, and raven trainer Ota Bares. Finally there are trailers for other Sony DVDs (but no trailer for The Messengers).
The Messengers is a decent horror film that mixes the East and West, but with the spectacular Eye in their repertoire you really expected a little more from them. However, the film is good enough although it seemed somewhat predictable, but it did have some good creepy moments.
The Messengers is now available at Amazon . It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for an August 13th release. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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