Horror Film Review #2

The Gallows

A horror film set in  a contemporary High School environment, in some small town in Nebraska.
The premise: 20 years after the accidental hanging of a student Charlie Grimille, during the failed stage production of 'The Gallows, The Schools attempts a revival of the same production. Its lead actor has stage fright and decides to sabotage the set the night before the grand opening. Once he and three other classmates enter the school on the eve of the revival, a vengeful spirit is awaken.

A couple of year ago, a Horror movie 'Stage Fright' hit theatres, its opening synopsis was similar.
A musical camp revives a decade old play, after the original play closed abruptly due to its lead star being found murdered.  Fast forward to the present, the daughter of the deceased starlet has taken over  where her mother left off.   The movie was hokey with an over the top villainy. But the musical numbers were outstanding 80% of the time, and the play 'Phantom of the Opera' was given a creative re-tooling by having it taking place in Japan, and the phantom being a Kabuki Phantom.  It was a refreshing retelling of an old concept.
The Gallows villain is the spirit of teen who lost his life accidentally, and is evoked when callous teens desecrate his memory and the tribute.  The trailer was edited to make the movie feel exceptionally scary.  The movie was shot documentary single camera POV style. its the only way to minimize the audiences' view of what is taking place and keeping fear of the unforeseen, become the canvas of the actual film as the movie unfolds.  The style, or trick, or concept of film worked  for the Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield, The Visit, and even 'Into the Storm.
It fails here.  The ambitious directors of 'The Gallows' breaks away from their own rule book of which they designed. By leaving the single camera and going back and forward between camera phones and documentary camera to tell the full story Arc., Then goes from a haunting or stalking movie to being able to possess an individual  to role play for no apparent reason at a climatic scene, without a build up or hint of possession prior to the film's climax.

The possession and lack of explanation, can anger the audience, as with Dr. Doom in the failed Fantastic Four Reboot, Die hard fans and intellectual audience members would not be able to tell you  what all the powers Dr. Doomed possessed in the movie because it kept changing and adding on to itself.  And where Cloverfield's hand held camera began to make the audience nauseous with the shaking and uneasy swaying. People were equally disappointed with the irritating narration of the cameraman aka best friend/sidekick in The Gallows.