By: MeanMachine
"If done right, this could have been a great pilot." -A.I.M.
Before I get into the actual review of this movie, I want to explain what I'm
reviewing here. Hangman's Curse is a "family" movie, rated PG-13, and based on
a book written by Christian Fiction author Frank Peretti. With that being
said, and knowing what we are getting into, let's move on with the review.
Something horrible is starting to happen to some of the teens at Rogers High
School. All of the football players/bullies are starting to hallucinate and
eventually dying. As more cases come up, the Springfield family are called in.
The Springfields are a family team of investigators who go to different
assignments around the world. When the two teenage twins, Elisha and Elijah, are
put into the high school, they discover that students blame the gothic kids
and the "curse of Abel Frye." Abel Frye was a student who went to Rogers High
School many years before and one day hung himself. The Gothic kids feel a
sense of closeness and feel that Abel was one of them and use his spirit to get
back all the kids that torture them. The days start to get numbered as the
symptoms are getting faster and faster. When Blake's (the "leader" of the Goths)
girlfriend, Crystal, gets hit with the curse and goes into stage three really
quick, Blake starts to question why Abel has chosen her.
The only super great thing about this film is that teenagers actually played
the teenagers!!! The acting was decent but could have been improved just a
tad. The portrayal of the groups were also pretty much on. The football players
where amazing as they had their role of being homo-erotic asses down pat.
The gothic ones were portrayed as the wimpy, self-pity kids they are, and Elisha
and Elijah were just two teens who, while trying to solve this mystery, were
trying to bring the two groups together and show them that they aren't that
different.
As I stated earlier, knowing what you are getting into, this movie isn't that
bad. Maybe a nice stormy, Sunday night around the TV in the living room with
Mom and Dad and the kids. Big bowl of popcorn and endless supply of water
would complete this movie. But if you are looking for a balls to the wall
horror movie or a horrifying, suspenseful, creepy movie, look elsewhere.
The DVD included "Frank Peretti: From Page To Screen" and "The Spider Wrangler: The Spiders of Hangman's Curse" Featurettes, which is pretty stupid considering the extra goodies give away the surprise at the end of the movie! Besides having interviews with cast ad crew members, these featurettes have some interesting conversation with Frank Peretti, where he talks about his life and how he got the book made into a movie. But be warned, if you're afraid of spiders, like me, you might want to avoid the second featurette, because that's where we learn about how they used the spiders in the movie... yuck!
Score: 4 / 10
