Movie: The Messengers
Year: 2007
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Directors: Oxide Pang Chun, Danny Pang
Stars: Dylan McDermott, Penelope Ann Miller and Kristen Stewart

Snapshot of Story:
A family arrives in a rural farmland to take up residence in a farm house away from the bustle of city life and comes across some horrifying ghostly beings.

Storyline:
Kristen Stewart who plays Jess is now a superstar celebrity after her debut in the ‘Twilight’ series but this movie may have very well been the springboard to her fame. In effortless style Kristen Stewart plays the shy and introverted teenager with a troublesome life and parents who are overbearingly protective. The scene with her and Bobby played by Dustin Milligan in their first meeting was superbly portrayed and shows the candid innocence of two teenagers when they first meet.

The horror action was well executed and there were many moments of tensive scenes where the creatures appear out of the dark and randomly appear clinging to the roof or simply levitating in the air.

In one scene Jess freezes in the hallway as her brother witnesses a ghost coming towards them but Jess has her back to it. She remains in this position for what appears to be forever until the creature almost touches them and then she turns. This seemed to be an unnatural piece in the scene where I would have expected Jess to turn right away and make a run for it.

In the early part of the movie where Jess witnesses the ghostly happenings around the house, I felt that a ‘real person’ in that same predicament would hide and go the other way whereas Jess continues to explore the sounds and events that has already terrified her. I came up with a term for this and called it ‘a sadistic need for terrification’ meaning a desire to be terrified.

There is a twist at the end of the movie where the actual hired helper is the culprit and the ghostly beings were there to send a ‘message’ to the newcomers of the imminent danger (*spoiler).

Final Thoughts:
Kristen Stewart plays the innocent and shy teenager who comes face to face with some ghastly creatures of the farm house and her acting is up to par but some of the scripts are not so believable. In particular the scene where she freezes momentarily while a creature comes from behind. I found that the directors must have been horror aficionados after watching this movie as I saw some snippets of similarities from ‘The Shining’, ‘Poltergeist’, ‘The Birds’, and the ‘The Sixth Sense’. All in all the movie is watchable and has it’s good moments but the plot and overall acting is not substantial enough to put this movie in the category of the best.

Rating:
6.5/10