Remember when horror movies required a cast of teenage characters, a plot set in or around high school, and a big body count à la Carrie? The Gallows harks back to this tried and true formula without being formulaic, all while offering up some good scares, suspense, a few laughs, and a nice twist or two along the way.
Featuring “found footage” and set twenty years after a horrific accident during a school’s play starring a boy named Charlie and a noose on a platform (can you guess the accident?), the main characters are part of a drama group which is honoring the victim by re-staging the same play in the school’s auditorium (hmmm….not sure how that one got past the school board). When one of the leads gets cold feet, he and his friends decide to break in and destroy the set the night before the show opens, so that the show can’t go on. But there are forces at work behind the curtain (seemingly) trying to exact revenge for Charlie’s death, and no one (seemingly) is safe in the (seemingly) endless hallways and backstage/basement rooms in which the teens (definitely) seek safety.
- Top Scare: Involves Cassidy (Gifford, of Kathy Lee fame)
- Heartbeats: 3 out of 5
- Gore Factor: 1 1/2 out of 5
- Suspense Factor: 3 1/2 out of 5
- Recommended for: 16 and up