Found footage movies maybe be a bit overdone, but when THE GALLOWS marketing campaign managed to trick an entire generation into playing its game, it earned at least a chance. For the uninitiated, the #CharlieCharlieChallenge involved laying two pencils in a cross, asking Charlie a question, and then blowing – I mean watching Charlie move – the second pencil into the “yes” or “no” diagonal. Teenagers took hold of it and reaction videos and joke twists were immediately trending on Vine and Twitter. The team was smart; and the film maintains that it was made by smart people with good ideas. Nevertheless, those ideas never really come together to create anything remarkable. It can’t find any new ground in the found footage genre and all novel ideas aren’t fleshed out enough.
The film begins with a 1993 production of “The Gallows” on a high school stage when a freak accident causes the gallows to pull and hang the lead actor, Charlie. 20 years later, drama is now a mandatory credit and young football star Reese (Resse Mishler) is ostensibly being forced to play the lead. When his best friend (Ryan Shoos) finds a broken door to the school, he and his girlfriend (Cassidy Gifford) encourage Reese to break in at night to destroy the set so he doesn’t have to perform. The theater-loving female lead and Reese’s crush Pfeifer (Pfeifer Brown) catch them and request that they all leave. But the four of them find Charlie has other plans for them.
Any good horror movie has buildup to the eventual reveal of the monster. From CLOVERFIELD to JAWS, a movie inspires fear by what the audience doesn’t see. But in this case THE GALLOWS monster (that of Charlie) is not very menacing. Too much of the movie has the audience’s biggest opponent being locked doors. One scene has the characters check backwards and then turn back to find everything in front of them draped in ropes. The shot resembles a kids having shot silly string all over the set and it doesn’t inspire any fear.
THE GALLOWS knows its audience and despite its flaws is an entertaining watch. The characters are relatable young people and quite funny in their own right. The filmmakers aren’t afraid to mess with us (as proven by the Charlie challenge) and in a packed theater is can be quite fun hearing reactions as the film progresses. This also is a somewhat friendly movie experience, despite its genre, and it never really seems to earn its R rating. There are a few jump scares, but no gore or terrible language.
The found footage is as passable as found footage gets, but it’s become so overdone there isn’t much left to say. It’s an obvious cheaper way to produce a film and works well to limit perspective during a horror movie. The film does add a nice touch in that whenever it has its character’s separate they replay the scene from the other’s POV creating some interesting situations. In the end THE GALLOWS has some good twists and ideas, but it never realizes itself to scare. Nevertheless it is an enjoyable ride and never dull in its short 81 minutes.
