The Messengers (2007)

The fascination with Asian directors apparently isn't over yet: The Messengers is the first English language movie by the Pang brothers. Since these are the guys behind The Eye, I confess that I was rather looking forward to this, despite the incredibly tired premise. Unfortunately, even the admittedly stunning visual style of the movie couldn't save the script from being a complete load of claptrap.

Briefly, the movie starts with a troubled family seeking a fresh start in a rundown house out in the middle of nowhere. Their teenage daughter clearly has issues, but everything seems to be going well: the crops flourish, and despite their lack of funds, the family manages to find a friendly labourer willing to help them run their little farm on little more than a wing and a promise of a good harvest.

And if you've ever seen a horror movie in your life, you can probably piece together the rest. Particularly if you've seen The Amityville Horror.

In the first half, the scares are well played, especially one long, drawn-out encounter between the girl and a ghost creeping up behind her. The idea that children might see, and even become playmates with, unseen supernatural forces beyond the comprehension of adults is overplayed, but works quite well to begin with nonetheless. It's only in the second half that everything falls apart; everything that was so carefully built up in the first half crumbles into an incomprehensible mess of loose ends, pointless characters, unexplained amnesia and -- well, nonsense.

IMDB link