10 Promising Horror Movies That Totally Sucked

4. The Gallows

Blair Witch Ending
New Line Cinema

Yet more "found footage" from Blumhouse, and by now you know the drill: dull characters run around screaming, the jump scares are routine and a sense of déjà vu hangs over the whole movie. Whatever you do, don’t help turn this movie into another franchise.

In 1993, a student dies in a hanging stunt gone wrong during the production of a play called The Gallows. 20 years later, the school attempts to put on the play to mark the anniversary of the accident. What can go wrong?

Well, there’s the usual bunch of annoying, interchangeable teens (all white, all perfect – is this a high school or a modelling agency?) who document everything with cameras, including the sudden arrival of a barely-glimpsed assailant who wields a noose.

The usual weird goings on – bizarre telephone calls, assaults by an unseen force etc – ensue, but the movie does have one neat moment. When a character stares into the camera, you think she’s about to give a Heather Donahue-style monologue, but then she’s dragged offscreen by some sinister entity.

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Contributor

Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'