10 Horror Movie Trailers Scarier Than The Actual Film
5. The Gallows
Films such as The Blair Witch Project, The Bay, Lake Mungo, and The Taking of Deborah Logan demonstrate how to do found footage right. On the other end of the spectrum, however, is 2015’s universally panned The Gallows.
Framed around four high schoolers being terrorised by the spiteful spirit of a student who was killed in a freak theatre accident 20 years earlier, it could’ve worked well if it stayed true to the fast pace, evocative tone, and relentless malevolence of its preview.
Kicking off with a night vision glimpse at football jock Reese being captured by an unseen force, it’s basically a collage of alarming scenes strung together by a haunting cover of Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit and promising review excerpts. By no means groundbreaking, it properly sets the stage (no pun intended) for a terrifying and tragic full-length picture.
Regrettably, The Gallows ties those moments together with some of the most uninteresting scenes, mediocre acting, poor writing, lame jump scares, and unlikable characters – namely, the insufferable Reese – that’ve plagued the found footage subgenre thus far.
The Gallows is irritatingly tedious and low-effort, and despite being only 81 minutes long, it’s a chore to get through. The only scary thing about it is realizing that you’ve wasted your time staying until the credits.