GORE IN THE STORE
REVIEWS BY FANS FOR FANS
5 STAR FAB - 1 STAR RUBBISH

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Driftwood
Messengers 2

 

Directed by Martin Barnewitz. Starring Norman Reedus, Heather Stephens, Richard Riehle. Horror/supernatural, USA, 2009, 94 mins.

A young farmer is struggling to support his family as crows are destroying his corn crops. He finds a creepy scarecrow in his shed and puts it up amongst his crops in a bid to save the farm from going under. However, strange events start occurring and as people begin dying in freaky accidents it seems there is more to the scarecrow than meets the eye.

Norman Reedus gives a satisfactory performance as the struggling farmer with marital problems trying to keep his head above water. John Rollins (Reedus) is easy enough to relate to and his wife Mary (Stephens) plays the concerned and understanding wife adequately. While the acting is not awful it is quite unspectacular. You get the feeling the scatty and slightly schizophrenic script does not help this.

Initially the film takes on a sort of psychological feel. As the murders begin to occur the audience is under the impression that John is behind them. But as the film progresses it becomes clear that the scarecrow is the key. The Scarecrow is initially a promising character. When he drags his scythe along the ground while he stalks his victims there is a real sense that something terrible is going to take place. However the sense of dread is short lived. The film only has three deaths really, no gore and not much suspense either. If it had any of these qualities it might make up for the fact that there is no real storyline! There are so many anomalies in the film and unanswered questions about who is doing what? Is the scarecrow controlling John? Or is he controlling the scarecrow?

Most of the second half of the film was spent trying to figure out what was actually happening. Just when things can’t get any more confusing we find out that the couples neighbours, Jude and Miranda Weatherby, apparently are nothing more than apparitions despite John having had sex with Miranda. And then there is the little girl ghost who appears to him in the cornfield. It is unclear whether or not any of these ghosts are there to warn him. Jude and Miranda only seem to appear to cause mischief, as it was Jude who suggested he put the scarecrow up.

Finally as the film reaches its climax we do have a little ‘scare’ when the family battles the scarecrow and eventually it suffers a rather lame death having its stuffing pulled out of him! It would have been nice to see more of the scarecrow. There was the potential to make it a horrifying killer scarecrow, but it almost feels as though the scarecrow was surplus to requirements. At the end of the film we expect the family to be murdered but instead we have a ‘happily ever after’ ending which is a massive cop out. As a result Messengers 2 doesn’t really feel like a prequel; Messengers is supposed to feature the ghosts of the Rollins family! It sort of feels as though there needs to be a sequel to this prequel as at the end of the film the little girl ghost gathers up the remains of the ‘dead’ scarecrow and climbs back into the wall in the shed… as if things were not confusing enough!

Messengers 2 is disappointing from beginning to end with a confusing storyline. It appears as though the film is a crossbreed between a supernatural horror (like the Grudge) and a (scarecrow) slasher, though ultimately it doesn’t manage to be either.

And who the hell are the messengers supposed to be…

By Maria Phillips and Gareth Martin.

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