The Gallows

The Gallows (2015)

*** (out of 4)

During a school production of The Gallows, a prop goes horribly wrong and an actor is killed. Flash forward twenty years and the school is putting the play on again. The night before the show the lead actor and his two friends break into the school to damage the property when they bump into the lead actress. Soon the four are trying to find a way out but realize that they're not alone.

THE GALLOWS is a rather strange movie because I started off hating the picture with a passion. I really do mean that I hated this film because I thought the first twenty or so minutes were incredibly annoying. I thought everything about the "found footage" film was annoying and especially the character holding the camera most of the time. For the life of me I couldn't help but wish something would happen to him because he annoyed me to the point where I wasn't enjoying the movie.

As I said, the first twenty minutes are pretty bad but once the horror elements start and once the characters get locked into the school things really pick up. I really love found footage movies when they're done right and I think THE GALLOWS is extremely well-made and well-acted. As with the best films in the genre, what makes them work is how the camera just floats around and you're mind prepares you for something scary to happen but you just never know when it's going to happen and this just builds up more suspense.

For my money there were plenty of very creepy scenes throughout the picture. This here is certainly the most important part but I'm not going to provide any spoilers so I won't go into any details about what exactly happens. I will say that the look of the killer was very creepy and it certainly helped keep you on guard throughout the ending. I also thought the four actors were extremely believable and good in their roles.

As I said, I really hated the first portion of this film but a film like THE GALLOWS is made to scare you and I must admit that the film got the best of me and in the end I had fun with it.