The Gallows (15, 81 mins)
Starring: Reese Mishler, Pfeifer Brown, Ryan Shoos, Cassidy Gifford. Directors: Travis Cluff, Chris Lofing.
Released: July 17 (UK & Ireland)
FORGET mathematics, English literature, history, science, geography and the American high school curriculum.
The supposedly clued-up teenagers in Travis Cluff and Chris Lofing's low budget thriller urgently need an education in the basics of horror movie survival.
The thinly sketched protagonists appear blissfully unaware of any found footage horrors that have been haunting cinemas since The Blair Witch Project popularised the format in 1999, and stumble blindly to their doom with cameras rolling.
In The Gallows, this shaky handheld footage is presented as official evidence - "Property of the Beatrice Police Department, 28/10/2013" - which is the filmmakers' cursory explanation for how recordings from multiple devices have been neatly spliced into a fractured narrative for our viewing displeasure.
Whenever a student is left on his or her own - and is therefore likely to come a-cropper - main footage from an omnipresent camera jumps to a video recording from the lone character's smartphone, so we are treated to their brush with death in jittery close-up, replete with heavy breathing.
The film opens in 1993 at the first night of Beatrice High School's production of a period drama called The Gallows, which bears a passing resemblance to Arthur Miller's The Crucible.
Something goes tragically awry during the play's denouement and student Charlie Grimille dies in front of distraught parents and classmates.
Twenty years later, football jock Reese Houser (Reese Mishler) hurriedly learns lines for the anniversary production of The Gallows at Beatrice High in order to impress lead actress Pfeifer Ross (Pfeifer Brown).
"Everybody knows he's going to choke like Charlie," sniggers Reese's best friend Ryan (Ryan Shoos), in bad taste, from behind his camera.
On the eve of opening night, Reese doubts himself so Ryan makes a bold suggestion: they should break into the school and destroy the set of the play, which would force the cancellation of The Gallows.
Not only that, Ryan will bring along his camera to document this wanton destruction, because that's a sensible course of action for students who want to get away with a criminal act.
Aided by Ryan's cheerleader girlfriend Cassidy (Cassidy Gifford), the buddies enter the auditorium under the cloak of darkness, unaware that the spirit of Charlie stalks the corridors and is intent on bloody revenge.
The Gallows boasts a couple of half-hearted scares but this is a predictable and instantly forgettable tale of things that go bump in the night with the cast hampered by a flimsy script while deaths are hopelessly contrived.
Lenses point in the direction of ghoulish goings-on with uncanny precision and when common sense dictates a hasty exit, the young protagonists spend their final seconds instead framing a perfect shot of their demise.
What a stroke of luck for Beatrice Police's investigation, though regrettably not for us.
4/10
Damon Smith
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