Review byJeniffer Gomez-Pabon
In 1993 during a school play called the Gallows in Beatrice High School, a student named Charlie Grimille died in a terrible accident. Twenty years later, drama students at the school want to honor the 20 th anniversary of the tragedy, but a group of students break in at night with the intention of sabotaging the play’s set but soon discovered it wasn’t going to be as easy as they thought.
In the new version of the play, the main character is played by Reese Mishler, a football player who had no interest in the play but was attracted to the leading actress, Pfeifer Brown, who valued the play’s interpretation dearly. The play also involved the leading man’s best friend Ryan Shoos, another football player who records everything that happens behind the scenes of the play, and his girlfriend Cassidy Gifford, a cheerleader, who does not take anything seriously and just teases the nerds in the play.
Cassidy and Ryan convince Rees to sabotage the scenery of the play to avoid making a fool himself, so they decide to go to school at night after finding an unlocked door. But when they try to leave the school they only run into locked doors trapping them into a series of violent, inexplicable and scary events.
The beginning of the movie is slow and kind of long but is helped along by touch of silly comedy thanks to Ryan, Reese’s best friend, who loves to joke and mock those in the play. Using what Ryan is recording for the movie gives the feeling of reality and excitement, but it is difficult to remain excited when the camera is recording the floor or walls for long periods of time. I would not say it’s a horror movie but I have to admit there are several scenes that made my husband and I jump in our seats. I really enjoyed when the movie took an unexpected turn with some surprise revelations. It’s an entertaining film to watch on a day of leisure with friends.
2.5 out of 5
