Hangman's Curse

On par with many "After School Specials". The effects aren't very special. The plot is insipid. The acting is acceptable though not noteworthy. I can't in good conscience recommend this to anyone who enjoys either horror or dark fantasy,while utilizing tropes of both it doesn't use them to any real effect. It is a safe film for younger teens, older preteens, and precocious younger children. It is obviously geared towards the Christian ethical sympathies and will be watched by many a youth-group in all probability. Watch it or not as you choose. I would not watch this again. It is not destined for greatness. It is destined for the clearance rack.

HANGMAN'S CURSE is a mildly entertaining film, combining horror elements with social commentary. Set in a high school, it rounds out its cast with the usual Goth misfits and the jocks, two natural enemies. A "curse" that sends jocks who are also known bullies into comas brings a family of paranormal investigators to a local school.

Despite the elaborate poster, the film is not scary. I hesitate to call it a horror film. At most, it's a mystery, with the two young teens as the actual leads. The parents really do little except run around peering into microscopes. For those who have seen these type of movies before, all the answers should be obvious by the 50-minute mark, leaving 50 extra minutes for the characters to catch up.

It's not a bad film. I would even recommend it. But it's definitely not going to scare anybody.

P.S. HANGMAN'S CURSE will be memorable to me for one thing: ITS TEENS ARE ACTUALLY PLAYED BY TEENS!!! Yes, they still do exist.

6 out of 10

(go to www.nixflix.com for a more detailed review of this movie)

I just saw "A Hangman's Curse" and let me say-- I am disappointed.

I've been a fan of Frank Peretti novels for years and I've read everything he's come out with. Like most fans of Christian fiction, I've been dying for a film version of This Present Darkness since the 80s. Looks like that will never come.

Frank Peretti seems to write 2 different kinds of books 1.)books for adults that kids should probably not read (The Oath gave me some serious nightmares when I was 13) and 2.)kids books that are usually entertaining enough for adults to enjoy (for instance, Tombs of Anak and that whole series). This new "Veritas Project" series, though, seems like kids books that adults really can't relate to. I was in my early twenties when the Hangman's Curse came out and I thought it was one of his least inspired. So, *why* is this the first one to be made into a movie (this one was in the works before the Tilly TV special)?? Why not the Visitation or the Prophet or THIS PRESENT DARKNESS (heck, Fox has owned the movie rights to that for years)??

Anyway, besides starting with a mediocre story, this "movie" had huge problems. The leads did a decent job of acting, but all of the extras and bit parts were horrendous! The group of girls that befriend Elisha... it was like they weren't even trying! Huge after-school special vibe. The picture quality in general was sub-TV as was the contrived dialogue. (What happened to the hilarious exchanges between the PC/tolerance-obsessed teacher and Elijah???) And what was with that fat kid being one of the popular/cool guys on campus?? So he was good at football. My experience around high schoolers was that being good in sports did *not* automatically provide an in with the beautiful crowd.

And speaking of which, nice reinforcement of stereotypes. The ONLY people in that school were either a.)beautiful popular prep/jocks b.)hopelessly dorky nerds c.)angry Columbine-esque goth losers. No normal people? No people that relate to several groups? No jocks who like goth bands??? How Saved by the Bell is that? I almost expected Slater to drop by, but luckily this was one of the first Christian movies to not feature fashion/slang from 8-10 years before it was made. And then at the end of the movie... the goth people are "fixed" and the one redeemable jock (one of 2 minority characters in the film)is teaching them how to be normal, since they're not goth anymore ("this is how you throw a frisbee...")

There were a few upsides to it, though.

1.) Good music. Until recently, most Christian movies don't take advantage of all the great Christian music that's out there. Looks like that might finally be changing. Mercy Streets did. The Champion did. And now, Hangman's Curse did (is it required that "Extreme Days" be played in every Christian movie now?)

2.) At least your youth group won't spend the whole movie laughing at the language and clothes/hairstyles of the actors.

3.) The girl who played Elisha was incredibly hot. Like inexplicably hot.

4.) It gives us some hope that Peretti may be gearing up to put more of his projects on film... (we've gotten two in the last 2 years).

If he does, let's hope they do it a little better.

I originally saw this 2003 movie on DVD a couple of years after its release and, preparing to re-watch, I couldn't remember anything about it, except the wacky professor, played by the author of the book, Frank Peretti, who comes across as a shorter Dr. Emmett Brown from "Back to the Future." I saw an interview with him and he really IS as eccentrically animated as he appears in the film.

The plot revolves around a Spokane, Washington, high school, which is supposedly haunted by the ghost of a kid who committed suicide ten years earlier. Several jocks have freaked out after seeing the apparition and subsequently went into a coma. The school enlists the services of the Veritas Project, a team of investigators who work undercover to unravel paranormal phenomena. They're like the family version of Mulder & Scully from The X-Files. David Keith plays the father, Mel Harris the mother and the teen twins are played by Leighton Meester and Douglas Smith. The dad pretends to be a janitor at the school while the kids act as new students.

To enjoy this movie you have to accept the highly unlikely premise of a family team of investigators and the fact that this is a tame horror movie from an author who's writes Christian supernatural fiction with this movie being geared toward youths (tweens, teens & pre-teens). You also have to accept that, while the movie had a limited theatrical release, it had the budget of a TV movie ($2 million) and it shows.

With that in mind, there are several things to appreciate about "Hangman's Curse": The cast is likable, formidably headed by Keith; for once in a high school flick we get students who actually LOOK like they're in high school, rather than mid-20s; I like the forbidden wing of the school and its subterranean burrows (reminiscent of the boiler room sequences in the Nightmare on Elm Street flicks); there are loads of creepy arachnids; and there are some quality cuts on the soundtrack.

On the downside, the acting of the peripheral teens is understandably weak and the convoluted story could've been relayed in a clearer, more compelling manner.

As far as the Christian-oriented content goes, it's so light that I can hardly see how anyone would be offended. For instance, a group prays before their meal. Woo, like that doesn't happen every day in every community throughout the Americas. Since the protagonists are Christians, it makes sense to portray them accordingly. If anything, the movie plays it too low-key in this regard.

The film runs 1 hour, 46 minutes and was shot in Spokane, Washington.

GRADE: C+

Nate (David Keith), Sarah (Mel Harris), Elisha (Leighton Meester) and Elijah Springfield (Douglas Smith) are members of a secret government project called 'Veritas'. Their works is investigating and try to solve mysteries. They are assigned to work as undercover students and janitor in the Rogers High School, where a ghost is apparently haunting and threatening the students. In the end, the Springfield family finds a hidden secret and reveals the truth. 'Hangman's Curse' has a silly, inconsistent and absurd plot, plagiarizing 'Spy Kids'. The participation of the writer Frank Peretti in the role of the scientist Algernon Wheeling is so ridiculous that irritated me. The guy is horrible, trying to be funny but indeed being very unpleasant. The inconsistency of the silly character of Elisha Springfield, supposed to be a highly trained teenager agent, but screaming and acting like a moron is another terrible point in this film. The exaggerated attack of spiders in the end of the story is so amazingly absurd that certainly destroys any good opinion that a viewer might have about this movie. 'Hangman's Curse' is a watchable and very forgettable flick. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): 'A Maldição da Forca' ('The Curse of the Hang')