Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Matho The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

cricketbat The Messengers is fairly ridiculous. The characters, plot and "twists" all seem familiar because we've seen them before a dozen times. The movie relies solely on sudden noises and movements to scare the audience. Even the ghosts are not much more than blurry, bad CGI. Not really worth watching.

eric262003 The clichéd scare moments in a horror film is when a ear-wringing sound is followed up by a musical motif which then coincides with an inanimate object unexpectedly zooms right past the camera lenses as a visual indicator that trouble is only moments away. The purpose of these scare moments is to produce goosebumps manifesting on your skin. Most horror fans take pride of the scare moments like a grain of salt, "The Messengers" has lots of scare moments but it seems that it is the only thing that's going for it. It provides you with scares, but there's no clear story and the plot becomes ludicrous. It comes to the point where it becomes more laughable than horrific because the scare moments tend to constantly materialize to the screen. The fans took it to heart because they were forced into it, but to me it was just too repetitive. It's absolutely pitiful this movie is a dust-collector because it had a lot of good quality traits that made for an entertaining scare fest. The lack of an effective psychological horror is overwrought by the poorly execution that the narrative has to offer. Is the leading character seeing apparitions or is she just delusional? If the horror effects had a connection with the synopsis, it would be one of those obscure PG-13 rating horror films that actually works. "The Messengers" heavily paraphrases itself from a plethora of other horror films like "The Amityville Horror", "The Grudge", "The Omen", "Poltergeist" and so much more, it doesn't have the time or space to be something original. Just a compilation of horror films disguised as an original movie. And even though she doesn't get praised for her acting, but Kristen Stewart was the only performer who showed that she even cared about this poorly crafted film. Everyone else knew this movie was stupid, so they decided to not care about the material. And if they don't care, then should we?Chicago natives Roy (Dylan McDermott) and Denise (Penelope Ann Miller) migrate to an isolated small town in North Dakota as way to renewal the troubled issues that their daughter Jess (Stewart) is facing. We know she's a troubled teen when her daddy dear says his schmaltzy diatribe about "doing this for your own good" tough love tactic. We take pity for Jess for abandoning her friends and to move into dilapidated house while her father and hired assistant (John Corbett) are growing sunflower seeds. Suddenly Jess starts seeing the spooks and when she tells her parents about it, they easily dismiss her saying she's just making excuses because all old houses are haunted. The family's logic isn't very convincing, but it really cranks up in full-blown contrivances when they had to include a subplot involving a pitchfork killer into the mix during the last 30 minutes. Never mind that the ghosts are causing havoc in their lovely estate, but now everything has to have an explanation. Can't a spook just perform his/her mischief without spoon-feeding its audience to explain why they're causing evil like we're dumb? It just ruins the fun of horror films. Early during the movie, we have to sit through the tiresome family plot that offers little to no interest or intrigue, complete with abysmal character development. But the direction by Danny and Oxide Pang does succeed in making the atmosphere very intensifying. When the ghosts makes their presence known, it is a defining moment and reminds us we are seeing a horror film. Instead of putting out the scares we have to focus on the contrived plot. The ending lacks in any kind of climax even though the set-pieces were right in front of us. The PG-13 horror film is suitably fit and for the rightful reason and not a good one at that. It generates to convoluted plot devises and randomly selected twists that makes no significance to this narrow plot. Only hardcore horror enthusiasts might like this film just for the scare moments. Good for a popcorn and soda to go with this stupidity. Don't rush when you eat or you may walk out before the film ends.

alfiecycling Spoiler Alert !!It's a pleasant horror movie, that is to say, it isn't very scary.Basic outline is; the Solomons', a family of four, move into a house in North Dakota that is scary looking from the get-go that was previously owned by the Rollins family who most towns-people think just moved.this movie has a very good cast. there appears to be a deliberate act to unify a story-line using symbolism and biblical names.in this movie we see many ravens and they usually represent death and darkness.we also see many Sunflowers. the Sunflower in Greek mythology symbolizes unrequited love. a water nymph named Clytie was in love with the Sun God Apollo. She eventually was turned into a Sunflower and watched him traverse the sky every day. the head of the Rollins family was John and he must not have loved his wife and kids if he killed them.the head of the Solomon household is Roy. Roy can mean King , as in Roi in French. So here we have, King Solomon, the wise man. He, unlike John the previous farm owner, loves his wife and kids and is trying 'to keep his family together.Jessica , the daughter of Roy and Denise, is also a biblical name meaning , God Beholds.the Messenger ghosts have a strange way of reaching out to her... they scare the hell out of her.Their toddler son, who is traumatized from a serious car accident back in Chicago and doesn't speak, is Ben , and that means , son of my sorrow. he and Jessica are the only two people that can see the ghosts.the most glaring flaw in the plot is, why would the messenger ghosts terrify Jessica if their intention was to lead her to the truth ? there are nicer ways to accomplish that. they instead should have terrorized their father, who killed them, and was working for Roy and living in the their barn.the special effect of the concave spoon reflecting the child ghosts was cool. but the pitchfork through the walls was not.so it balances out.I do enjoy listening to commentaries as a rule this one unfortunately had too many people talking. the solution may have been two separate commentaries as some DVD's wisely do. BTW, Dustin is a little too obsessed with his own nipples. but in all fairness, he was good in the movie. and to hear Kristen say, "Sushi in Regina" had me LOL.Lastly, the music score by Joseph LoDuca is perfect and very much influenced by Krzysztof Penderecki's , "Threnody For The Victims Of Hiroshima," a revolutionary piece of music in 1960.

McQualude Kristen Stewart, who is famous for some vampire movie, stars in The Messengers. The cast is excellent, Dylan McDermott (American Horror Story), Penelope Ann Miller (Carlito's Way), William Davis (smoking man from X-Files), and John Corbett (Northern Exposure). Kristen Stewart and John Corbett are both very good and interesting to watch. There is nothing new about the story, a teenage girl (Stewart) has problems in the big city and her family moves to the country in hopes of rebuilding their lives and finances. Creepy and scary things happen day one but naturally only the kids can see what's going on and one of them doesn't talk. You can probably guess the rest. Maybe not original but well done. Kristen Stewart can act and gave it her all, but there were some rough spots. One scene in particular with Dylan McDermott (playing her father) where Kristen's body language is almost flirty and it breaks the moment. I've never really seen John Corbett outside Northern Exposure and was a little surprised at how effortlessly he switched roles, quiet and kindly one moment, menacing the next. The sequel, Messengers 2, is really a prequel and was written first but for some reason was put on the back burner. The Messengers is rated PG13 so if you're looking for a movie with some genuinely creepy and scary moments but without sex and gore, it's a good choice.