The Gallows

The Gallows [2015] is a low-budget found footage horror film from directors Travis Cluff & Chris Lofing. The film takes place 20 years after an accidental death occurs during a rendition of the fictional play titled “The Gallows” and a group of friends decide to sneak into the school after hours, and of course- find more than they bargained for.

Watch with your eyes closed. Ever wondered what it would be like to watch Paranormal Activity with your eyes closed, that way you could make sense of what’s going on? Wouldn’t it be cool to not watch- but hear frightened characters fight and bemoan each other for an hour and a half? If that’s the case, The Gallows is your masterpiece.

Cannot find your footing film. This being a found footage film, the entirety of it is shot from a first person perspective and with the character’s handheld cameras. Most other films in this genre use this tool in creative ways, but that’s not the case here. Instead, we get one of the laziest and most headache inducing horror films ever released by a major studio.

Pitch Black. 85% of the film takes place in the total dark with the audience having to endure pathetic dialogue coming from the mouths of actors that are better suited working the drive-through of a McDonalds than on the big screen of movie theaters nationwide. Add that with startling sound effects that literally come out of nowhere- and then you have one of the most nonsensical and stupid films of the year. Even directly calling The Gallows a “film” is absolutely sickening since you (literally) cannot see what’s going on for the entirety of the film, thus it’s hard to classify it as such. The filmmakers should have just taken the audio version and released as a free downloadable podcast and called it quits. No entertainment would have been lost in the process, just the money they would have stolen from audience’s pockets.

Wrap around. Horror films always seem to have a hard time coming up with a satisfying conclusion (with the exception of this year’s fantastic It Follows), and the conclusion to The Gallows sucks hard. It’s clichéd, awful and underwritten to the point where you’ll want to jump through the screen and strangle every single cast and crew member for swindling you of your time and your hard earned money.