Hangman's Curse
(FOX Region 1 DVD)
(2003)
review by Head Cheeze

Hangman's Curse is based on a series of Christian horror novels by author Frank Peretti. While I've never read any of the fella's books, I have been told that they are quite popular amongst Christian teens; sort of a Goosebumps for the non-secular crowd. I'm not a huge fan of media targeted toward specific religious groups, but, after watching Hangman's Curse, I have to admit that it's not what I'd expected.

A small town high school is suddenly besieged by a mysterious illness that causes it's victims to hallucinate, go mad, and then fall into comas. The victims all share one common symptom in that, just before they succumb to the disease, they see the ghost of Leonard, a young man who'd hanged himself in the high school years before. The Springfield family, who work for a secret organisation called the Veritas project, are called in to investigate. The parents, Nate (Keith) and Sarah (Harris), take on jobs at the school, while their kids Elijah (Smith) and Elisha (Meester) pose as students. It's not long before Elijah discovers a pattern (the disease seems to infect only the popular kids who pick on nerdy types and goths; ironically, the only three types of kids who seem to inhabit this school!), and finds his suspect in a troubled goth kid who leads his little clique in some sort of basement ritual in which they unleash Leonard's spirit upon their enemies. Elisha, meanwhile, endears herself to the jock/cheerleader crowd, where she runs afoul of the goth kids, and finds herself on their paranormal hit list!

Hangman's Curse is a family friendly horror/mystery that's a bit like an After-School Special version of the X-Files. The film isn't particularly scary, nor is it all that smart (anyone with a pulse will pick out the true culprit ten minutes into the movie), but it is fairly entertaining, especially for kids. I took my copy over to my sister's house and rounded up my young nephews, and they actually loved it (although I think a lot of their "love" can be attributed to the ridiculously attractive young actress, Leighton Meester). For an adult looking to expose their kids to the horror/mystery genre without scarring their fragile little minds, Hangman's Curse isn't a bad place to start. It's inoffensive, offers some positive messages, and even has a few scares, especially toward the end. I liken this film to those classic family horror flicks of the late seventies: titles like the Witch Mountain series and Watcher in the Woods.

While David Keith turns in a solid and believable performance as Nate Springfield, I found Mel Harris' character was sort of wasted in that she didn't really have much to do other than look concerned. The young actors range from solid to stupefyingly bad, but that's to be expected in a cast of dozens of actual teenagers. This is one of the rare films that doesn't cast a bunch of twenty five year olds as high school seniors. Frank Peretti (who also wrote the screenplay) features in the film as a scatterbrained scientist, and, while over-the-top, provides a few chuckles.

The movie has a fairly pedestrian look and feel to it that I can only describe as Canadian television. Now, that's not meant to be an insult to Canadians, it's just that it has the look of a lot of episodic dramas that were shot in the great white north. Hangman's Curse just doesn't look like a motion picture. Zielinski does pour on some atmosphere here and there, but, for the most part, the film looks a lot like an episode of The Commish.

The DVD from Fox presents the film in both widescreen and fullscreen transfers, and features two shorts; one called "Frank Peretti: From Page to Screen", and the other...well...I'm not going to say, seeing as how it focuses on a "surprise" element of the film.

Hangman's Curse is clearly a Christian horror film aimed at secular audiences in that it avoids the overzealousness usually associated with Christian entertainment, instead delivering it's messages through the character's actions. There are a couple of moments where I heard the bible start a-thumpin', but Peretti's script keeps things in check. I'm not a Christian, and usually find myself getting sort of uncomfortable when exposed to Christian rock, movies, etc, but this movie didn't do that to me. Still, I have a beef with any religion that makes entertainment specifically for it's followers, simply because I find that whole concept sort of offensive. In the case of Hangman's Curse, however, I appreciated the fact that it tried to appeal to everyone by making it's messages simply humane rather than biblical.

If you have kids, Hangman's Curse is a safe and effective slice of family entertainment that oughta please just about everybody to a certain degree. It's not a great film, by any means, but, as family entertainment goes, you could do much worse. It's got a few thrills, a few chills, and an abundance of positive attitude.