Movie Review: Messengers Delivers Suspense

The Messengers is more suspense than substance, but don't expect the lack of plot to leave you wanting more.

When the Solomon family relocates to an isolated house in North Dakota, it's not long before daughter Jess (played by Kristen Stewart) starts noticing creepy presences around the house. More in touch with the haunting presence is Jess' toddler brother, Ben. Ben can see the ghosts of the house, often pointing in their directions, causing other family members to wonder what he's looking at. Conveniently, Ben can't talk because of a car wreck that led to the Solomon family moving from Chicago to this sunflower farm.

The plot has plenty of conveniences to move the story along, but the suspense level rarely diminishes.

Co-directors Oxide Pang and Danny Pang make their U.S. movie debut and don't disappoint. They manage to culminate the suspense in an intense scene with Jess and Ben wandering through their haunted house in the middle of the night. After Jess has been attacked by the presences, she realizes that Ben can see the terrors. As she carries her brother through the dark hallway she looks one way while Ben looks behind her. Ben points, but Jess refuses to look. The camera work poises brother and sister linked together in horror as one of the ghouls approaches. As the ghost approaches, out of focus to keep the audience riveted and guessing its appearance, Jess looks more and more terrified. The overture builds to a crescendo, making the scene that much more intense. The scene goes on and on. It's so intense, toward the end of what seems like a 10-minute scene you're begging it to end, not because it's bad, but because it's so scary. Few horror movies can pull off such a scary and intense scene (with the exception of worthless torture films like Saw III and Hostel), but the Pangs manage to do it.

Stewart (Panic Room, Zathura) is very good. The 16-year-old actress shows she's got a busy career ahead of her. Already with four movies in post- or pre-production, the budding actress will see plenty of screen time, and deserves it.