THE MESSENGERS 1 & 2 (2007-2009)
2-Disc Set
THE MESSENGERS (2007)
Label: Via Vision Entertainment
Region Code: Region-Free
Duration: 90 Minutes
Rating: MA
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Pang Brothers
Cast: Kristen Stewart, Dylan McDermott, Penelope Ann Miller, John Corbett, Tatiana Maslany, William B. Davis
The troubled Solomon family moves from city life in Chicago to a rural sunflower farm in North Dakota looking for a fresh start after a few years of bad luck. We have parents Roy (Dylan McDermott, The Clovehitch Killer) and Denise (Penelope Ann Miller, The Shadow), 16-year-old daughter Jess (Kristen Stewart, Underwater), and her 3-year-old brother Ben, the latter of whom is mute following an incident that is not explained till much later (too late) in the film. The farm they've bought is pretty run down and it's a rough start, things worsen when Denise begin to sense a presence in the home, experiencing nightmarish ghostly encounters, which her mute brother is also a silent witness to, but are these supernatural encounters a threat or a warning?
Directed by the Pang Brothers (The Eye) and produced by Sam Raimi and Robert Tappet's Ghost House Pictures this supernatural thriller is well-shot with stylish visuals, making great use of the sunflower farm locations, a creepy shadow draped farmhouse, and some Korean-horror adjacent supernatural encounters that make for a solid watch. It's probably not gonna blow your socks off but it is well-crafted and well-acted programmer, including an unexpectedly menacing performance from John Corbett (Northern Exposure) and it was fun to see Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black, She-Hulk) in a small but integral role, as well as X-Files alum, William B. Davis in a throwaway walk-on role that seemed to serve no purpose, but it's always great to see the "Cigarette Smoking Man".
The flick has some cool visual shots and camerawork, though some of the CGI might not hold up, but it's also not overdone and used sparingly. The ghostly apparitions have a Korean-horror flavor to them, this coming at the tail end of the j-horror U.S. remake invasion, and I liked the recurring motif of crows (ravens in actuality) menacing the farm and the inhabitants.
Audio/Video: The Messengers (2007) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Via Vision Entertainment in 1080p HD widescreen (1.85:1) licensed from Lionsgate. No info about the provenance of the HD master but it looks solid with pleasing grain levels, plenty of fine detail, and vivid well-saturated colors, the wide shots of the sunflowers fields really pop quite nicely. Black levels are also quite strong, though I thought shadow detail could have been better. Audio is uncompressed DTS-HD MA 5.1 with optional English subtitles. Dialogue at times felt mixed a bit too low and I had to crank up the volume, but otherwise dialogue was clean sounding, the surround mix had some nice atmospheric moments, and the score from Joseph LoDuca (Evil Dead 2) is reproduced quite nicely.
Extras include an Audio commentary by Kristen Stewart, Mark Wheaton, Dustin Milligan and Bruce Jones, the 37-min Exhuming the Messengers making of featurette, 28-min of Webisodes that explore shooting the crow scenes, notes from the screenwriter, scoring the film and location. Extras are finished up with a 3-minute trailer for the film.
Special Features:
- Audio commentary by Kristen Stewart, Mark Wheaton, Dustin Milligan and Bruce Jones
- Exhuming the Messengers – Featurette (37 min)
- Webisodes: Pang Vision (3 min), On Set with Kristen Stewart (3 min), Set Breakdown (3 min), Mark Wheaton Screenwriter (3 min), Evolution of a Location (2 min), Crow Attack Part I (2 min), Shooting Crows (3 min), Script To Screen (3 min), Crow Attack Part II (3 min), Sound of Horror (3 min)
- Theatrical Trailer (3 min)
MESSENGERS 2: THE SCARECROW (2009)
Label: Via Vision Entertainment
Region Code: Region-Free
Duration: 93 Minutes
Rating: MA
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: Martin Barnewitz
Cast: Norman Reedus, Heather Stephens, Claire Holt, Michael McCoy, Erbi Ago, Richard Riehle, Matthew McNulty
The straight-to-video sequel/prequel The Messengers 2: The Scarecrow is interesting in that it is not a ghost story like the first. Apparently the original film started out as a supernatural scarecrow film and through it's various iterations during the screenwriting process with different writers it evolved into a ghost story. The sequel pretty much goes back to the original Todd Farmer (Jason X) screenplay with a malevolent scarecrow that grants good luck as the antagonist. It stars Norman Reedus post Boondock Saints and Blade 2 but just prior to his huge success with The Walking Dead, as a corn farmer John Rollins, a man desperate to save his crops, his farm, and his marriage to wife Mary (Heather Stephens, Lost Highway), and whose luck begins to change after he finds a creepy scarecrow tucked away inside his barn. Once he places the scarecrow in his fields, against his young son's advice who told him to get rid of it, that it was "bad", the down on his luck farmer begins to finally reap what he has sown. While the crops are doing great his marriage gets worse, and bodies start piling up around the farm.
Reedus plays a man of God whose faith is tested as he goes down a darker path, seduced by the scarecrow's power to bring him good crops, and is also further drawn towards darkness by a travelling sharecropper played by nice guy Richard Riehle (Office Space), who is Faustian presence, along with his smoking' hot wife Miranda (Darcy Flowers, Dexter) who sleazes things up with some cornfield nudity and later seducing/raping farmer John in her fifth wheel camper.
One of my earliest horror experiences was seeing the made-for-TV movie Dark Night of the Scarecrow, a truly chilling slice of farm community terror, I didn't realize it at the time but making a good scarecrow horror film is actually pretty difficult to do. Think about it, there's been plenty of entries but very few of them are worth revisiting. The Messengers 2: The Scarecrow is a pretty mediocre entry in the sub-genre, the scarecrow is seen precious little and when it does show up more in the final leg it's a let down. The real fun here is seeing Reedus in this pretty crap sequel in name only, made more palatable by a hilariously malevolent turn from Richard Riehle and the much appreciated nudity courtesy of sexpot Darcy Flowers, Unfortunately it's not nearly as well-made or as stylish as the first film, and feels every inch the straight-to-video disconnected prequel that it is. I think that if you're the a Norman Reedus uber-fan or just a rabid bad-movie nut, the sort who actually enjoys the later straight-to-video Children of the Corn sequels, or just need to see every dang Scarecrow horror movie out there, there might be worth a watch - but if you're a bit more discerning in your cinematic tastes you might want to avoid it.
Audio/Video: The sequel/prequel arrives on region-free Blu-ray Via Vision Entertainment in 1080p HD widescreen
(1.78:1). Exterior shots in the sun look quite nice with some great fine detail in the close-ups, while darker interior and exterior shots look a bit murky at times. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with optional English subtitles. Again, the mix felt low and I had to crank up the receiver, but fidelity and clarity were quite good otherwise.
Extras include an Audio commentary by director Martin Barnewitz and screenwriter Todd Farmer, plus a 2-min Theatrical Trailer.
Special Features:
- Audio commentary by Martin Barnewitz and Todd Farmer
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min)
The 2-disc release arrives in a oversized clear keepcase with a flipper tray holding the pair of Blu-ray disc, with each film and it's corresponding extras getting it's own disc. The wrap is a non-reversible 2-sided design that is a mash-up of the original movie poster and video release. This release also comes with a sideloading slipcase featuring the same artwork on the front and back. The first film has been available on Blu-ray in the U.S. from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment but it's way overpriced at $30+, you can pick up this double feature for about $20 right now, and I believe it's the worldwide Blu-ray debut of the sequel, so this is the best way to get both for cheap.
Screenshots from the Via Vision Blu-ray:
THE MESSENGERS (2007)
THE MESSENGERS 2: THE SCARECROW (2009)
