Advanced Search Beta »
Basic Search Fields
The Messengers
Metascore
34 out of 100

Generally unfavorable - based on 16 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 16
  3. Negative: 8 out of 16
view
per page
  1. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    50
    The trouble isn't just that this haunted-house story, written by Mark Wheaton and directed by Hong Kong filmmakers Danny and Oxide Pang, is both formulaic and derivative. It's that it's completely free of atmosphere, the very thing that their 2002 "The Eye" had in such creepy abundance.
  2. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Gregory Kirschling
    50
    There are a few decent jolts in The Messengers, but every one of them is accompanied by a cheap freak-out on the soundtrack so you know to be decently jolted.
  3. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Matt Zoller Seitz
    50
    Like too many horror pictures, The Messengers becomes more boringly prosaic as it goes along, and there's an 11th-hour plot twist so dumb and poorly articulated that it destroys the movie. That's a shame, because shot for shot, the Pangs might be the most terrifying filmmakers alive.
  4. Variety
    Reviewed by: Ronnie Scheib
    50
    Though the Pangs prove culturally adaptive on a visual level, they seem completely clueless as to the tonal modalities of Mark Wheaton's admittedly undercooked, all-American script.
  5. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Andrea Gronvall
    50
    Earns points for its set and sound design, eerily desaturated color palette, able cast, and one really good special effect. Sadly, the movie just doesn't deliver chills.
  6. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Scott Tobias
    50
    The Messengers, dutifully cobbles together a pastiche of successful horror films past--"The Grudge," "The Sixth Sense," "The Birds," "The Amityville Horror," and "The Shining"--without asserting a single original idea of its own.
  7. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marrit Ingman
    40
    This spook story is a surprisingly mediocre Hollywood debut for Hong Kong's Pang brothers.
  8. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Sam Adams
    40
    The Messengers is at once ruthlessly efficient and shamelessly distended.
  9. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Tirdad Derakhshani
    38
    A predictable, by-the-numbers TV-movie-sized affair which will break your heart - especially since it also contains brief flashes of horror greatness.
  10. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    38
    The Messengers is textbook, and the course it's teaching is HSL: Horror as a Second Language.
  11. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    38
    It's a little sad that The Messengers is ultimately a good candidate for burial in a toxic waste dump because there are some good elements contained herein.
  12. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Michael Rechtshaffen
    30
    A tepid ghost story filled with all the usual things that go bump in the night minus the somewhat crucial element of suspense, this bland effort from Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert's Ghost House Pictures is surprisingly devoid of the creepy, claustrophobic atmospherics that haunt the brothers' Asian work.
  13. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Jim Ridley
    30
    The end result looks heavily doctored: The Sam Raimi-produced feature is a badly acted, nonsensical patchwork of fake scares, crow attacks and wall-crawling CGI spooks, capped by a DVD extra of an ending that must have the real resolution gagged somewhere in a closet.
  14. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    25
    It's nicely photographed but slow-moving, dull and utterly predictable.
  15. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Peter Hartlaub
    25
    Extremely boring.
  16. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Mark Bell
    10
    The story is so ridiculously obvious it's not even remotely enjoyable.
prev next
Page:
  • 1

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
3.7 out of 10

Generally unfavorable- based on 27 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 16
  3. Negative: 11 out of 16
  1. RyanLopez
    0
    This movie is **** stupid- I hated this **** It's screwed up. IT WAS STUPIDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!. You want a bad movie-see this one. It got on my top 5 of most stupid movies ever it ranks 5th… Full Review »
  2. Josh
    0
    Terrible movie. I have a hard time thinking of one that was worse. No redeeming qualities whatsoever with this "movie". What took me most off guard was that it was heavily advertised, so obviously it was a big budget flick. Then I saw the movie, and I almost thought I had picked up the wrong thing, seeing as how it was as B movie as you get. Don't even bother watching this one once, it sucks horribly.… Full Review »
  3. JenoM
    1
    Painfully slow and predictable storyline, meaning no real plot. Seen-it-before people crawling on ceilings. Some of the worst acting and directing as well. Can't believe I got suckered in by the trailer. That's what I get for not checking here first.… Full Review »
See all user reviews »