Gallows, The (Blu-ray)

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Gallows, The (2015)Directed by Travis Cluff and Chris Lofing

Starring Reese Mishler, Pfeifer Brown, Ryan Shoos, and Cassidy Gifford


I was a bit too kind to The Gallows my first time around. I enjoyed the film but am willing to admit that my rating of 4/5 was a good star too high. In retrospect, the movie is at best a 3/5, even for someone who enjoyed it. At the time, I was in the summer movie mindset and trying to consider the average teenage audience. For them, I felt the movie would be a good time and genuinely enjoyed a lot it had to offer. Still, the over-explanation and cliché structure deprived the movie of a lot of its staying power. I couldn’t help but feel like there was a more streamlined, interesting movie behind the final product. I imagined a committee of studio execs sitting around an oblong table, looking across a one-way mirror into a room where a focus group was discussing their horror tastes, all nodding and lighting cigars as they took a knife to the script.

It was a speculation I wasn’t afraid to share, and though an interesting thought experiment, it always ran into the same stonewall of “Guess we’ll never know!” I actually had a colleague of mine specifically tell me, “Well, unless we see the original cut on the Blu-ray, I guess we’ll never know!” Well, the joke’s on you because the Blu-ray has arrived, and the original cut is here! This is a unique opportunity for me, both to see how it stands up considering my prediction and to offer a unique take in a home video review.

This time, however, I will not be viewing the movie under the lens of summer movie fun. Home video releases require an intrinsic quality to the product that can last, justifying the increased cost with unique features or rewatch value. So, upfront, I’m giving the original movie a 2.5-3/5. I don’t believe that the base movie has enough rewatch value to justify a purchase for anyone but the most diehard fans and collectors. If you want to know what we thought of the base movie with more detail, read one of the other two reviews on the site. This is largely a comparison to the original cut, which for many will be the main feature of the product.

Plotwise, the film is very similar to the theatrical release. Twenty years after the tragic death of Charlie Grimille during a high school production of the play “The Gallows,” the show is brought back for another performance. A group of students that doesn’t want to be in the play breaks into the school at night to take down the set. Upon entering the building, they find that they are trapped, and all manner of spooks occur. A ghost hunts them down one by one, emotions are revealed, and a plot is twisted. Where the two vary is that the plot of the original is much more focused.

The theatrical release included several subplots that attempted to expand the film world. There was a big jock vs. theater nerd dilemma that felt like something out of a 90’s coming of age film and a mysterious woman who seemed to know a little too much about the ghost of Charlie Grimille. Lead character Reese is torn between the football world and the theater world, which we learn is because of his crush on Pfeifer, the girl responsible for the play’s resurrection. While many of these elements were present in the original cut, they were overstated in the theatrical release.

The whole jocks vs. nerds subplot is a single scene in the original cut. Ryan pops into the dressing room, teases the guys changing, makes a crack about how football players are so cool, and leaves. It comes off as guys just making jokes to each other and not some kind of “it crowd” picking on the dweebs. Similarly, in the theatrical release, we are given hints that Reese is actually secretly a good actor, thinking of quitting football and pursuing acting, but he underperforms on stage due to peer pressure and nerves. The original cut is once again much more straightforward: Reese sucks at acting and wants to get out of it before embarrassing himself in front of the girl he likes.

Also absent from the original cut is the character of Pfeifer’s mother/Charlie’s girlfriend. The only mention of the mother and her relationship with Charlie comes in the very last scene and plays such a small part in the plot that I’m surprised they decided to extend it into a whole character. But then again, that is the trend for this whole comparison. What was simple and small in the original becomes embellished in the theatrical release for what the producers believe will sell more tickets.

I’m once again brought back to my image of the smokey boardroom. “Jocks vs. Nerds always sells tickets! People love the struggle between the classes. Why, when I was attending St. Mary’s Private Institute for Gifted and Wealthy Children, oh, how did we young gents delight in playing a rousing game of ‘Throw Stones at the Impoverished’!” With a sputtering cough, another from across the room chimes in, “And more jump scares! We all know how the masses love a good spook. The other day, I had a bit of a laugh by shutting the pantry door on my maid whilst she was cleaning the shelves. She screamed a terrible scream, and it was great fun!” At the head of the table sits a cloaked figure, face lit only by the glow of a cigar shining through a snifter of warm brandy. Taking a long breath in, he whispers in a sinister voice, “Yes, my fellows, all grand ideas. But what if it becomes too complicated for them all? We surely must have the characters shout their motivations at every chance. Then, have a video tape halfway through that explains every plot element. As I fear this may even yet be too subtle, let’s have one of the characters point at the screen and say, “Isn’t that the woman from before?” If even this proves too subtle, let’s give it all a big explanation about a nebulously haunted family. If they still don’t understand, we can try to explain it all again in the sequel!” Many an approving grunt was grunted, before another voice added, “And give her bigger tits!”

Yes, Cassidy’s character was originally another, less chesty actress. Judging that the character is featured on the cover, in all the promotional material, and in the movie’s biggest scare, it’s pretty obvious what their thought process was. Overall, I can see why they made many of the alterations they did. They added more jump scares, more high school drama, and dumbed it down 20 IQ points. They took a functional movie, a diamond stuck in some turd, and decided to polish the bits of turd. I did like some of the additions–namely, the scene where they were in the rafters, but the negatives far outweigh the positives.

What really puts the nail in the coffin for the theatrical release is that almost everything good about the film was present in the original. The big scares are all still there. The characters feel more natural and the plot less convoluted. There are bits that definitely needed some focusing, especially in regards to plot explanation. Too often in the original cut did major decisions hinge on an extended dialogue sequence between two characters. The entire reason they are able to break in, why they would break in, and the introduction of Pfeifer’s character are all done in one conversation. It’s amateurish, but functional. I can see how they would need a more expert direction to get the ideal way to express all that information. Instead, what we get is an over explanation of things that don’t matter, drowning out the heart of the movie.

Before the movie even begins, a forward from the directors warns us that this is a “guerilla style” film, roughly shot with next to no budget or crew. Ever since The Blair Witch Project first popularized shaking a camera around while looking into it and shouting, it’s almost a badge of honor for low-budget horror to wear its lack of polish on its sleeve. I’m not saying that there isn’t certain leeway that has to be given to a film for being made by a group of friends with one camera between them and equal distribution of acting talent. Ever since Oren Peli showed us that five sequels and almost $800 million in profit can be made off of 2-4 people running in a house while an invisible ghost goes “bang,” the leeway we need to grant these films has gone down significantly.

The original worked, and it worked well. It feels much more natural, if not a bit sparse. Sure, we don’t get a hell of a lot of characterization. For a found footage movie taking place over the course of around 12 hours, it’s a believable amount of characterization given the timeframe. Reese wants to take down the set because he likes Pfeifer. Ryan wants to try to see ghosts. Even Pfeifer comes off as more of a delusional ill person than a demon-possessed cultist. The necessary scares were there. It wasn’t perfect, but as an artifact of how a studio can completely change the feel of a film without really changing the story, it is fascinating. Seeing this original cut and comparing it to the theatrical release is a must for horror fans. It makes you wonder what could have been if given a different direction. If someone scraped off those flecks of turd, could this have been a diamond? Well, I guess we’ll never know!

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User Rating 2.72 (18 votes)
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