In 2007 the Pang brothers Oxide Pang Chun and Danny Pang made their first “Hollywood” horror film The Messengers. It was a brilliant looking film that had many of their signature touches and despite the fact that it had Kristen Stewart in it, was creepy, scary and pretty “jump-worthy.”
Two years later Messengers 2: The Scarecrow was released. The film’s title indicated a connection with the previous film, even going so far as to tack the number 2 on the end. Unfortunately the only thing that could be considered a connection is the same creepy dark brown house and barn sitting beside a huge cornfield.
And sadly, that is the only connection between the two films. The one bonus is that the film does not include Ms Stewart among its cast, but that is the only bonus in this lacklustre, shambling excuse of a horror film. A “straight-to-video” film that is a waste of time and the celluloid it was shot on.
The film opens with a blonde woman running through a cornfield calling to someone. She is being chased by an unknown entity that could be a disgruntled film critic. As she dies in the corn, the film starts properly.
The film centres around John Rollins (Norman Reedus) and his family; wife Mary (Heather Stephens), daughter Lindsey (Claire Holt) and son Michael (Laurence Belcher). Their farm is in danger of being foreclosed by the bank if their failing corn crop dies and they cannot sell any.
One of the biggest problems that I had with the film was the corn field itself. Most of the time it did not look real, when it did start to resemble real corn the ears did not look real. It looked like what it was; a fake corn field full of fake corn in a fake field. The entire thing screamed fake.
John finds a “secret” door in the back of his barn and behind this door he finds the ugliest scarecrow ever made. Not only is this scarecrow a poster child for cruelty against scarecrows, it is falling to pieces, and John immediately decides that this is the answer to his crow problem.
Of course John gets a little help from his new neighbour Jude (Richard Riehie) who leads him to believe that the scarecrow will indeed answer all his problems.
That was the other huge problem with the film. John Rollins. He is supposed to be a hard-working down-trodden member of society who’s most scandalous action to date has been to leave church early. Despite this horrible act, he is presumably highly thought of in the community and his wife states that he is a great father when asked.
But Rollins has got to be the most easily led man I’ve ever seen. Jude just has to suggest things and John decides he has to take this new neighbours advice. It’s no wonder that things get so badly out of hand.
Everything that happens in the film is signposted and you are not surprised by the film’s ending. But these signposts are not clever and the action of the characters does not ring true. At one point, John catches Jude’s wife Miranda (Darcy Fowers) stripping to the waist and pouring cold water over her naked breasts.
John then rushes back to the house, grabs his wife and drags her into the bedroom and rapes her. Yep, those actions tell me that leaving church early lets the devil in. Yes sir.
Honestly? This movie is a colossal waste of time and I’m not surprised that it never earned a theatrical release. It has none of the deft touches or trademark scares of the original Pang Brothers film and it smacks of Hollywood greed by attempting to ride on the coattails of the better film.
This is a 2 out of 5 stars for lack of originality and for the sheer stupidity of the plot.
Give this one a miss.
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Don’t feel like the Lone Ranger, I left out the “connection” because at the end of the film, none of the family died. Another instance of producers forgetting that what made the first film work, was missing from the second. The Pang Bros killed it in the first film. Thanks for sharing your feelings about the movie!! Cheers!
You got one thing wrong. There is another connection to the first movie and it’s something that is bugging the hell out of me! John Rollins was the guy killed his family at the beginning of the first film and is then taken on by the family as a farm hand. It’s the same guy! But he doesn’t kill his family at the end of The Messengers 2 so what happened? I’m so confused lol
Honestly, I didn’t even know this existed before..hahaha~ And now I know I won’t see it 😉 I’ll stick with their other awesomeness 🙂
Such a shame that the film producers decided to follow a pretty damned good film with a stupendous flip! LOL
Pang Brothers are totally awesome! Loved The Messengers and I didn’t know about K.Stew before so it didn’t bother me. The Eye and Re-cycle are two of my all-time favorite movies 🙂
However, seeing the part 2 suck is kinda sad. Fake corn fields..tsk tsk tsk. Not good. It does stare Claire Holt. I’m starting to like her all to Vampire Diaries efforts
Yup! 😀
She does, that is true xD She has the same facial expression for every emotion as well!
Thanks mate!! I happen to agree that she fit the role perfectly in The Messengers. Unfortunately she plays the same role in every film she does! LOL
Never heard of this, but will avoid!!
I actually didn’t mind Kristen Stewart in the first…The Messengers and Adventureland are the only two films that I find her bearable in! She has the charisma of a gnat at the best of times mind!
Great review 😀
Thanks mate! I’ve seen him before, but damned if I know what he was in, I’m going to have to search that one out. Pang bros definitely rule! 😀
Excellent write up. I never saw this or the first. Though I do like the Eye films by the Pang brothers. While I don’t dislike PG-13 horror when the original was released the good portion of PG-13 stunk so skipped it.
I had no idea Norman Reedus was in pt 2. Kinda dig him as an actor.