Search - Hangman's Curse on DVD

Okay Mystery...Disappointing Peretti

Mr. Film Guy | Tennessee | 10/08/2004

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This was a passable mystery (in a sort of Dawson's-Creek-meets- Prime-Suspect sort of way), and the production values are good. However, as a fan of Frank Peretti's previous books I was VERY disappointed to find that there was no spiritual or Christian message to the film at all. (No, saying "grace" over a picnic meal does not count as a substantive spiritual message!)

Being a filmmaker myself I understand that films must be aimed at the broadest possible audience, but in removing any spiritual message from the film they have removed the very element that makes Peretti's work stand out from other secular horror/mystery writers. They've removed the heart.

In fact, the students in the film who were apparently involved in witchcraft come off as more or less INNOCENT VICTIMS of the individual perpetrating the crimes! There was no real rebuke or correction of their involvement in witchcraft at all, much less a presentation of the Christian gospel. (Yes, the Veritas boy in passing warns the other boy about getting involved with spiritual powers, but this is just a brief mention, very watered-down).

This was all the more disappointing after viewing the "making of" featurette in which Peretti is presented as having a complete involvement in the film project (his professor role in the film is played a bit over the top, not surprising if you've seen his Saturday kid's show). One would think that Peretti himself would see the absolute necessity of presenting or preserving spiritual themes in the work, since that has been the root of his success as a writer of Christian fiction. After all, we don't NEED another Stephen King. We do, however, need the Peretti of his early books (PROPHET being arguably the best).

Peretti mentions in the featurette that he is working to perhaps get his other books produced as films. That sounds exciting, but if he allows the screenwriters to water them down and have little spiritual emphasis as they've done in this case, he needn't bother.


As a mystery, this is a nice little thriller for young people (if you don't mind the "bad-boy" element of the student witches or the hard rock music), but it is by no means a "Christian" film in it's themes, or spiritually substantive. Enjoy it as a nice mystery story, but if you're a Peretti fan I think you'll be VERY disappointed that it packs no spiritual substance behind the surface story."

Surprisingly good!

Jeffrey Leach | Omaha, NE USA | 10/18/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I decided to watch "The Hangman's Curse" for several reasons. The most important of these factors, indeed the only one that really matters, involves the fact that David Keith heads up the cast list. I enjoy this actor's work, although I must say his standards have slipped over the past few years. Let's face it: going from films like "An Officer and a Gentleman" to "Sabretooth" and "Deep Shock" represents a horrific reversal of fortune on par with the dive into obscurity made by another talented actor named Joseph Cotten. Remember him? He's the chap who starred in such cinematic classics as "The Third Man" and "Citizen Kane" early in his career only to move on to such turgid schlock like "Guyana: Crime of the Century" and "Lady Frankenstein" towards the end of his life. While those of us who enjoy cheesy cinema might relish seeing the likes of mainstream actors like Keith and Cotten hamming it up in pictures far below their abilities, we must admit it's probably painful for them. Anyway, I figured "The Hangman's Curse" as another disappointing Keith project. I was wrong. The movie, while far from high art, does manage to entertain most of the time.

Keith plays Nate Springfield, husband of Sarah (Mel Harris) and father of daughter Elisha (Leighton Meester) and son Elijah (Douglas Smith). Together this family forms some sort of detective type agency that wanders around the country solving crimes. Actually, they work for some shadowy organization called the Veritas Project. Really. I'm not making this up. Their latest case brings them to a typical high school in Middle America where a series of gruesome crimes plague the student body. A long time local legend involving a student named Abel Frye, who supposedly killed himself in a now long abandoned wing of the school because of incessant bullying, seems to play a big part in the catastrophe befalling selected members of the school. The victims of the crimes tend to be bullies themselves, real jerks that like to pick on the Goth population in the school, and they usually ingest some mysterious substance that produces weird hallucinations of none other than Abel Frye himself. Hmmm. I wonder what's going on? Someone is obviously up to no good, and it falls upon the Springfield family to go undercover and crack the case. They've got their work cut out for them.

Elijah and Elisha pose as students in an effort to get the skinny on the various tensions in the student body. Dad takes a job as a janitor in the school so he can be around if things get sticky. Mom stays behind the scenes in the family's snazzy RV where she can examine any evidence that might turn up with the assistance of wildly eccentric Dr. Algernon Wheeling (Frank Peretti). Fun! We soon meet several students at the school--including geeky Norman Bloom (Daniel Farber), Goth chick Crystal Sparks (Andrea Morris), and her partner in black Ian Snyder (Jake Richardson)--who obviously will play a big role in the proceedings. We also meet a bunch of obnoxious jock types whose presence exists solely for the purposes of cannon fodder. I'm not going to provide an intricate analysis of how the plot unfolds because that would definitely spoil the fun. It's sufficient to say that the proceedings are surprisingly complex for a standard horror/thriller flick. We get several interesting twists and turns, red herrings as to who is responsible for the crimes, and a lot of spiders crawling all over the place. Even the dialogue often rises above what I've come to expect from these types of films. "The Hangman's Curse" is a fun film with lots of scares.

That's not to say the movie doesn't have moments of pure cheese, however. Exhibit A is Dr. Algernon Wheeling as portrayed by Frank Peretti. Peretti is actually a well-known and best selling author (I've never heard of him before watching the movie), and "The Hangman's Curse" is based on one of his books. He might want to consider sticking with his day job since he takes his character WAY over the top. Peretti's performance isn't bad per se, but it does often distract from the main narrative. Thankfully, Keith is in fine form, as are the young actors who play his kids. Leighton Meester deserves special attention for her beauty and her acting chops. She handles a snake in a provocative way few actresses could! The most surprising element of the film, aside from the actors and the clever plot, is the religious themes that pop up from time to time. At one point in the story, the characters get together and pray! This is such an unusual thing to see in a movie that I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. I can't remember the last time I saw religion seriously addressed in what is essentially a horror film. This element of the film is bound to take some people aback, but it's not overdone.

I recommend the movie as an entertaining way to spend a couple of hours. It's not overly gory, though, so fans of blood and guts should look elsewhere. The extras on the disc will keep you busy long after the credits roll. We get a behind the scenes feature explaining how the film dealt with all those spiders, a trailer, and a featurette that is essentially an advertisement for Peretti's other books. Another featurette, called "Frank Peretti: From Page to Screen," is a behind the scenes look at the movie containing interviews with the author and the filmmakers. If you like this movie, check out other projects from director Rafal Zielinski. His film "Fun" is about as far as you can get from this movie subject wise, but it's also worth a look. Enjoy.
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