Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Stevieboy666 I'd not heard of this film but stumbled across a cheap DVD copy in a charity store. Confusingly the British title on the sleeve reads "The House on Gallows Hill" but the film itself reads Gallows Hill on the opening credits. A mainly American family find themselves in trouble when their car gets washed away by flood water on a Colombian road and they seek refuge at a creepy inn, owned by an equally creepy old man who doesn't really want them - or anybody else - there. And it's no wonder as the young girl that he has locked in his cellar has a terrifying secret. This film takes place during inclement wet weather and this is enhanced by the use of a dark & green tinge to the picture. I could almost feel that damp. Half of the dialogue is in English, the other half in Spanish. If you don't speak the latter it is subtitled but they're not always easy to read. It uses the idea of evil being transferred from one person to another, eg Friday the 13th pt9 or Shocker, so nothing original there. It does have a few creepy moments, eg the discovery of the girl, but overall it's pretty mediocre and what I call a "watch it once" movie.

LeonLouisRicci Extremely Claustrophobic and Bloody Demon Doings. It is one of those that the Evil Entity can leap from Body to Body. The Atmosphere is sometimes Chilling and the Gore is Prevalent while Weak Characters are put in Jeopardy in a Regular Rhythm of Gross and Disgusting Displays of Horror Movie Tropes.But there is enough Splatter in this B-Movie to give it a Pass on the Familiar way it goes about its Story. None of the People here are Relate-able and some of Their Back Stories are so Glossed Over the Victims remain Nothing but Props. Some Creepiness is at hand and the Movie does make for a bit of Unsettling Reaffirmation that when told that a Road is Unusable, the Horror Movie Thing to do is, well You Know. This Leads to the Clichéd Set-Up of the "Cabin in the Woods" Variety of Pent Up Spirits and many Brutal Deaths ahead.Overall, there is Something here that makes all of its Familiarity somewhat Watchable for Horror Movie Fans. Just don't Expect Anything other than a bunch of Semi-Clever Kills with an Eat Your Own Tail Ending.

begob I liked this to start with. It's conventional, but I think they set it up well for a ride into the depths of horror.So that should have picked up speed right after the witch was released. There was some spooky ghosting around the house, but ... the little girl was not scary. We even had the closing the fridge door jump - if they have to resort to that then something's gone wrong.But don't worry - there were other versions of the beast to come. And I think that's the problem: they didn't have to focus on one character, so all characters became a bit bland when it was their turn, and you never got the essence of the original beast.Then you've got the back story, which they returned to a few times with an unnecessary complication involving the relatives of the persecutors. Then they threw in a dose of guilt from each character's life. And it all got a bit cluttered, losing focus on the original elements.Think of the Blair witch - you get some sketchy exposition at the start, the audience fills in the details, we go to a lonely place, all the elements are in place, and bit by bit the witch simply shows what she can do, raising the stakes steadily without once appearing on screen. The final insult was some dreadful dialogue between father and daughter as they cowered in the basement. And oh - there was another bloody twist after that too.Keep it simple!

TheBarleyGuy I didn't know what to think about this before I threw it on. Directed by Victori Garcia (the man who helmed my hands-down least favourite horror film of all time Hellraiser : Revalations), this appears to be the first film that allowed him full creative control. Prior to this movie, he was the director of Mirrors 2, Return To House On Haunted Hill, 30 Days Of Night : Blood Trails, and of course the worst movie ever… however, based on the jump in quality with this one, I have a feeling he felt considerably more free, and wasn't just after the work. Another surprise was the writer, Richard D'Ovidio, who previously penned Thir13en Ghosts, and The Call. All around, based on the previous work of both of these guys, this might have been one I avoided. I can honestly say, I'm glad that I didn't.The movie begins with some pretty flat seeming characters, and felt quite generic. That being said, the style actually seemed to change pretty drastically and became quite cool and atmospheric. The effects are minimal, and effective, and the actors seemed to get their sh*t together part way through the movie. The young girl who plays the 'ancient evil' is pretty effective and creepy, though her performance is pretty short lived once the the demon starts to switch bodies. The story moves along at a pretty good clip, and delivers on some pretty good tension all the way through, it does have fall a little bit flat from time to time, but not enough to kill the movie or stop it dead.I will say this, the story comes off a little bit heavy handed with the occasional voice over about secrets, and the fact that all of these characters are also tortured souls with deep dark secrets to be exploited. As a result, there are some moments that get a little bit eye-rolly, but overall it's actually pretty effective and does make a reasonable (albeit heavy handed) point about people's secrets coming back to haunt you.All that said, the movie is occasionally frightening, grim, and even becomes quite bleak and heavy near the end. It's also not a movie that forces a happy ending, and the ending feels natural without sequel baiting. That really was a breath of fresh air to have a movie end in a bit of a non-traditional, and down-note like this one did.So, all in all, this is a fun movie, that delivers a pretty satisfying level of scares throughout. It might not make anyone's top-10 of all time list, but it really is one of the better horror films I've seen this year. Go ahead and give it a watch, you could certainly do worse! Also, never, ever, ever watch Hellrasier: Revelations.Final Grade : B-(CHECK OUT MORE REVIEWS AT ACANADIANHORRORSTORY.COM)