The Messengers

The Messengers is a 2007 film about a family who moves into a country home and weird events start to occur and only the children can see the uninvited guests. Opening weekend The Messengers grossed $14,713,321 at the box office and has received low reviews from the critics.

The Pang brothers' signature visual pizzazz is strongly displayed in their first Hollywood studio production, "The Messengers," a haunted farmhouse story boasting excellent atmospherics. Oxide and Danny Pang's trademark spins on composition, timing and special effects, though hardly groundbreaking (and sometimes downright imitative), are impressively, even joyfully rendered, as if inviting viewer complicity. Unfortunately, this playful artistry seldom jibes with the forced family values plotline. The Pangs painfully hew to a vision of an idealized Americana with the "happy ending" coming off as especially egregious. Pic's success will depend on auds' willingness to sacrifice narrative cohesion for an elegant and scary funhouse ride. — Variety

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. — The New York Times