''The Gallows'' is a 2015 American
found footage supernatural horror film
Supernatural horror film is a film genre that combines aspects of supernatural film and horror film. Supernatural occurrences in such films often include ghosts and demons, and many supernatural horror films have elements of religion. Common them ...
written and directed by Chris Lofing and Travis Cluff. The film stars
Reese Mishler, Pfeifer Brown, Ryan Shoos and
Cassidy Gifford. The film centers on when, 20 years after a horrific accident during a small town school play, students at the school resurrect the failed show in a misguided attempt to honor the anniversary of the tragedy - but soon discover that some things are better left alone. It was produced by
Jason Blum
Jason Ferus Blum (; born February 20, 1969) is an American producer. He is the founder and CEO of Blumhouse Productions, best known for horror franchises such as ''Paranormal Activity (film series), Paranormal Activity'' (2007–2021), ''Insidi ...
through
Blumhouse Productions
Blumhouse Productions, LLC, doing business as Blumhouse (; also known as BH Productions or simply BH), is an American independent film and television production company founded in 2000 by Jason Blum and Amy Israel. Blumhouse is known mainly fo ...
,
Guymon Casady
Guymon Patrick Casady (born 12 March 1969) is an American media executive, producer and talent manager. He was executive producer of the television series ''Game of Thrones, The Terror (TV series), The Terror'' and ''Ripley (TV series), Ripley'' on ...
through Entertainment 360, Chris Lofing and Travis Cluff through Tremendum Pictures.
''The Gallows'' was released in the United States by
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film studio and distribution arm of the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group division of Warner Bros., both of which are owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex ...
and
New Line Cinema
New Line Productions, Inc., Trade name, doing business as New Line Cinema, is an American film production, film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, a division of the Major film studios, ...
on July 10, 2015. It received negative reviews and grossed $43 million worldwide. A sequel, ''
The Gallows Act II'', was released in October 2019.
Plot
On October 29, 1993, Beatrice High School student Charlie Grimille is accidentally hanged and killed after a prop malfunction during a presentation of the
play
Play most commonly refers to:
* Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment
* Play (theatre), a work of drama
Play may refer also to:
Computers and technology
* Google Play, a digital content service
* Play Framework, a Java framework
* P ...
''The Gallows''. His parents, along with the whole audience, witness the tragic event.
Twenty years later, on October 28, 2013, the school attempts to put on a new performance of ''The Gallows''. Football jock Reese Houser auditions for the play, only because this will give him a chance to grow closer to his crush Pfeifer Ross, who will be in the play. Surprisingly, he gets the lead role, which is much more than he bargained for. He needs a way out of the play, so his friend Ryan Shoos comes up with the idea to vandalize the set and sabotage the whole play. That night, Reese, Ryan, and Ryan's girlfriend, Cassidy Spilker, sneak into the school and begin to dismantle the set, only to hear Pfeifer in the hallway. They try to leave but find that they have been locked inside, and there is no cell phone reception. Disturbed, Cassidy admits the trio's real reason for being in the school at this time, which angers Pfeifer.
When they get back to the stage, the group sees that the set has suddenly reassembled. An old television switches on by itself, playing back a tape with the news coverage of Charlie's death, which includes an interview with his girlfriend Alexis. They discover that Charlie was not supposed to have performed that day, and was on stage only because he was the understudy for the main actor, who turns out to have been Reese's father, Rick. The group becomes separated. Alone, Ryan sees various things, such as a hidden room with a mattress and bed frame, and a body hanging. When the group is reunited, Cassidy is yanked into the air by seemingly nothing, leaving her with burns on her neck that look like rope burns.
They return to the stage, where Pfeifer points out an air conditioning duct they can escape through. Ryan is thrown off the ladder by an unseen force, and his leg is broken. The group becomes locked out of the stage where Ryan lies helpless. They eventually get back, finding only Ryan's phone. The audience then sees footage from the phone.
Ryan sees a figure holding a noose. He is then pulled away by the neck by a fly rig. As the night progresses, Cassidy is killed by Charlie dressed as the Hangman, a character from ''The Gallows''. Reese and Pfeifer end up on the stage, where the spirit begins to choke her. Realizing Charlie wants them to act out the final scene (in which Reese and Charlie's characters are hanged), Reese and Pfeifer reenact the scene. However, when Reese puts the noose around his neck, he is hanged and killed by Charlie. Once he is dead, Pfeifer and Charlie, now appearing as an adult, both bow, and Alexis, who was watching the performance, gives a standing ovation.
The police enter the house where Pfeifer and Alexis are living and watching footage of Charlie's death, showing that Pfeifer is the daughter of Charlie and Alexis. When they attempt to question them about Charlie, Pfeifer warns, "You shouldn’t say that name". The officer witnesses his partner being dragged by a noose, killing him. Charlie then attacks and kills the policeman, as the screen cuts to black.
Cast
*
Reese Mishler as Reese Houser
* Pfeifer Brown as Pfeifer Ross
* Ryan Shoos as Ryan Shoos
*
Cassidy Gifford as Cassidy Spilker
* Price T. Morgan as Price
* Jesse Cross as Charlie Grimille
* Melissa Bratton as Alexis Ross
** Alexis Schneider as young Alexis Ross / Mary
* Theo Burkhardt as Rick Houser
** John Tanskly as Rick
* Emily Jones as Ryan's mother
* Travis Cluff as Mr. Schwendiman
* Mackie Burt as Cheerleader
Production
Development of ''The Gallows'' began in 2011 when Chris Lofing and Travis Cluff uploaded a new trailer for the film. The trailer went viral and was seen by producer Dean Schneider of the company Management 360 who invited them to his office in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, signed a representation and financing contract through the production division of his company Entertainment 360 and received to
Jason Blum
Jason Ferus Blum (; born February 20, 1969) is an American producer. He is the founder and CEO of Blumhouse Productions, best known for horror franchises such as ''Paranormal Activity (film series), Paranormal Activity'' (2007–2021), ''Insidi ...
, owner of the company
Blumhouse Productions
Blumhouse Productions, LLC, doing business as Blumhouse (; also known as BH Productions or simply BH), is an American independent film and television production company founded in 2000 by Jason Blum and Amy Israel. Blumhouse is known mainly fo ...
, which specialized in produce low-budget films for the film to be adapted for distribution. On Blum's advice, Lofing and Cluff invested additional work and in fact, over the next two years, the vast majority of the film (about 80%) was re-shot. For this, the two held auditions with the help of a
Fresno
Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...
casting agent, Carolyn D'Vere and three actors were chosen: Shoos, Brown, and
Mishler.
Gifford joined in at the last minute, after it emerged that an actress who participated in the original version had lost a lot of weight. Gifford was recommended by her famous parents, but Cluff emphasized that she won the role on her own merits, and he himself initially did not think she would agree to participate in the film.
On June 24, 2014,
New Line Cinema
New Line Productions, Inc., Trade name, doing business as New Line Cinema, is an American film production, film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, a division of the Major film studios, ...
acquired distribution rights to the film. On December 10, 2014, it was announced the film would be released on July 10, 2015, in the United States. Though the film is set in Lofing's hometown of
Beatrice, Nebraska
Beatrice () is a city in and the county seat of Gage County, Nebraska, Gage County, Nebraska, United States. Its population was 12,261 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Nebraska, 15th most populous cit ...
, all of the scenes in the theatrical version of the film were shot in
Fresno, California
Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...
.
Several scenes in the first cut of the film were shot in Beatrice, but those scenes were dropped when
Blumhouse Productions
Blumhouse Productions, LLC, doing business as Blumhouse (; also known as BH Productions or simply BH), is an American independent film and television production company founded in 2000 by Jason Blum and Amy Israel. Blumhouse is known mainly fo ...
picked up the film. Those scenes were featured in the
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
and
Blu-ray
Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
releases of ''The Gallows''.
The actors performed their own stunts, and no major
CGI was used in the film, Lofing said.
Release
Box office
''The Gallows'' grossed $22.7 million in North America and $20.2 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $43 million, against a budget of $100,000.
''The Gallows'' opened on July 10, 2015, simultaneously with the sci-fi drama ''
Self/less
''Self/less'' is a 2015 American science fiction action thriller film directed by Tarsem Singh, produced by Ram Bergman and James D. Stern and written by Alex and David Pastor. The film tells the story of a business tycoon and billionaire diag ...
'' and
Minions. The film grossed $900,000 during its Thursday night showings, and $4.5 million on its opening day. The film opened at number five at the box office in its opening weekend, with $9.8 million.
Home media
''The Gallows'' was released on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
and
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of ...
on October 13, 2015.
Critical response
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, 15% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 115 reviews, with an average rating of 3.40/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Narratively contrived and visually a mess, ''The Gallows'' sends viewers on a shaky tumble to the bottom of the found-footage horror barrel." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 30 out of 100 based on reviews from 22 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data.
Background
Ed Mintz, who ...
gave the film a grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale.
Geoff Berkshire of ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' gave the film a negative review, saying: "''The Gallows'' isn't without a certain amount of atmosphere,
utsimply feels borrowed wholesale. That would matter less with a better script, but the four main characters are paper-thin even by genre norms." Stephen Whitty of the ''
Newark Star-Ledger
''The Star-Ledger'' was the largest circulation newspaper in New Jersey. It is based in Newark, New Jersey. The newspaper ceased print publication on February 2, 2025, but continues to publish a digital edition.
In 2007, ''The Star-Ledger''s ...
'' gave the film one out of four stars, saying: "The plot is a collection of contrivances (Oh no, the lights all went out! My cell phone won't work! I'm running for my life, I'd better keep filming!) and the scares are simple, sudden, stupid shocks." Kyle Anderson of ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
'' gave the film a C, saying: "This is another found-footage movie that, with a little art direction and some actual cinematography, could easily have been a decent little terrorizer. Instead, it comes mostly unglued thanks to its hacky gimmick." Bruce Demara of the ''
Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division.
...
'' gave the film two out of four stars, saying: "Despite its initial promise and some decent scares - you're in for a sharp and sudden drop in satisfaction in the final throes." Mick LaSalle of the ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...
'' gave the film two out of four stars, saying: "The filmmakers needed to set themselves free even more than the characters, but they never find the path out. They probably never realized they were trapped."
Simon Abrams of ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...
'' gave the film a negative review, saying: "''The Gallows'' is only good enough to make you wish its creators did something novel with its formulaic style, plot, and characterizations." Neil Genzlinger of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' said: "''The Gallows'' starts with a decent if improbable premise, and it ends with a pretty good jolt. But in between, the film sure wears out the already tired found-footage device." Tirdad Derakhshani of ''
The Philadelphia Inquirer
''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...
'' gave the film a negative review, saying: "''The Gallows'' is one lazy film. There's no real effort or inventiveness here, whether we're talking about the character names, the jokes, the set pieces, or the predictable plot twist."
Richard Roeper
Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959) is an American writer. He is a former columnist and film critic for the '' Chicago Sun-Times'', where he wrote for 39 years dating back to 1986 until his departure in 2025. He co-hosted the television s ...
of the ''
Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...
'' gave the film three out of four stars, saying: "In a quick 80 minutes, we get the back story, we meet the four core characters (all of the young actors do fine work), get the wits scared out of us about a half-dozen times and wind up with a VERY creepy ending." Barry Hertz of ''
The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...
'' gave the film one out of four stars, saying: "As the latest entry in the tired "found footage" horror subgenre, this on-the-cheap film has never met a cliché it didn't embrace like sweet death itself." A.A. Dowd of ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
'' gave the film a D+, saying: "Making audiences care about the characters is always a more effective fear-generating strategy than just knocking off a bunch of dimwits in the dark."
Sequel
In August 2017, it was announced that ''
The Gallows Act II'' was filmed secretly. The film was released on October 25, 2019, in theaters, on demand and digital by
Lionsgate Lions Gate, Lion Gate or similar terms may refer to:
Gates
*Lion Gate at Mycenae in Greece
*Lion Gate, one of the entrances to the ancient Hittite city of Hattusa, now in Turkey
*Lion Gate, one of the entrances to the gardens of Hampton Court Pala ...
.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gallows
2015 films
2015 horror films
2010s ghost films
2010s teen horror films
American ghost films
American supernatural horror films
American teen horror films
Blumhouse Productions films
Dune Entertainment films
Films produced by Jason Blum
Films set in 1993
Films set in 2013
Films set in Nebraska
Films shot in California
Found footage films
New Line Cinema films
Warner Bros. films
2015 directorial debut films
2010s English-language films
2010s American films
English-language horror films