The Gallows is about a group of high school students who are required to take a drama class. Maybe the high school has the best lawyer on retainer in the world because the class decides to put on a play that ended in the accidental death of a student twenty years ago. I guess Our Town or Romeo and Juliet are boring in comparison. The Gallows gradually reveals clues as to what happened twenty yearsago, but ultimately fails to give any solid answers.
The video footage from that period was flickering too-was it haunted then? Or you just thought it would be cool. Got it! A photograph that I noticed a thousand years ago becomes pivotal in later scenes, and if I thought that these kids were stupid before, now I know it is true because I noticed it before I met the character in it. Anyway a small group of annoying students sneak into the school after hours then shenanigans! At least the most annoying one is respectful and friendly with the janitor, David, who is irrelevant to the rest of the plot.
I grade found footage movies on a curve and usually can find something to love in every movie. No such luck with The Gallows. Not only does The Gallows have nothing to recommend it, The Gallows is actively annoying with its mashup of supernatural forces and psychotic characters. Think Friday the 13th meets Glee meets some vaguely supernatural movie. Do not watch this movie even if you are the mother of one of the actors. Just hand your kids some money. They’re going to need it because The Gallows will not be how they break into show business.