The Gallows
Warner Bros. | Release Date: July 10, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
30
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
6
Negative:
13
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJul 9, 2015
This is the kind of movie where you can anticipate the next big shock and it usually arrives right on cue, and yet it still gets you right in the gut. Read full review
63
Boston GlobePeter KeoughJul 9, 2015
Occasionally the camera gets jumbled around, blacks out, and hisses with static as if it had been tossed in a dryer. Then it regains composure and reveals — an old playbill! A figure in a mask with a noose! The birth of a new franchise and the death of a great genre. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJul 9, 2015
Lofing and Cluff certainly know the found-footage ropes, and the tropes; we'll see if their next project reveals a little more imagination. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinJul 9, 2015
Plot holes aside, the filmmakers provide enough well-timed jumps and energetic moments to keep the highly contained picture afloat. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJul 9, 2015
A movie that has two good ideas. It needed three. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyKyle AndersonJul 9, 2015
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. Read full review
40
Village VoiceSimon AbramsJul 9, 2015
The Gallows is only good enough to make you wish its creators did something novel with its formulaic style, plot, and characterizations. Read full review
40
The New York TimesNeil GenzlingerJul 9, 2015
The horror movie 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. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterStephen FarberJul 9, 2015
Any film that tries to revive this technique needs a clever story or unusual filmmaking ingenuity to stand out from the crowd. The Gallows has neither. It has enough mild scares to captivate the under-25 crowd. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineEric HendersonJul 9, 2015
The film is sstrictly a high-tech spin on one of those Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Read full review
35
TheWrapTim AppeloJul 9, 2015
The Gallows is not without thrills. What it lacks is the thrill of the chase. Read full review
33
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Jul 9, 2015
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. Read full review
30
VarietyGeoff BerkshireJul 9, 2015
The Gallows isn’t without a certain amount of atmosphere, it simply feels borrowed wholesale. That would matter less with a better script, but the four main characters are paper-thin even by genre norms. Read full review
30
Screen DailyJohn HazeltonJul 9, 2015
The Gallows offers up few new ideas and very few genuine scares. Read full review
25
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiJul 10, 2015
A ridiculous fusion of "Paranormal Activity" and "Glee" that is so incredibly dumb that it is almost, but never quite, scary to behold. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzJul 9, 2015
It would be easy to spend hours trashing The Galllows if it just wasn’t so disposable. Read full review
25
Movie NationRoger MooreJul 9, 2015
If you’re not laughing at this, early and often, you’re made of sterner stuff than the players they paid to show up for this, but didn’t. Read full review
20
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJul 10, 2015
After several tedious jump scares and boneheaded escape plans, a bag over your head won't seem like such a bad idea. Or the noose. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsStephen WittyJul 9, 2015
Sorry, but this kind of high-school horror was old when Jamie Lee Curtis was young. All the ugly, shaky, night-vision camerawork in the world will not make it seem fresh. Or remotely scary. Read full review
0
HitfixDrew McWeenyJul 10, 2015
It is a singularly unpleasant experience, not because it is scary or extreme or even interesting. It is unpleasant because it is a dull story filled with characters that are so poorly drawn as to be forgettable even while you're watching them. Read full review
0
New York PostLou LumenickJul 9, 2015
Even by the modest standards of the genre, the ending is jaw-droppingly ridiculous. Read full review
0
Austin ChronicleJosh KupeckiJul 8, 2015
The Gallows offers exactly none of the frisson or pleasure of a found-footage film done right. Read full review
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