YMMV / The Gallows

• Ass Pull: Pfeifer is Charlie's daughter, and she and her mother were assisting in the murders. There is not a single piece of Foreshadowing that hints at this, and it only convolutes a seemingly simple setup.
• Cliché Storm: A group of teens — consisting of a generic everyman, a Final Girl, a wisecracking cameraman, and Cassidy — get lost in a familiar place after dark, with all of the exits locked and the cell phones lacking connection, and are picked off by the manifestation of a boy who died in the area many years ago. The killer is getting revenge by proxy for the actions of a main character's parent that led to the killer's horrible death. Finally, one of the friends is The Mole.
• Critic-Proof: The sad truth behind horror films such as this is that even if the film is terrible and critics give it a good thrashing, these movies are made on such minuscule budgets that they are fully capable of making back their money at the box office without hassle. Even if a great many casual moviegoers refuse to see it based on bad word of mouth, the film can make back its budget in the long run regardless.
• Hollywood Homely:
  • Ryan talks a lot about how ugly the drama class girls are, when only one of those shown onscreen would have any trouble getting a date in real life.
  • He and Cassidy also poke a lot of fun about Pfeifer's looks, even though she is far from unattractive. Some viewers even go as far as to say they think she looks more attractive than Cassidy.
• Hype Aversion: The marketing for the film, at least in the United States, has been widely noted as fucking obnoxious and inescapable. Especially when many of the commercials hyped the film's villain Charlie as the next big horror movie icon along side Freddy and Jason.
• Narm: The ending comes completely out of fucking nowhere. It's like a slasher movie written by Vince Russo.
• Nightmare Fuel: The way Charlie, ever so slowly, emerges from the shadows behind Cassidy without any music or sound.
• Rooting for the Empire: That's what happens when the main cast are a bunch of obnoxious, mean-spirited jerks. You're practically begging Charlie to come and kill them.
• Sequelitis: The Gallows: Act II managed to get an even worse reception than the first film, scoring a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes.
• Signature Scene: The death of Cassidy. The teaser trailer consisted of the scene simply lifted wholesale without context. The scene is used for the poster of the film, every trailer since featured clips from it, and it's arguably the most intense death in the film.
• So Okay, It's Average: For some, the film is a cliched and generic yet harmless found footage slasher film.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: No one in the main cast is very likable or sympathetic. They all got themselves into the situation they were in by breaking into school late at night to tamper with the production and Ryan in particular is especially bad for bullying a drama kid just for laughs and then nearly beats him up when he tries to get back at him. Up until The Reveal, Pfeifer was (and considering how much most of the cast is unlikable, still is) the only likable character in the movie.

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