Fingerprints (2006)

In this terrifying supernatural thriller a troubled teenager sets out on a grisly path to discover the disturbing truth behind a well-known urban legend. Haunted for fifty years by the horrifying tale of a train colliding with a school bus killing all the children aboard the small town left behind continues to suffer as a stomach-churning chain of murders claims victim after victim. Brought to life by a stand-out cast including Kristin Cavallari (Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County) Leah Pipes (Malcolm in the Middle) Josh Henderson (Desperate Housewives) Lou Diamond Phillips (Stand and Deliver) Andrew Lawrence (Brotherly Love) and Sally Kirkland (Bruce Almighty) Fingerprints will leave its mark on your nightmares!System Requirements:Running Time: 95 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE/CONS & SCAMS Rating: R UPC: 014381352726 Manufacturer No: GMP3527DVD Product Description

An Original Horror Movie Centering On The Ghosts Of An Old Train Crash

The title of "Fingerprints" refers to the marks left by the ghosts of dead children when they make their appearance. There was a tragedy in the small town the movie takes place in when, decades ago, a train slammed into a school bus that was stalled on the tracks, killing everyone onboard; in the modern day, there's a legend that if you park a car on those tracks, it will be pushed off the tracks and to safety by an invisible prescence - only fingerprints on the bumper or car's back remain, indicating it was the ghosts of the crash victims, trying to prevent any other accident from occuring on that spot. But what's always apparantly been just an urban legend starts to come true...

The catalyst for the change comes when a girl named Melanie (well played by Leah Pipes) returns home after a stay in an out-of-town hospital. When Melanie and her friends try out the local legend, the car actually does move off the tracks. And shortly thereafter more supernatural occurences start happening. Melanie was in the hospital after an incident that left her legally dead for two minutes; it seems that her brush with death has resulted in her being able to interact with spirits more closely, and once near those haunted tracks... However, things may not be what they seem. It turns out that there are rumors that the crash all those years ago never happened at all, although how or why someone would fake something like that is unknown. In addition to the spirit appearances, new deaths start to occur as an unknown assailant begins slashing through various people connected in one way or another with the tracks and/or the legend.

"Fingerpints" blends its 'haunting' story with 'stalk-and-slash' elements very well, coming out with a distinctive movie based on a fresh storyline. And it does tie the different plot threads together in the end, leaving off with a powerful finale plus an opening for a possible follow-up (which I personally would be in favor of, although it might be tricky to reopen one of the plot threads that seems pretty much resolved). In addition to Pipes's performance, the rest of the cast does a good job too, with Lou Diamond Phillips deserving special mention for his role as a teacher/guidance counsellor at the local high school.

Aside from a couple of film festival appearances, this one went direct to DVD. Direct-to-DVD titles have an unjustly bad rep; personally I've always thought there were quite a few gems in among the weaker entries, but over the last little while the ratio of quality direct-DVD titles has been picking up. With the number of theatrically released horror movies in a bit of a dry spell, it's good to know that the original DVD releases are picking up the slack. July 30, 2008

Rent, don't buy--Possible minor spoilers

Starring Leah Pipes, Kristin Cavallari, Josh Henderson, Andrew Lawrence, Lou Diamond Phillips, and Geoffrey Lewis. I saw the preview for this movie and thought it looked promising--like a decent low-budget ghost story. It starts off interesting enough...a high school girl (Pipes) comes out of rehab and moves to the town of Emerald. Her sister (Cavallari) tells her the train tracks are haunted because a bus full of school children were hit by a train years earlier. She attempts to adjust to her new life and she catches the attention of two of her male classmates (Henderson and Lawrence). Life becomes even more complicated when she starts seeing a girl who had died in the bus crash and so she now must find out what actually happened to the children who died in the crash.

The first half builds like it will be a spooky ghost-story. The second half of the movie is were it falls apart, because all of a sudden it becomes a typical teenage slasher movie--a badly done Nightmare on Elm Street rip-off. The deaths are ridiculous and unoriginal and seem to come out of nowhere. The movie has a very made-for-t.v feel, except for the strong language. The lead actress is quite good and I always love to see Lou Diamond Philips and Geoffrey Lewis; however, some of the other actors inexperience (especially the mother) showed through too much.

Overall, if you know the tale or just want to watch it out of curiosity--rent it first. It's a two-in-a-half star movie, I just bumped it up because of the actors. May 14, 2008

Laughably bad.

Could have been good in the hands of a more accomplished, more talented crew. The story is very very very familiar, but I'd be willing to overlook that if this film had been done with any understanding of suspense and horror. The makers should be forced to watch a legendary creepy movie such as the original Halloween 1,000 times as punishment for producing this piece of garbage. April 29, 2008

I was pleasantly surprised at how good this movie is.

I purchased and watched this movie solely because of the first reviewer who gave it five stars and because it is based on an actual legend that I am familiar with(I'm from Texas). It definetly lived up to my expectations especially for an independent film.

The bad: The acting was excellent in this movie except for the woman who portrayed the main character's mother, her acting was terrible! The movie is a little bit slow paced until about 3/4 of the way through but that probably just adds to the effect.

The good: The gore and ghost effects in this movie were excellent! I cringed during a couple of 'gore' scenes and there were a few parts of the movie that were kind of scary and disturbing, which isn't an effect many horror movies these days have on me. I was also pleasantly surprised by Kristen Cavallari's acting skills in this movie, they weren't perfect but she did a good job.

Overall I'd say though this movie isn't some big budget thriller it's definetly entertaining and is worth at the very least a rental viewing. It kind of reminded me of the movie Scream except dealing with ghosts(I don't want to give away the whole plot so I won't go into details). I found this movie at walmart for $17 dollars and though I don't usually spend that much on independent horror movies this one was definetly worth it. April 11, 2008

Creepy kids!

I was able to catch Fingerprints over the weekend at Texas Frightmare Weekend and have already pre-ordered my DVD. This movie rocked! I didn't know what to expect, and I knew it was based on a Texas urban legend, but I was surprised at where the movie took me.

The ghost kids are pretty creepy and it was great seeing actors like Loud Diamond Philips. I must admit I thought I had predicted what was going to happen but I am happy to report I was wrong.

If you're in the mood for a good old fashioned ghost/slasher horror movie then Fingerprints should do the trick. February 28, 2008

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