The Hanged Man

The Hanged Man

Starring Adam Hatley, Tom Jay Jones, Brandon Gibson, Robbyn Leigh

Directed by Neil H. Weiss

The Story:
A group of seven strangers meet online, all having issues with their lives, and agree to meet at a barn to commit suicide.  SoCo (Adam Hatley) is the most excited, as he's the first to arrive.  Miles (Tom Jay Jones) seems hesitant, while Spaceshot (Robbyn Leigh) has a connection to the barn.  Redneck Flash (Brandon Gibson) harbors a dark secret, while X-Factor (Shanola Hampton) doesn't seem to interested in the pact, while LT56 (Cliff Weissman) continually lies about everything.

As the night progresses, the group learn more about each other, and discover that they're not who they really say they are online.  Lies come to light, and all the while it seems like a dark force is watching them, forcing them to stay and carry out their original plan.

The Synopsis:
The premise behind this film is one that I'm sure a lot of people can relate to - a group of strangers meet online and talk about how terrible their lives are, and agree to meet in order to end it all together.  It's a sad reality that people see no other way out of their pain than permanently ending their life, but "The Hanged Man" doesn't really focus on that - instead, it focuses on...well...I'm not really sure.  The film was only eighty-eight minutes, and thankfully it actually felt shorter than that.  The story was lacking, the acting was pretty funny in completely unintentional ways, and the effects were rather abysmal.

It's interesting to note that the company that produced this - Osiris Entertainment - doesn't even have this film on their website.  Maybe they want to forget this film existed, and after watching it, I can understand why.  The only character I liked was X-Factor, because she seemed to be the most intelligent and self-aware character in the group.

The rest are simple stereotypes - the overbearing leader, the redneck hillbilly, the cute girl with a violent past, and so on.  The film is oddly grounded in reality, yet flies off the rails at the end, leading to a conclusion that would've been easy to see if one character had actually remembered it before it happened.  The group seems surprised to find about the lies each of them told online, but yet - it's online, the place where you can freely be anyone you want to be.  Why was it so shocking that the older, overweight man said he was an athletic guy online?  Not like that's never happened before.  It's this series of lies that we're supposed to be drawn to in order to find the truth, but we really don't care - we just want it to end.

The Summary:
Bland acting and a runaround story lead to a short film that could've been shorter - as in zero minutes long - and we all would've been better for it.

The Score: D-