Writer: Michelle Hoppe, Johnston H. Moore
Director: Gary Wheeler
Cast: Malcolm McDowell, Chuck Carrington, Hilarie Burton, Will Patton, Pat Hingle
Rating:
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: June 10, 2008

What do you get when you pair a first time director that has only previously produced religious-based movies with two writers that also have no credits? The answer is a small budget, cliché movie that offers little to grasp onto but the power of prayer. If you like prayer this movie will be awesome for you. However, if you want more substance this may leave you to wonder why anyone bothered making this in the first place.

The List is supposed to be a supernatural thriller. Unfortunately, the frightening aspects are not as up front as they needed to be and the message attacks the plot with too many hints that were picked up on from the beginning. There are some other issues that pose problems, but those will be discussed in the plot section.

The List is based on a Christian novel of the same name. I have not read the book so I couldn’t possibly comment on how close the storyline of the book is followed or not, though I have heard that the two end up being very similar when it comes to the plot. The movie is obviously low budget, so it needs to rely on good writing (mediocre didn’t cut it), good directing, and good acting. Special effects and other visuals were not going to be blockbuster quality, so they needed some backups. The film could have been better. In fact, a number of things could have been better about it, but what is here, is certainly not going to be suited for everyone.

Release Information:
The List opened in a handful of southern theaters in the summer of 2007. The film opened in Charlotte, North Carolina in mid-August. That weekend, the film made $22,000 on a single screen. After that the movie opened in four other North Carolina cities, two cities in both South Carolina and Georgia, and one in Tennessee.

At one point Fox was planning to open in more theaters in the South and around the country, but due to the success the film had in the theaters that it played, it was decided that a nationwide DVD release would make a better plan. With that in mind The List is set to hit DVD shelves on June 10, 2008. You can pre-order The List at Walmart for just under $23 or you can save a few bucks by picking it up on Amazon for $19.99.

The The List Plot
The basic story here is about a group of southerners that hide some Confederate gold away in 1863. Naturally, their fortunes become larger than life, but that money seems to do nothing for their private lives. As things get rolling we meet Renny Jacobsen (Chuck Carrington – JAG). He discovers after his father’s death that he has been disinherited and will not receive any of his multi-million dollar fortune. He also learns that he is a new member of the List. While Renny isn’t sure how to take things in the beginning, he soon meets up with Jo (Hilarie Burton – One Tree Hill), who has also just lost her father, who also happens to be in the gold hoarding club.

Renny is amazed by the power of this new group. Money is within his grasp and could allow him to have anything he wants. Of course, he soon begins to remember that money is the root of all evil (so the saying goes). This becomes more prominent on his mind as the List members continue to die in various ways. When Renny’s new friend Jo gets sick with a mysterious disease it becomes obvious that money isn’t always the most important thing.

The leader of this secret society goes by the name of Desmond Larochette (Malcolm McDowell - A Clockwork Orange, Caligula). As this is supposed to be a thriller you can bet that McDowell is set to be your evil entity. He’s good at it, so I will make little complaint about that. However, what I will complain about is the message overriding the planned genre of this film. Religion, while subtly placed and not overbearing, is present in many scenes. In fact, this message tends to take away from the option for an interesting film.

Now, if you took out the religion, you would still have some problems. The acting is alright, but the writing is not worth a thing, which causes obvious issues, as the actors can only do so much. The story was not strong enough to handle the title of a supernatural thriller with a positive message. Not only is the supernatural thriller part lacking, its message is one we’ve heard too many times before to matter now. If The List hadn’t been filled with cliché thriller moments, plot holes big enough to have a block party in, and a villain that not even Malcolm McDowell could make really evil there might have been hope. However, all of these things are present and it really ends up dragging the movie down.

This is going to be best suited for a person that is interested in religious movies or movies that contain a somewhat religious message. Naturally, it’s not for everyone. People looking for a good thriller should avoid this because sadly, it’s anything but good.

Storyline/Plot:
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:

Audio/Visual:
The List might mess up in the story department, but it makes up for things in the audio and video departments. Isn’t that always the way? The bad movies always seem to get decent transfers. I will never understand that. Anyway, in the video department the film offers an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The color is crisp and everything looks beautiful. This was one of the better transfers for a low budget film that I have seen recently. It’s just too bad the movie wasn’t worth such a transfer.

The same could be said about the audio that is presented on The List DVD. Audio comes in the form of Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround. No volume toggling was necessary. The score had its moments of standard, but sounded fine overall. This was definitely the best sound that this DVD could have hoped to receive. The sound effects, which were supposed to add to the supernatural story, were nice though I don’t know how well they worked towards their intended purpose.

Visual:
Audio:

Bonus Features:
Like most bad movies the special features are out in full force. There aren’t as many as some bad movies that I have seen, but there are enough to get the job done. Let’s start things off from the beginning. An audio commentary with the director and Hilarie Burton is offered though I highly recommend avoiding this as it is a useless waste of time. While they do speak, which is essentially one of the points of an audio commentary, they do not offer any insight into the movie at all. Most of the time, they just giggle and speak about unimportant things. There is a featurette offering some behind the scenes footage, although this preaches on about the message of the film and how important it is. This is especially true when Robert Whitlow (the author of the novel by the same name) has screen time.

Other offerings include a number of deleted scenes that are painfully obvious as to why they were deleted in the first place. Many of them offer nothing worth watching, and should have been destroyed after they were deleted. Finally, there is a Bible study guide that is downloadable through DVD-ROM. All in all, these will suit fans of the film or religious folk, which this movie was made for, as opposed to a mainstream audience.

Bonus Features:

Bottom Line:
It is obvious that The List wanted to be one of those important family movies that had a message that made it worth watching. Unfortunately, it becomes anything but. It’s boring, not thrilling in the least, and the message becomes off-putting due to the fact that it has been done better in a million other movies. If you’re looking for a thriller skip this. If you like seeing Malcolm McDowell be evil, skip this. If you want to see these particular actors in a good movie, skip this. If you want to be hit over the head with a mundane message in a mundane fashion you might want to rent this. Even then this still might not be for you.

Overall Rating:

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