Full Review

In the supernatural thriller "The Messengers" (Columbia), Dylan McDermott and Penelope Ann Miller play married couple Roy and Denise Solomon, who relocate their family from Chicago to a creepy North Dakota farmhouse haunted by the ghosts of its murdered former residents.

The vengeful spirits are only visible to the couple's toddler son, Ben, and teenage daughter, Jess (Kristen Stewart), who tries in vain to alert her folks to the otherworldly occupants.

With nods to "The Amityville Horror," "The Sixth Sense," "The Shining" and "The Birds," the film uses all the standard conventions: creaking floorboards, mysterious wall stains and a gathering storm of crows. There's even a suspicious drifter (John Corbett) hired to help work the farm; you know he's going to be trouble, despite his good-neighborly demeanor.

On the plus side, directing brothers Oxide and Danny Pang bring their less-is-more Asian horror sensibilities to the standard haunted-house genre, showing far more restraint in depicting the murderous mayhem than is generally the case.

Still, while adroit at creating eerie visuals, the brothers fail to generate much sustained suspense, mustering only modest chills as they navigate a predictable plot capped by a ludicrous climax.

The film contains horror images, violence, sequences of terror and menace with blood, including a disturbing but nongraphic scene of murder, an instance of mild sexual innuendo, as well as some crude language and profanity. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating, the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief synopsis of the movie.

The classifications are as follows:

• A-I -- general patronage;
• A-II -- adults and adolescents;
• A-III -- adults;
• A-IV**
• L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
• O -- morally offensive.