Fingerprints   Starring: Leah Pipes, Josh Henderson and Kristin Cavallari Anchor Bar Entertainment RRP: £15.99 ABD4744 Certificate: 18 Available 20 April 2009

When Melanie and her boyfriend die from a drugs overdose, the hospital manages to resuscitate her, and she is entered into rehabilitation. Now she returns to her mum, dad and older sister’s new family home in the small town of Emerald. The only interesting thing about the location appears to be the legend surrounding the level crossing, which relates to years before, when a train hit a school bus full of young children. When Melanie begins seeing the ghost of a little girl she tells her parents, but they think she is back on drugs, and try to restrict her movements. As the visitations become more frequent they are accompanied by horrific flashbacks. Her recent near-death experience has allowed her to see the dead children, and she soon realises the little town is covering up a dark secret...

The origin of this story is cultivated from an existing urban legend surrounding a similar fatal collision on a level-crossing. It is said that if you situate your car on the intersection and put it in neutral, the car will move off the tracks, pushed by the ghosts of the dead children. The fingerprints of the title relate to those sometimes found on the windows or rear of the car after it has been pushed. Around this scenario has been built a well-paced and intriguing ghost story. Three-quarters of the film is plotted as a mystery suspense, with Melanie becoming even more outcast as she is blamed for a couple of new disappearances, but discovering that the dead children’s bodies are not buried in the local graveyard.

Many a horror film is ultimately let down by its ending, and this is no exception. The plot of Fingerprints degenerates into a sub-standard slasher flick. It’s not difficult to guess who the killer is, and I don’t think it’s giving too much away to say that the character of the present day perpetrator in it is acted with cringeworthy cheesiness - in complete contrast to that actor’s earlier portrayal of the same person.

So if you can forgive the movie its small mistakes this is well worth seeing. The flashbacks to the true events of the past shown by the children are chilling and highly effective.

7

Ty Power