Cinema: THE MESSENGERS

THE MESSENGERS directed by Danny and Oxide Pang

Starring Kristen Stewart, Evan, Theodore Turner, Dylan McDermott, Penelope Ann Miller, John Corbett and William B. Davies

CALAMITY strikes in threes. When the Solomon family is forced to uproot from bustling Chicago to a deadbeat North Dakota farm because of the economic downturn, little do they realise that their lives are about to get much worse.

Upon arrival at their ramshackle new abode, a creepy, creeper-infested wooden house miles away from the rest of civilisation, they are greeted by a flock of crows circling the farmstead.

Thus they get their first message. In Western literature, crows, ravens and their family are often regarded as ancient messengers of disaster. It probably dates back to Greece when the sun god Apollo was first informed of his mortal mistress’ infidelity by his pet crow and got cursed black as a result.

Apparently, crows used to be snow white. Today, some still believe that they play a role in ferrying the souls of the dead to the next world, possibly giving rise to the poetic expression: a murder of crows.