_**Little Haunted House on the Prairie**_

A troubled family from Chicago (Dylan McDermott, Penelope Ann Miller and Kristen Stewart) moves to the prairie of North Dakota after purchasing a dilapidated farmhouse where they plant a sunflower crop. Unfortunately, the estate’s past interrupts their enjoyment of their new home. John Corbett plays a drifter who hires-on while Dustin Milligan plays the daughter’s potential beau.

“The Messengers” (2007) is a haunted house flick from the Pang brothers of Hong Kong, which is their first American film. The basic set-up is exactly the same as “Cold Creek Manor” (2003) with the difference of a rundown farmhouse substituting for the woodsy manor. From there it throws in elements of “The Grudge” movies mixed with “The Amityville Horror” and “The Birds.”

While I appreciated the colorful prairie setting, this is easily the least of these because the story is too simplistic and dramatically dull. Fans of Kristen might be interested though; she was 16 during shooting.

The film runs 1 hour, 30 minutes, and was shot at Indian Head and nearby Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, which are just a couple hours’ drive north of the border of North Dakota.

GRADE: C-