The Marsh (2006)

Director:

Jordan Barker

Writer:

Michael Stokes (writer)

Release Date:

1 March 2007 (Russia)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

You can bury the past... but sometimes the past won't stay buried.

Plot:

A young beautiful but stressed out children's writer seeks out a holiday in the country but becomes the lead character in a supernatural mystery she must solve to save her life

Plot Keywords:

Farm | Nightmare | Ghost | Marsh | Rose

Cast

Gabrielle Anwar	...	Claire Holloway
Justin Louis	...	Noah Pitney
Forest Whitaker	...	Geoffrey Hunt
Peter MacNeill	...	Philip Manville
Niamh Wilson	...	Little Claire / Rose
Joe Dinicol	...	Brendan Manville
Brooke Johnson	...	Mercy
Kenner Ames	...	Ernie
Jessica Greco	...	Teen Mercy
Ryan Giesen	...	Teen Ernie
Jonathan Payne	...	Teen Pitney
Bill MacDonald	...	Dr. Wells

Also Known As:

Marsh (USA) (DVD box title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, disturbing images and some language.

Runtime:

Greece:90 min | Canada:92 min | Argentina:92 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | Australia:MA | Argentina:16 | South Korea:18 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R16

Filming Locations:

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Marshville Productions

Goofs:

Continuity: When Noah was talking to Claire and Hunt on the marsh before he saw the ghost, Claire had her neck clean or little dirty, but in the scene when Mr Meanville gave them the little blanket, Claire's neck was too dirty, then, inside the house, her neck was a little dirty again.

Quotes:

Geoffry Hunt: People 're weird. They die... they get weirder.

Movie Connections:

References The Shining (1980)

Soundtrack:

Lost In Time

Fright Flight

THE MARSH is yet another scary movie to satisfy the apparently inexhaustible demand for fright films of this genre. It is obviously a low budget film that suffers from a silly script resurrecting tired themes of communication with ghosts and the intervention of paranormal specialists.

Successful children's book author and illustrator Claire Holloway (Gabrielle Anwar) is besieged by recurrent nightmares that prompt her therapist to recommend a sabbatical, advice she heeds as she moves out into the country to a little creepy town called Marshville. She rents a old house near the marsh from a woman Mercy (Brooke Johnson) and discovers from the local newspaper editor Noah (Justin Louis) that the town is riddled with history of hauntings following the disappearance of a little girl into the marshes, the victim of sexual assault that has never been adequately investigated. Claire's time in her new 'home' is racked with appearances of the dead little girl and her muddy perpetrator and she finally seeks the help of a Paranormal expert Hunt (Forest Whitaker) who helps her solve the etiology of Claire's nightmares and provides an exit for the ghosts.

Most of the film is dark with poor Claire just wandering around the creepy house with her open-mouthed/wide-eyed frightened look, avoiding the flying detritus caused by the angry spirits that haunt her. Gabrielle Anwar is beautiful to look at but is not really called upon to act. Likewise Forest Whitaker is paralyzed by an inept script that even this fine actor can't overcome. The music is the canned, synthesizer variety and the camera work is jerky and gets in the way of the story. This is a movie for avid fans of scary flicks who can overlook the multiple production and writing problems. Grady Harp