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: The cracks in the mirror are much different from when Claire first smashes it and when Hunt is examining it.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

References The Shining (1980)

Soundtrack:

Lost In Time

A poor and unoriginal re-tread of common themes

***Contains Spoilers*** I can't quite believe the previous review. I have also just seen The Marsh at London's Frightfest and I and my friends were wholly unimpressed.

It feels like another film in a long line of by-the-numbers supernatural thrillers that have come out of Hollywood in the last five years such as Stir of Echoes, Hide and Seek, Secret Window, The Sixth Sense, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Skeleton Key, The Mothman Prophecies, Bless the Child, The Forgotten, The Others etc, etc (Some of these films are quite good, but you get my point)

I have become very bored of creepy houses (this one was particularly un-imaginative) creepy cornfields, creepy little girls in night dresses, creepy dolls and scarecrows, creepy children's drawings, creepy children's songs, windows blowing open in gusts of wind etc, etc

It is also frustrating when EVERYTHING vaguely frightening is accompanied by a thunderous drum beat, even things like a shot of a child's teddy bear hitting the floor during a flashback! This device seemed to be the only means of creating any scares.

While this film was very professionally made it was very well-worn and tedious, with a series of flashbacks and revelations about something terrible which happened in the protagonist's past. The set in particular was not good and most of the flashbacks centered around a stained glass window in a door which was entirely modern and looked like it could be bought in any home improvements store.

The ultimate villain-ghost that is finally revealed to have triggered the events is actually just a rather misguided and pathetic character so when they came over all demonic at the end it rang really hollow for me.

The events themselves which triggered the haunting were, once again, rather unimportant yet predictable and wholly unoriginal.

A by-the-numbers money spinner in my opinion