The Empty Acre (2007)

User Rating:

4.2/10   

Director:

Patrick Rea

Writer:

Patrick Rea (writer)

Release Date:

2007 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

Set in rural, Kansas, "The Empty Acre" is a dramatic horror film about an unseen force that feeds on a small farming community...

Cast

Jennifer Plas	...	Beth Nance
John Wilson	...	Jacob Nance
Robert Paisley	...	Phillip Johnson
Ari Bavel	...	Police Chief Jefferson
Sally Bremenkamp	...	Holly Stevenson
Ric Averill	...	Veterinarian
Betty Laird	...	Nebraska Woman
Mark Ridgway	...	Curtis
LaDonna Schmidt	...	Marge Johnson
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Steven Bartkoski	...	Orderly #2
Dale Buchheister	...	Teenage Guy
Bob Campbell	...	Evan
John Clifford	...	Lyle Johnson
Tom Conroy	...	Bartender
Tommy Cottin	...	Phillip Johnson (young)
Tom Davis	...	Lance McCurrey
Rex Deaver	...	Towns person #1
Jim Flaigle	...	Orderly #1
Sue Gehring	...	Judith
Lynda Hankains	...	Edith
William R. Jones	...	Pharmacist
Carol Kaufold	...	Towns person #2
Ruth McQuigg	...	Grandmother #2
Samara Naeymi	...	Teenage Girl #1
Jesse Reiser	...	Michael Nance
Doris Squibbs	...	Grandmother #1
Ian Stark	...	Middle Age Phillip Johnson
Jake Strickbine	...	Truck Driver
Grace Waltz	...	Teenage Girl #2
Doug Weaver	...	Malcolm
Barbara Yokem	...	Grandmother #3

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Invidious Productions

Interesting, challenging, and unnerving

Those of the "Instant Gratification" era of horror films will no doubt complain about this film's pace and lack of gratuitous effects and body count. The fact is, "The Empty Acre" is a good a example of how independent horror films should be done.

If you avoid the indie racks because you are tired of annoying teens or twenty somethings getting killed by some baddie whose back-story could have come off the back of a Count Chocula box, "The Empty Acre" is the movie for you.

Set in the decaying remnants of the rural American dream, "The Empty Acre" is the tale of a young couple struggling with the disappearance of their six-month-old baby. As the couple's weak relationship falls apart, a larger story plays out in the background. At night, a shapeless dark mass seethes from a sun baked barren acre on their farm and seemingly devours anything in its path, leaving no sign that it was ever there.

The film is loaded with enigmatic characters and visual clues as to what is happening, and ends with a well executed ending that resonates with just enough left over questions to validate the writer/director's faith in an intellectual audience.

There seems to be a sub-text concerning the death of the American dream, but I would hardly call the film an allegory. Riveting, well acted, and technically astute, "The Empty Acre" is a fantastic little indie that thinking horror fans should love.