Soft for Digging

Virgil Manoven is an old man who lives alone in his remote rural farmhouse.Chasing his beloved cat one morning into the woods around his property,Manoven glimpses what looks like the murder of a young child in the middle of the woods.He reports the crime to the police but there's no body to be found.Troubled by disturbing visions,he investigates further and eventually is guided to a spooky orphanage where events take a supernatural turn…"Soft for Digging" is a fantastic experimental horror with lots of creepy atmosphere to spare.This minimalist film is almost completely devoid of dialogue.Some scenes are genuinely nightmarish and the acting is excellent.The location sets provide plenty of creepiness:the eerie Maryland woods rival those used in "The Blair Witch Projcect".Give this strange horror film a chance.9 out of 10.

The plot is straightforward an old man living off a main road in woodland one day witnesses a man murdering a child in the woods. Soft For Digging follows the old man's attempts to try and convince the police that what he saw was not a figment of his imagination. However, there is a problem each time the old man guides the police to where the murder happen no corpse can be found. Soft For Digging has a diminutive dialogue which reflects the majority of the scenes of the film, an old man living by himself in a house. During the film I found that I was scared twice namely when the murdered child abruptly appears before the old man. The rest of the film I have to admit did not engage me; I found the tempo of the film a little too slow. The limited dialogue was not a problem. However, the development of the story and its conclusions, after watching the film, took too long. I feel more could have been made of the relationship, ghostly encounters, with the child and the old man. Alone in the woods at night unsure of your own mind can lead to some eerie situations, children are always scary as ghosts, see Dark Water.

This film, that received an incognito release back in 2001, isn't actually as good as it's minor cult following would suggest. That's not to say that it isn't good, however; it's refreshing to see something a little different and although the film is flawed, it does succeed for that reason. The story follows a reclusive man that lives in the woods and witnesses a murder while searching for his cat. The film doesn't have any dialogue, and is told in chapters. This makes the film different from the outset as it leaves the audience with only their own thoughts as to what's going and nothing is ever really explained. Other films, such as the worst film ever made; The Blair Witch Project, have tried similar ways of developing a plot and most have failed. This one doesn't really succeed, but it's probably the best example I've seen yet.

The film is almost completely set in the woods, and there aren't many people other than our central character shown on screen. This gives the film an intense feeling of loneliness and isolation, which is always unsettling. The film also seems to have taken some influence from true cult classic 'The Evil Dead' in the way it is shot. The way that the camera moves through the woods is reminiscent of the 'Raimi-cam' that was introduced in said movie. In spite of having no dialogue, and moving relatively slowly; Soft for Digging never becomes boring and the scenes where we are allowed to brood with the main character are kept alive by what the audience thinks as we see him trying to continue with his life. The film features some very unnerving nightmare sequences, which are the movie's best moments and also come as something as a surprise in a movie of this nature. Nothing, however, can prepare you for the ending, which is as ambiguous as it is disgraceful and I almost guarantee that it will shock, repulse and surprise you.

There's not really enough of this film, and what there is isn't really good enough to call it 'good' without lying. However, this is an impressive first feature from director J.T. Petty and I look forward to seeing better things from him in the future.

In these days of inane films for the masses, it's refreshing to see a tale told such as 'Soft for Digging'. Take what might come out of Hollywood, but cut the unnecessary dialog, cut the shallow score, rely on some good honest camera work and acting, and get the audience to sit back and enjoy the tale.

Not to spoil this; but the story opens with a recluse, an old man, who while searching for his cat witnesses something that haunts him thereafter. The story is simple but is told well and is totally convincing.

You may love it, you may hate it, but I challenge anyone to watch this for the first time and to know what might come next. Despite being a fan of horror movies for over 20 years, there are at least two places in this film that blindsided me completely and had me all but jumping out of my chair. Wonderful.

Refreshing in its simplicity, though not a classic, but does what it set out to do exceptionally well.

I really think I should make my case and have every(horror and or cult)movie-buff go and see this movie...

I did!

It-is-excellent: Very atmospheric and unsettling and scary...

Incridible how they could make such a gem of a film with the very low(read-"no"!)-budget they had....

Synopsis taken from website: "One morning, an old man wanders out into the woods in search of his runaway cat. He finds instead a child without parents and a murder with no corpse..."

On this website(IMDb) there is no trailer, but I will leave a link here to the site of the movie itself where there IS a trailer which is quite unsettling so please go and check it out...

www.softfordigging.com