The Spreading Ground

Maybe I've seen one too many crime flick, or maybe I don't take the right drugs.

This was the most cliché ridden, plot deficient, plot-absurd, just plain stupid movie I have seen in a long time.

As for the direction, it looks like it took less time to show this than it did to put it together.

In fact it looks like to made it straight to video before it was completed.

It's a bad rip off of "M" the classic Fritz Lang film starring Peter Lorre. You'd be SO much better off renting that instead.

the lowest score possible is one star? that's a shame. really, i'm going to lobby IMDb for a "zero stars" option. to give this film even a single star is giving WAY too much. am i the only one who noticed the microphones dangling over hopper's head at the station? and the acting, or should i say the lack thereof? apparently talent wasn't a factor when the casting director came to town. my little sister's elementary school talent show provides greater range and depth of emotion. and those fake irish accents were like nails on a chalk board. the only thing that could have made this movie worse would have been...oh, wait, no,no, it's already as bad as it can get.

The movie to me represented a battle for supremacy, not only between good and evil but the morality play it invoked on the societies perspective. The Detective represented justice and truth. The Gangsters represented society. And the Mayor & Chief of Police represented the conflict of interest between the society and the law. And the Criminal represented the evil and the main conflict. I personally believe this movie is an interesting Psychological and Sociological study of not only society, but of our own psyche. I think the movie did however miss out on a few things, minor though but slightly visible. But overall the movie with an overall unknown cast displayed an interesting showcase of entertainment, and after all isn't what it's all about!

Seeing Dennis Hopper and Frederic Forest in the same movie again, I couldn't help but be reminded of "Apocalypse Now" - an unlikely standard for any film, much less the "Spreading Ground", to meet. Yet I found this movie quite watchable and fairly intriguing. It starts out strong, but then levels off in its impact. The director of "The Spreading Ground", Derek Van Lint, was the Director of Photography on "Alien", and his talents as a cinematographer are amply evident here.

is a question answered (one of the characters, albeit with a spelling change and no relation to Rand's...)

Derek Vanlint's directorial debut shows us the talent that can come from moving into directing from being a D.P. It shows in ever shot, and a friend of mine in the biz has always said that DP's really "make the movie" anyway.

Frederic Forest is always good, and Hopper was over the top in playing a somewhat "normal" person, even as a cop investigating a horrific series of child murders.

Some people might find the film slow, but I was rapt in every minute, and look forward to more fare from Vanlint.