User reviews

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

THE MARSH is an absolutely typical ghost story about a lonely woman moving into a lonely house that turns out to be haunted by...yada yada. The end result is that it plays out exactly as you'd expect, featuring the few unlucky actors to be caught up in this mess finding themselves at the mercy of various CGI-augmented spirits whose appearance has been crafted in the most ordinary way.

The script is poor and the direction worse, with none of the creative people involved failing to make anything of the premise. It says much that my memory of the film is already fading, at a rapid pace, a mere 24 hours after I watched it. Gabrielle Anwar (THE TUDORS) fails to bring life to a rather stiff and uninteresting lead character and seems to be trying to get her American accent right rather than delivering a decent performance. Forest Whitaker (PHONE BOOTH) appears slightly befuddled and is probably wondering what he's doing caught up in this nonsense.

Because this is nonsense, I'll make no bones about it. Every haunted house cliché in the book is played out, from the restless ghost of a kid (a little blonde girl, of course) to the vengeful spirit with the scary eyes. The jump scenes are predictable as is the rest of the plot and the effects are poor, taking you out of the movie every time they pop up. A dismal effort, this.

"The Marsh" works as a typical, haunted house story. There are those that have criticised it, but really, what did you expect? Starring Gabrielle Anwar. WHO? Oh, that pretty french girl who was in that submarine movie. Right. It's a B-movie, people! So don't expect too much and you may be pleasantly surprised. Forest Whitaker, pre-King of Scotland, provides a shot of star value and basically holds the movie together. The special effects are good and the best thing about "The Marsh" is that's so pretty! The house is pretty, the female lead is pretty, hell, even the ghost is pretty! Its like a Normal Rockwell painting that's been messed with. Quite cool, just check your brain at the door and you'll be fine. :)

***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

This movie is very badly written. A few things pops into mind. And i'm just writing some of the nonsense things that this movie have

1- Who are the twins? what were they doing with the 3 guys and a 1 girl?

2- Why in the hell the news papers talk about a violation of one girl, when the only thing that makes sense is to notice the missing of TWO girls, two girls are missing and the news paper talk about a raped girl? that just plain stupid. Maybe they were already ghosts (ahahah it's irony), 'cause they disappear and no one notice, there was no family, nothing. They appear from thin air. We just know that what was said to the lead part of the movie, that the parents died in a car accident. If so, was someone of the 4 kids part of her family? Of course not, the movie is just stupid...

3- The gun that kills the "rapist" (what rape?? we just see the legs of the girl during a suffocation) was in another floor of the house and appears in the closet for the little girl to use. not even gore-comedian movies are that stupid.

4- The woman (the girl that was with the 3 boys) after all that she sees goes and stays in the house to live? That's "macabre" of her part, and she doesn't seem that type. (time line error surely)

5- This is really a question. What has the picture to do with the murderer/rapist (what rape??), is it an ancestor?

The few things that make sense are weak, this was a terrible movie. And i like low budget horror movies, and many of them also has poor plots and few sense, but like this.... this is not a low budget film, and it seems that a dead-line was made and the movie makers just rushed to do one, whatever it was.

A Halloween movie--not terrible if you actually watch it on that Holiday, with a few drinks, as you do other things.

Not an amazing or terribly original film. Smooth and seamless special FX.

Forrest Whitaker does a very fine job...with what he is given screenplay-(and direction)wise.

Just don't expect to be amazed by the plot and execution.

No one who worked on this project should be shattered if some viewers notice that it was done for the money.

Nothing wrong with that.

Entertainment.

OK, now here is a ghost story that came way under my radar and turns out to be a superior ghost story with a couple of twists. A lady children's book author is plagued with nightmares of a little girl disappearing in a swamp and images of an old house. When viewing a television story, she notices the house in her nightmare and the surrounding area, specifically a marsh where she keeps seeing and following this little girl. She tracks down the property and moves into the house, in a small remote area close to a little town. After installing a door she finds in the cellar, strange things begin to happen and what were her nightmares are now becoming too real. Yes, the house and the marsh hold deep secrets in the town and the house, and she enlists the help of a local paranormal consultant played very well by Forest Whitaker. He moves into her house with his equipment and quickly realizes the supernatural is at work. This movie succeeds on every level with excellent performances, and a very tight story that keeps you guessing until the final reveal. Are her nightmares really lost memories of a past she has forgotten, and if she is the little girl ghost then how is that possible? All the questions are answered, and I had a real ball with this one. Highly recommended.

I saw this film at Frightfest in London and it was by far and away the worst film that I saw over the weekend. Everyone that I spoke to at the festival agreed that it was a stinker so I'm not sure who posted on here giving it 10/10 and saying it was awesome?! Can you spell PR agent? On the plus side the effects were good, the direction wasn't bad and the acting was generally sufficient (given what they had to work with).

On the down side was everything else. The plot was clichéd, hokey, difficult to follow and incredibly boring! The dialogue was amateurish at times and generally cringe worthy throughout. Worst of all (and this is clearly the cardinal sin of a horror film) it wasn't remotely scary. Even the occasional BOO! would have been appreciated... but no.

The director is young and seemed like an affable young chap who I'm sure will progress in the industry. He will look back on this with embarrassment (if it ever gets released, fingers crossed not). He did seem like he'd had budget and studio constraints as evidenced by the fact that when I asked him the likely rating of the film in the Q&A after the screening he replied, "y'know... PG-13... gotta keep it marketable".

That summed up the extreme rubbishness of this film. Billed as a supernatural thriller it's preternaturally dull. If you want to see a half decent film of this type check out something like "Skeleton Key"... and if anyone thought that was bad (which I didn't, but I know it has its critics) then woo... really don't go and see 'The Marsh'!

Maybe it is the string of terrible horror flicks I have seen lately, but I actually liked this movie. Most of the stuff of late has been plagued with low budget effects, completely incompetent acting, and lines that made you cringe.

I don't know why so many hated this film, because the acting was good, story was decent, and effects OK. It may not be a blockbuster, but it was definitely worth watching once you have seen all of the other big name movies.

PS: My wife felt there were too many characters so it was hard to keep up with them all.

I saw this at the NY horror film festival and debated walking out many times. Its real slow. Its one of those movies that relies on scary sound effects to over-compensate for the fact that little is happening in the scenes. Gabrielle anwar and Forrest whitecker are good actors who are wasted in this boring and lifeless film. There are a few good special effects sequences, but even those scenes lack creepiness. The movie tries to build up suspense but doesn't really give us anything to be afraid of. quite frankly, it just lacks good scary content.

Its production values are very good, but that just makes me angrier that the film isn't better. I saw other films at the festival (particularly "Fingerprints" and "Last Rites of the Dead") that were made for much less money and yet were a thousand times better.

I just saw this feature film at London's frightfest film festival, the best horror and genre, fantasy and thriller film festival in Europe in my opinion.

The director Jordan barker, who looked really young introduced the film and Gabrielle anwar was meant to be there but unfortunately she couldn't make it.

the film feels like an old fashioned horror m,movie from the 80's and as far as i'm concerned that is a great thing.

The acting was great, Gabrielle Anwar, who has just vanished since her star turn in the Al Pacino 'hoo ha' movie, and I have always wondered what happened to her, but she is great and still looks beautiful, but she can really act.

Forest Whitaker is always good and the director was steady and precise, the director talked after the movie and he said he had unique problems on this film as it was a much bigger budget than his previous film, but I still think he did a good job.

I been getting very depressed with movies lately and decided to watch some horror flicks to lighten up my mood. And with sheer luck this movie lands on my lap and I read somewhere that is a classic story with a forgotten method of movie making. I now know why it was forgotten. Far be it for me to promote drug abuse but clearly this director needs to take something to boost his imagination. Poorly executed movie with a simple story plot that has a twist which was convulsed into a boring pile of yesterdays excrement that most likely got lodged in the toilet. Abusive use of sound effects and horrible sense of anticipation that pretty much puts anyone to sleep. To those that come across this movie I ware you run.. run fast and do not look back no matter what or who tells you how artistic this is. Chances are that the place that has this movie is pretty much a marsh that is sinking down to a bottomless pit.

Firstly when you see a ghost common sense dictates you get the hell out of the house, why would you stay in the house seriously, this movies suffers terribly from cliché, it becomes so much of a problem that it actually becomes quite funny.

The acting is extremely under par, the story done 100 times before with much better results, and the effects were lacking which also describes the story.

The director seems to have taken the scripts from every other done to death horror in this particular type (old house, child, etc, etc) and then kind of mashed it all together hoping for the best and coming up with the worst. To be honest some type of registry with the names of these terrible directors should be posted on the net so that myself and others will no longer have to be tortured by their vile trash that they try to pass off as movies.

well to end this, stay away from this movie and thank me later.

I only voted 5 out of 10 for this film because the sound quality is so POOR that it does not make the film really enjoyable. When the actors are speaking you can only hear them if you set the volume to the maximum. But if you leave it there the ghost scenes will break the glass in your window and you will become totally deaf. The film itself is very good and if you managed to uniform the sound it will be even better. The DVD has a sound of poor quality as well, so instead of the original watch the ripped and corrected one. Some scenes are a bit similar to Poltergeist or Exorcist but since it's a ghost movie, they must be so. The actors are good and the acting is good as well. Only the sound is poor. But that is really.

I had no expectations for this movie and was spellbound from the moment I started watching it. At lot of that is due to the subtlety of the sound - it does not overpower or try to manipulate - it merely stays mostly in the background and enhances the suspense rather than detract.

Most of the acting was good, but Forrest Whitaker's performance was flat IMO. Maybe he is supposed to play an insipid character, but he neither adds nor detracts from the movie.

I thought the writing was good - the movie really did not remind me of anything I'd seen before, and so I had no expectations of how it would turn out. If you watch it on DVD, it should definitely be late night and in a very dark room.

I rented The Marsh because I enjoy a good Gabrielle Anwar film. Actually, those are few and far between -- the truth is I'll watch anything she's in. I must say this is better than most of the movies she's done (likely thanks to the absence of Craig Sheffer).

Her character was well defined and complex, but she seemed more curious than frightened. It made sense when she spoke about how fairy tales are supposed to give kids the willies, and that's what kids like - I had a copy of Der Struwwelpeter when I was a kid - but this film wasn't really scary or anything much more than creepy.

I had braced myself for the worst, and was waiting for one of the two clichéd scenes, you know the wizened old man who says "you don't know what you're dealing with here'" or the abrasive and skeptical sheriff / authority figure who knows more than he lets on. So it was refreshing when Whittaker's character moved the plot along as quickly as it did.

The opening scene was marvelous, and the scene with her therapist could have been great with some smoother editing, but the flashlight in the dark videography is worthless. The death scenes are waaay cheesy. In the end, I'd say the director pulled it off, but it was touch and go there for a while.

All in all, this was a (bad) B movie, but with just enough sunk into the production to make it halfway decent.

i didn't mind this movie.it had some definite eerie moments.the atmosphere is great.the music is really haunting,as well.i did find some of the movie similar to others in the genre,but i found it much better than The Ring,or The Grudge.i wish the movie had been more straight forward.i didn't like the fact that it was so loud at times.that kinda annoyed me.i thought Forest Whittaker was good in his role,and Justin Louis was good,as well.but Gabriel Anwar,the lead,i didn't like very much.she seemed too aloof and inaccessible as an actress,and it to me,it came across on screen.maybe that was how the character was supposed to be,but it didn't work for me.for me,The Marsh is a 5.5/10