Hallowed Ground

HALLOWED GROUND is a peculiar little movie. Good camera work. Decent actors. And dull as watching paint dry.

Somebody forgot that the first six letters in "thriller" are t-h-r-i-l-l. The object is to make people's pulses race, not to put the audience to sleep.

Elizabeth's car breaks down in a strange (and underpopulated) little town. She gets it to a garage, only to be told that the needed part can't be gotten until tomorrow. Stranded.

She goes to a diner and gets into a conversation with a tabloid reporter conveniently in town to do a story on strange events in the area many years ago. The reporter conveniently provides exposition establishing the main conflict that the story will cover.

And so we're treated to Elizabeth's adventures trying to escape a crazed cult. So we have a little CHILDREN OF THE CORN, a touch of THE Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE, and a dash of those movies Hammer Studios made where Christopher Lee's cult got outsmarted by Peter Cushing. For seasoning add a cute little girl. But no original ideas involved.

This would have been a great thirty minute episode of Tales from the Darkside. But stretching it to feature length was just cruel.

This is my first IMDb review, and I'll keep it short.

I watched this movie on the sci-fi channel during the never ending writers strike when nothing good was on TV. I expected it to be a poorly acted generic horror flick, which it was. The acting wasn't AWFUL, but it was far from good. The plot was really bland and predictable. It basically borrows from classic horror flicks (e.g. Children of the Corn) and doesn't contain much in the way of originality. Also, I am incredibly easily creeped out by horror movies, and this barely had an effect on me.

All in all, I wouldn't recommend it. It isn't scary, the acting and characters make you cringe constantly, and there isn't anything interesting about the story.

After she becomes stranded in a small town, a young woman (played by Jaimie Alexander of "Rest Stop") discovers her arrival there was foretold a century earlier by the town's founding preacher and that she is an integral part of his impending -- and terrifying -- rebirth. Oh, and there's a scarecrow that likes to kill people, too.

So I waited too long to write this review and the film is no longer fresh in my mind. Therefore, I cannot make very good specific criticisms. Sorry. But maybe the film isn't worth a thorough dissemination, as it really wasn't particularly good. I enjoy Jaimie Alexander, so it was nice to see her in another horror movie (are you a horror actress or a TV actress, Jaimie?) but besides that... I don't know.

Having seen both "Superstition" and "Horror Rises From the Tomb" this year, the idea of a prophecy that has an old religious fanatic coming back from the grave really wasn't a shocking new development in cinema for me. So this time it was a preacher instead of a warlock or witch... it was still a man who believes in the supernatural who had turned to killing in order to get his way with things, so there's not really a huge stretch.

What really struck me as the mistake with this film is the focus on the city of believers (not unlike "The Reaping" or any other film with a religious, isolated city) and not so much on the scarecrow that came back to kill people. I didn't quite understand the scarecrow, but I wanted to see more of him (an maybe get a better background). People with cult beliefs just don't do it for me, unless there's some really, really good explanation (which there rarely is). I'd complain about the cop being in on the whole thing, but I already made that complaint today in my review for "Lake Dead"... just stop it already! Should I complain about the gas station being in on it, too? You know, like "House of 1000 Corpses" or "Vacancy" or many others? Do all these small towns take notes from the same textbook?

Sure, you get a crucifixion. I like them, you like them... we all like seeing people nailed to the cross. Some of us like to look at this sort of thing once a week or more (I'm not one of those people). So there's blood. I don't recall any nudity, though... unfortunately. I mean, I like Jaimie Alexander with clothe on -- she's classy. But she had a friend in the film... if you're going to die anyway, why not just take your shirt off?

Like I said, I cannot make very good specific complaints. But I wasn't impressed. Everything about this film reeked off some other films. Oh, scarecrows like "Jeepers Creepers" or corn rows like... "Children of the Corn"? And I've already made numerous other references in this review. I suppose if you're going to rent this, you're going to rent this. Some of you may even be gullible enough to buy it. But I want you to know if you're going to do it, it's not going to be because of me. My copy is getting less play than Richard Simmons at the Playboy Mansion.

A mediocre "remote religious community with a stupid cult" horror, in the "Children of Corn" manner. I watched it because of Chloë Grace Moretz and Jaimie Alexander, it wasn't boring, but soon I won't have any idea that I watched it, let alone what it was about. Within the genre, it can pass with the weaker

6/10

I don't care for thrillers, however, this one was better than most I've been forced to watch. I saw it on Sci-Fi, and watched it from beginning to end.

That, in and of itself, speaks volumes about the film. I'm not one to watch films if I become bored or if I dislike it.

The highlight for me was a stupid bird flu joke, which, now, I cannot recall. It will drive me crazy all day. Care to help a gal? I enjoyed the film... was drawn into it and had the opportunity to leave half-way through it... but stayed til the end just because I was having a good time.

It was enjoyable. Not bad.