The Marsh (2006)

Lacks originality, yet atmospheric and creepy

I had mixed feelings watching this movie. The Marsh is not an original horror movie as I kept comparing it to movies like Stir of Echoes, Dark Water etc as I watched it. That being said, it has an interesting though not remarkable premise, and is well-shot. Gabrielle Anwar [who seems to be in quite a few horror movies these days] plays a children's book author, Claire Holloway who keeps having disturbing nightmares about her childhood and events she no longer remembers as having occured. Upon seeing a familiar place on tv, she ventures out to a small town in Westmoreland County, Marshville, where she leases a house she finds disturbingly familiar.

It doesn't take long for Claire to encounter spooky entities and experience disturbing visions. She enlists the aid of a spook consultant, Geoffry Hunt [Forest Whitaker] and he helps her discover the truth behind Claire's visions. It appears that Claire's 'return' to the town of Marshville has unleashed supernatural entities that are seeking revenge for a tragedy long past and Claire is somehow in the center of it.

The effects are good for what I assume is a low-budget movie - the entities look creepy enough, and the scares are the usual blink and you'll miss it kind. The movie also has a sufficiently bleak and menacing atmosphere, especially in the scenes where the entities wreak havoc.

As for the acting, both Anwar as Claire and Whitaker as Hunt do a credible job with the script they are given, though I felt this role was far beneath Whitaker's talent [this movie was before The Last King of Scotland for which he deservedly won an Oscar].

True horror fans who feel they deserve better may not appreciate this as much, but I felt it was worth a rental and the story held my attention till the end. July 16, 2008

Definitely a C-flick and hard to follow plot

The Marsh

Claire Holloway is the author of a series of children's books (think an anorexic J.K. Rawling). As it turns out, her books are very dark and creepy and taken directly from her nightmares. So when she's watching a documentary on the effects of climate change on a marsh in a small town, she's shocked to find the house of her nightmares right there. She heads there for a "retreat" and finds creepy people from her nightmares popping up all over the place. Add to that a town editor who recognizes her as the famous author and hounds her for an interview, and you have the goods for a truly creepy movie.

But this is where the plot starts to unravel. Claire keeps dreaming of a little girl, who appears to be murdered by the town grocer. Her door comes off its hinges, the window blows out, ink seeps out of her printer, and what looks like blood seeps under her front door and into the house. She sees ghosts and hears bizarre noises. Then the ghosts try to lead her somewhere. Yes, it's choppy. Now you understand why it gave me a headache.

The dialogue isn't great, there are a lot of meaningless red herrings, and major details are left out of the plot, so you're left scratching your head at the end. But Forrest Whitaker comes in as the hero, her neighbor Hunt, who just happens to be a paranormal investigator. He tells her that the doors and computer of her house are portals to the world of the dead and off they go trying to rattle a few skeletons out of the towns' closets to figure out why she's being haunted.

For those who want to know what the film is really about (spoilers), here you go. SPOILER AHEAD*****So here's the real story. Claire had a twin sister named Rose. When they were eight years old, the girls' babysitter Mercy took them with her to an old abandoned haunted house along with three teenage boys. They get drunk and the creepy Brandon (who turns out to be a child molester and killer of small animals) ends up killing Rose (it's unclear if he raped her too). Claire is hiding in the closet when this happens. The other three teenagers find out and are going to cover it up, but Claire finds one of the boys' gun and shoots Brandon dead (yeaaaah!). Anyway, Claire runs off into the marsh while the unscrupulous teenagers dump Brandon's body into the marsh where it sinks and disappears. They never even bother looking for Claire, and she's found days later by hunters. She's adopted out to a family (and it's never explained how) and forgets she ever even had a twin. It turns out that the creepy grocer (Ernie), the creepy town editor (Noah), and the creepy neighbor with the horse (Mercy) are the three remaining teenagers and they don't care who they hurt or kill trying to bury their dirty little secret. But fortunately, Rose's ghost takes care of them, one by one. Yep, they're all dead by the end. There's a silly confrontation at the end with Claire, Hunt, and Rose's ghost versus the evil Brandon's ghost and more about those silly portals to the underworld. Definitely a C flick.*****END OF SPOILER

May 29, 2008

The Swamp

The opening has our author reading to schoolchildren from her book, "The Swamp", surprisingly the movie is called "The Marsh". When the author finds out there is in fact a house like the one she saw in her dreams to write about in her book, things start to become spooky. She ends up finding and renting the house. Not long after a local newspaper man is interested in what she is doing in their town. Then a paranormal investigator joins her in exploring the odd events she is seeing at the house. A reasonably decent "Poltergeist" type thriller. Certainly worth at least a rental. Good DVD quality and decent replayability. Good for most the family. May cause nightmares for the small ones. March 11, 2008

This has been done before... "Stir of Echoes"

Anwar and Whittaker can't save this movie. Weak writing and old special effects don't help. This is just "Stir of Echoes" in a swamp and snow. March 3, 2008

Forest Whitaker in Derivative Supernatural Thriller

Popular children's book author Claire Holloway (Gabrielle Anwar) is tormented by nightmares. It is about a spooky mansion and the surrounding marsh and in the dream she always has to witness something very disturbing, which is getting worse every night. Following advice from her therapist (and watching a TV program), she moves into a farmhouse in the countryside that looks exactly like the one in her dreams. And of course, she soon learns that the house is haunted.

Claire's decision to live in the house seems quite a drastic method to face her fear, but she is helped by a kind local resident, paranormal phenomena consultant Geoffrey Hunt (Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker). They investigate the strange occurrences in the house and the marsh, but the process is not particularly new or unique.

"The Marsh" has right ingredients to make a good ghost story - good actors, good photography and good production designs - but they forgot one thing: good script. The story is derivative and the film is not scary. The film becomes interesting in the final chapter, but the wait is too long.

Forest Whitaker gives a solid performance (as always) and Justin Louis is also effective as support, but even these talented actors cannot do much in the predictable plot and narrative that include typical sound effects, flashbacks and a creepy little girl in white. How many times have we seen creepy little girls since "The Ring"? February 19, 2008

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