Hallowed Ground (2007)

After she becomes stranded in a small town, a young woman (Jaimie Alexander, 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.

Hallowed Ground is Hollow Flick

I admit it--scarecrows are freakin' scary! After all, being scary is in the job description. It's part of the name. So when a horror film promises to revolve around an ambulatory scarecrow, I know there's potential for some scary fun. I mean, for me at least, a creepy scarecrow automatically raises a film's fright factor. And provided the filmmakers didn't muck it up too much, the film shouldn't be a total waste of my time.

Sadly, the folks behind the 2007 direct-to-DVD film HALLOWED GROUND (2007) did, indeed, muck it up a bit. Oh, there IS a creepy scarecrow in the flick, and that scarecrow IS possessed by the spirit of a dead preacher and therefore walks around and kills a few people. As the plot progresses, however, the spirit that animates the scarecrow moves on to possess something else, thus turning the actual scarecrow itself into just another inanimate background prop.

To make up for the loss of the spooky walking-dead scarecrow, the filmmakers bring in a group of rural religious fanatics who have slipped totally off their proverbial rockers. A good move, you might be thinking, as the only thing scarier than a rotting, ambulatory scarecrow is a mob of over-zealous religious nuts. But, alas, there's nothing very spooky or original about this group of spiritually dubious rednecks. I mean, we've seen 'em before--they were there in the movies THE DARK SECRET OF HARVEST HOME (1978) and CHILDREN OF THE CORN (1984), to name just a few--and all they really want to do is impregnate the heroine so that their fallen leader can be reborn. True, they off a few folks who try to get in their way. But that's what horror-movie religious nuts usually do. Yawn.

Something else that reduces the fright factor of HALLOWED GROUND are the special FX, almost all of which are conspicuous CG add-ons. The flock of killer crows, the burning bodies, you name it--it all looks like computer-drawn cartoons superimposed over live-actions shots. Did these filmmakers really believe that we, the modern horror audience, would be scared or creeped-out by something that is obviously a cartoon? Puh-leeese!

Surprisingly, HALLOWED GROUND contains practically no skin and very little genuine gore. This might be forgivable if the filmmakers were obviously attempting to create an old-school type of horror flick, one that relies on a strong story or spooky ambiance to generate scares. Like something along the lines of, say, THE FLY (1958), THE HAUNTING (1963) or even NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968). But HALLOWED GROUND tries to be too hip and modern, and with a plot revolves around twisted religion and impregnation, the film just screams for a little bit of T&A...and copious gore.

Now, to be fair, I must admit that HALLOWED GROUND is not without its good points. First off, the film's opening-credit sequence, which follows a short expository lead-in scene, includes some really cool graphic art that alludes to the film's major plot elements. Secondly, the aforementioned scarecrow is pretty cool and creepy, even if it doesn't get nearly enough screen time. And finally, the acting (at least from all the principals) is really good. Portraying the film's heroine, Jaimie Alexander--whom genre fans might recognize from 2006's torture-porn horror flick Rest Stop--creates a very convincing and affecting portrait of a city girl who faces peril down on the farm, and actor Ethan Phillips--well-known to SF fans for his portrayal of the extraterrestrial Neelix on TV's STAR TREK: VOYAGER--is excellent as the smarmy preacher who shepherds the film's flock of evil rednecks.

2007's direct-to-DVD film HALLOWED GROUND has a creepy-cool scarecrow on the jacket that suggests there's a good scare flick within, but the film just really doesn't deliver on that promise. The scarecrow itself only turns up in a small portion of the film, and the other genre elements are mostly cliche and simply don't compensate for the lack of a ubiquitous monster. Considering that the film is direct-to-DVD and unrated, there's a surprising lack of the skin and blood that many modern horror filmmakers use to pad out the scares. So all in all, most genre fans will be disappointed with this flick.

In short, horror fans should steer clear of HALLOWED GROUND. Those who want to see a genuinely spooky scarecrow flick might do better with William Wesley's SCARECROWS (1988) or even Victor Salva's JEEPERS CREEPERS, both of which are, as of this writing, readily available on DVD. October 30, 2008

Decent flick

i loved jaime alexanders performance in rest stop so i got on imdb to see what else shes done and saw this and thought it looked decent plus i bought a used cheap one from here so wasnt really a loss, but anyway i would of gave this 3 stars but jaime alexander is so hot i gave it 4. it is pretty ok though. August 27, 2008

Not terrible, but nothing new

Hallowed Ground is one of those quasi-religious horror yarns that you've seen before in different iterations, meaning you're not getting anything new here, but then again, you probably already knew that. Jaimie Alexander (Rest Stop) stars as Liz, a girl on the run from her past that winds up in a small town, and learns that she well may be part of a prophecy involving the resurrection and rebirth of the town's demonic old preacher (a briefly seen, scenery-chewing Nick Chinlund). Taking many cues from Children of the Corn and its ilk, Hallowed Ground isn't anything terrible in the least, but as said before, it isn't anything you haven't seen before either. The acting isn't completely horrible (which is a nice change of pace), but the effects work is pretty bad in itself. Either way, you probably know what you're getting into with Hallowed Ground, so don't say you weren't warned. March 29, 2008

Stupid fun.

Hallowed Ground (David Benullo, 2007)

I must be going soft in my old age. I watched two SFCOMs this weekend, and (to some extent, mind you-- I didn't say I was going senile) I enjoyed both. Hallowed Ground doesn't have nearly the potential that Something Beneath did, but it delivered what was expected, and despite the godawful low-budget special effects, it was a pretty fun little movie.

The plot: Liz Chambers (Kyle XY's Jaimie Alexander), on the run from something traumatic in her past (we find out what later in the film), has her car mysteriously break down near the town of Hope, a nasty little piece of rural America where, we find out in the opening scene, a psychotic preacher spent many years crucifying folks as live sacrifices to ensure a good harvest back in the nineteenth century. In this extremely odd town, Liz meets plucky reporter Sarah (Chill Factor's Hudson Leick), who's doing a story on the preacher for a tabloid, and after some prodding, Liz decides to tag along to the preacher's farm with Sarah for a photo shoot. The two of them build a scarecrow and erect it on the site where the preacher is buried. Complications ensue when the spirit of the preacher possesses the scarecrow so he can be reborn. (The ins and outs of this process are a little complex.) The only person in town Liz can find to help her out is the sheriff (I Know Who Killed Me's Brian McNamara), who's also an outsider. All the rest of the townsfolk, well, they're kinda weird.

Benullo's first feature film is derivative, silly, and low-budget, but he wasn't really aiming for deathless cinema here. If you enjoy mindless monster movies, this should be right up your alley; it's fast-paced, fun, not that horribly acted, and is actually shot well enough that you can see what's going on the entire time ("too dark to see" has been an increasingly annoying feature of low-budget horror flicks in the past decade or so). Yeah, you've seen it before, but so what? There are seven basic plots, every movie uses one of 'em. Just sit back and enjoy the ride. ***
January 29, 2008

Not So Bad For A Straight To DVD Film...

...but, nevertheless, it had very many terrible parts.

The basic plot is about Liz Chamber (Jaimie Alexander) who comes to a small town called Hope when her car is having troubles. While there, she meets Sarah (Hudson Leick), a reporter, who tells her the tale about the town's past. The tale is about a preacher who was burned after sacrificing the sinners through crucifixtion.

But, the residents of a nearby town of Liberty burned him for his sins. Liz Chambers's arrival was foretold by the preacher over a century before, and she is the key to his spiritual rebirth. She finds herself being stalked by the crazy Hope residents.

Hallowed Ground was surprising. I expected, since it was straight to DVD, an atrocity that I was going to hate. Now, it wasn't brilliant, but it definitely was pretty good for a straight to DVD. The ending, however, was very confusing and unexpected, and not thoroughly explained, which sucks.

Despite some flaws and some stupid parts, this movie was actually not too bad. The killer scarecrow was very creepy, and the first death was ridiculously gross and kind of scary and unexpected. The scene in the police station is also creepy, along when Leick and Alexander were in the house, taking pictures.

Hallowed Ground is not a very bad movie, but it is very bad at the same time. It is definitely worth a try. December 23, 2007

More reviews at Amazon.com ...