Hallowed Ground (2007)
- Andrew Smith
- Aug 8
- 4 min read
"Evil unearthed."
Plot
After she becomes stranded in a small town, a young woman discovers her arrival there was foretold a century earlier by the town's founding preacher, who sacrificed human sinners by stringing them up as scarecrows in a bid to ward off the crows which were destroying the town's crops. Unfortunately for her, she is an integral part of his impending, and terrifying, rebirth.
Yes, I came for the killer scarecrow on the cover too, although that may be potentially misleading. Hallowed Ground does contain a killer scarecrow but to say it's the main focus of the film would be incorrect. A cross between the likes of Children of the Corn and The Wicker Man, Hallowed Ground is a competently made but inevitably bland horror which works well at times, not so well at others. It's the a-typical horror film of the present time – looks good, none of the cast do anything wrong, and contains some decent moments but inevitably covers no new ground whatsoever, simply opting to rehash old ideas and present them in a new form.
Hallowed Ground has decent production values with the cornfields and remote town setting being used to their full potential to build up the isolated nature of the film and add a bit of eeriness and atmosphere. You do get the sense that this small town is in the middle of nowhere and that whatever happens, the characters will on their own. But the problem with the film is that is fails to deliver anything remotely worthwhile with its story. The plot is so blatantly obvious from the get-go and the premise quickly outstays its welcome. The paper-thin narrative and big reveal is brought to the fore way too early in the film for it to be effective, thus rendering a big chunk of the running time to be just one drawn out chase. Once the townspeople reveal to Liz the bigger picture of what is going on, Hallowed Ground has nowhere else to go except a tired routine of Liz escaping captivity, running off and then being recaptured. Even at a slender eighty minutes, the story seems stretched out too thinly and a little more build up would have gone so way in keeping the final third more efficient. Even if the audience can guess the big twist early on, the main characters, or at least the heroes, don't.
If there's another part of Hallowed Ground that fails to deliver, it's with the CGI special effects. It's shoddy and the opening scene with the computer-generated bodies attached to the crosses in the field looks particularly awful. The scarecrow is also big player in the film during the first half but instead of keeping him confined to the shadows and creating a bit of suspense and mystery around him, the film is quite happy to show him off as much as it can. Case in point is the first time he's introduced in the film - broad daylight in the middle of a field! We know that the scarecrow is only a guy-in-a-suit but showing him off in the sun kind of ruins the illusion that we were prepared to maintain. Even the actor behind the mask seems daunted by this fact, not really expressing any sort of physical terror or menace with his performance. The make-up effects themselves are also pretty good. The scarecrow off the front cover looks great despite being seen too much and some of the death scenes, whilst not glorifying themselves in explicit violence and gore, at least do the job that's required of them. This isn't a gore flick and there's no need for them to be anything other than what they are.
At this point, Hallowed Ground runs more like a slasher as the scarecrow takes care of a few people and stalks the heroine around the fields and then the town. But in a film of two halves, this slasher element is ditched in favour of something more The Wicker Man-ish and the pace of the film really begins to drag. Writer-director David Benullo seems to go off in a different direction, throws out a lot of ideas in the hope that some stick but on closer scrutiny don't make a lot of sense. It's at this point you're better off allowing your brain to check out, if it had even checked in to begin with. This is precisely what happens when you borrow a load of ideas from other films with no real clue how to piece them together and you just end up rehashing cliches, but not even in a meaningful way.
Though Hallowed Ground becomes plodding around two thirds in, it's a pity because the cast do all they can to liven up proceedings. Jaimie Alexander is alright in the lead role. She's likeable enough for you to get behind her but at no point during the film do you expect her to be harmed in any way as her plot armour is too thick. It makes all of the chasing around and threats from the townspeople seem superficial when you know the worst she'll get is a few cuts and bruises. Ten-year-old Chloë Grace Moretz pops up as her daughter. The only other notable face in the cast comes in the form of Ethan Phillips, more famously known as Neelix from Star Trek: Voyager. He’s the slimy local priest and does reasonably well in his one-dimensional role.
Final Verdict
Hallowed Ground should perhaps be more fittingly titled Old Ground as that’s all it really does. Not only in rehashing old ideas but rehashing the same ideas over and over again in its short time. It looks good and has its moments but they’re too brief and fleeting to make an impression.
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Hallowed Ground Director(s): David Benullo Writer(s): David Benullo Actor(s): Jaimie Alexander, Brian McNamara, Ethan Phillips, Chloë Grace Moretz, Ned Vaughn, Jim Cody Williams, Tamara Clatterbuck, Nick Chinlund Duration: 83 mins |  |
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