Tread on Hallowed Ground and You Might be Next to Die

A small town of country hicks find themselves worshipping a strange God, the scareccrow. After following the prophecies of an ancient priest these towns' people need new blood to bring the scarecrow back to life. Sacrificing dozens on pikes and looking for a female to give birth to a new God, one woman must take on a whole town in a bid for survival (Internet).


Release Date: October 9, 2007.

Rating: Restricted for violence, gore and sexuality.

Starring: Jaimie Alexander, Brian Mcnamara, Ethan Phillips, Chloe Moretz, Ned Vaughn, Jim Cody Williams, Nick Chinlund, Hudson Leick, and Dan Warner.

Director: David Benullo.

Writer: David Benullo.

A straight-to-DVD release "Hallowed Ground," is a non-typical tale about legends and myths from ancient farmers. Taking place in acres of cornfields and resembling the horror classic "Children of the Corn," this film utilizes the scary vision of the scarecrow as a relentless, unstoppable, and sometmes horny killer to shock viewers. Followng a non-traditional religion, which requires the deaths of outsiders "Hallowed Grounds," uses archetypes of the female hero, priest, and cult followers to tell a horrifying tale of death and religion. Light on cliches and focusing on the terror of the central female lead Jamie Alexander, this film adds a twist to the usual slasher flicks.

Heavy on the gore, and maintaining an intensity throughout this somewhat predictable film uses unique antagonists i.e. scarecrows and crows to weave a tale from the heartlands of middle America. As the female protagonist, who is found too unpure to birth a new line of acolytes, unwinds the plans of the scarecrow and his loyal followers the end can already be foretold, but the addition of the supernatural and dozens of victims on stakes makes "Hallowed Ground," entertaining enough. Although, light on any over-the-top scares there are enough twists and turns to keep the film interesting. As well, the deaths of several cultists by pillow suffocation, pitchfork impalements, and crow attacks might make viewers laugh, but this film keeps the intensity up.

The writing of "Hallowed Ground," might leave some wanting a little more surprises, yet the absence of any major plot holes means that this film stands out from others in the horror genre. It seems that the female protagonist outdoing a whole town of cultists might seem unbelievable, but with some help from the supernatural the writing smooths things over. In "Haute Tension," and "Halloween," the female lead also takes on the male villain and wins; this is also the case in "Hallowed Ground." Maybe, slightly formulaic and cliched the less strong female character taking on multitudes of male villains seems overdone and unlikely, but sometimes an even bigger cliche of the male lead acting as the hero can be even more predictable.

So, with a good story, fear inducing villains and a story taken from ancient myths "Hallowed Grounds," surprisingly delivers a tight, mostly original horror film that must be see. Fun throughout with some suspense "Hallowed Ground," shows what a horror can be, despite a low budget. It seems realstic expectations from writers and directors often translates into a watchable horror film; therefore, viewers must do their part and find this one on DVD/Ble-Ray/Netflix to help continue production of low budget, independent, horror flicks.

6.5 Ghoulish Skulls out of 10.

A trailer for "Hallowed Ground," here:



Sources:

Hallowed Ground at IMDB

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