Shallow Ground (2004)

Director:

Sheldon Wilson

Writer:

Sheldon Wilson (writer)

Release Date:

28 April 2005 (Russia)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Fear your past... it will find you.

Plot:

A naked teenage boy covered in blood appears at a remote sheriff's station one year after the brutal unsolved murder of a local girl...

Plot Keywords:

Woods | Small Town Sheriff | Public Nudity | Flashback Sequence | School Bus

Cast

Rocky Marquette	...	Boy
Timothy V. Murphy	...	Jack Sheppard
Stan Kirsch	...	Stuart Dempsey
Lindsey Stoddart	...	Laura Russell
Patty McCormack	...	Helen Reedy
Natalie Avital	...	Darby Owens
Chris Hendrie	...	Albert Underhill
Tara Killian	...	Amy Underhill
Myron Natwick	...	Harvey
Steve Eastin	...	Detective Russell
John Kapelos	...	Leroy Riley
Christine Avila	...	Mrs. Underhill
Ori Pfeffer	...	Curtis
Victor Campos	...	Bus Driver
John MacKane	...	Passenger #1

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence and gore, nudity and some language.

Runtime:

97 min | Germany:93 min (DVD version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Germany:18 | Singapore:M18 | Singapore:NC-16 (edited version) | Malaysia:(Banned) | Finland:K-18 | Sweden:15 | Australia:MA | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Deco Filmworks

Goofs:

Factual errors: The sheriff carries a Ruger Mini-14 rifle throughout the film, however there is never a magazine in the weapon. Though Ruger does make a version of the rifle with a fixed internal magazine, you can clearly see the open magazine well in a few shots; he's carrying an empty weapon.

Quotes:

Stuart Dempsey: Things haven't exactly been normal around here, you know what I'm saying?
Detective Russell: Things haven't been normal anywhere for the last 24 hours.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Mortuary (2005/I)

Soundtrack:

No One Leaves

A bloody mess

Great idea for an opening - a naked teenage boy, covered in blood from head to foot, walks out of the forest holding a big butcher knife - and into the Sheriff's station which is packing up, making ready to leave.

Bad idea - a Sheriff with a heavy Irish brogue, corny dialogue, some truly 'WTF?!' editing, having all the 'good guys' in the film at least 5 minutes behind the audience (in a 'come on, it's obvious!' way), and a final shot that will have people leaving the cinema asking their friends "What on earth was that about?!" The director / DP knows how to do fish-eye shots, slo-mo, reverse-filming, all those bog-standard music-video things (and the lighting was fine) - even the SFX were fine - but the film really falls down on plot, script and editing. The plot, what it is, is revealed too slowly. I'm all for suspense, but not when you waste 45 minutes and leave only the last 45 or so to shoe-horn all the development in. Characters (and red-herrings) are suddenly forgotten / nobody reacts in a normal way / there's no real clue to events (and people) that are revealed later.. And - given the plot, which I'm trying not to reveal - there's way too little explanation of events which we're told are happening elsewhere (and would make what's going on more coherent).

As I say, the final shot - clearly designed to be a 'sting in the tail' (maybe even a hint at a sequel, or events continuing) will instead leave you walking out of the theatre trying to work out why?! / what?! / and, is there any way I can get my money back? (no).