The Marsh (2006)

User Rating:

4.8/10   

Director:

Jordan Barker

Writer:

Michael Stokes (writer)

Release Date:

1 March 2007 (Russia)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

You can bury the past... but sometimes the past won't stay buried.

Plot:

A young beautiful but stressed out children's writer seeks out a holiday in the country but becomes the lead character in a supernatural mystery she must solve to save her life

Plot Keywords:

Farm | Nightmare | Ghost | Marsh | Rose

Cast

Gabrielle Anwar	...	Claire Holloway
Justin Louis	...	Noah Pitney
Forest Whitaker	...	Geoffrey Hunt
Peter MacNeill	...	Philip Manville
Niamh Wilson	...	Little Claire / Rose
Joe Dinicol	...	Brendan Manville
Brooke Johnson	...	Mercy
Kenner Ames	...	Ernie
Jessica Greco	...	Teen Mercy
Ryan Giesen	...	Teen Ernie
Jonathan Payne	...	Teen Pitney
Bill MacDonald	...	Dr. Wells
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
William Cuddy	...	Kid (uncredited)
Courtney Fitzpatrick	...	Book signing Rose (uncredited)

Directed by
Jordan Barker

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Michael Stokes		writer

Produced by
George Flak	....	producer
Sonja Morgan	....	executive producer
Al Munteanu	....	executive producer
Daphne Park	....	executive producer
Ray Sager	....	line producer
Silvio Sardi	....	executive producer
Peter R. Simpson	....	producer

Original Music by
Eric Cadesky
Nick Dyer

Cinematography by
David Perrault

Film Editing by
Nick Rotundo

Casting by
Ron Leach
Heidi Levitt

Production Design by
Raymond Lorenz

Art Direction by
Brent McGillivray

Set Decoration by
Justin Craig

Costume Design by
Sheila Fitzpatrick
Ruth Secord

Makeup Department
Patricia Cuthbert	....	key hair stylist
Natasha Nikolic	....	special makeup effects artist
Kerry Vaughan	....	hair stylist
Christina Zaza	....	key makeup artist
Christina Zaza	....	special makeup effects artist
Matthew Dewilde	....	supplier: swamp bodies (uncredited)
Sheilagh McGrory	....	supplier: swamp bodies (uncredited)

Production Management
Ross Leslie	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Michael Johnson	....	first assistant director
Marcel Saumure	....	second assistant director
Raj Singh	....	third assistant director

Art Department
Phil Carvalho	....	carpenter
Jim Craig	....	storyboard artist
Gilbert Demers	....	carpenter
Patrick Ellard	....	construction coordinator
Olwyn Klinker	....	set dresser
Shawn Laporte	....	carpenter
Bruce Mailing	....	lead dresser
Sara Mukherjee	....	assistant art director
Kirk Pryor	....	laborer
Patrice Roy	....	key scenic
George Stouros	....	property master
Phillip Topplin	....	set dresser
Angelique Wagener	....	assistant property master

Sound Department
Tom Bjelic	....	sound effects editor
Al Buchok	....	boom operator
Steve Copley	....	foley mixer
Alfie DiPucchio	....	adr recordist
Steve Foster	....	sound re-recording mixer
Allan Fung	....	supervising sound editor
Mark Gingras	....	sound designer
John Laing	....	adr editor
John Laing	....	dialogue editor
James Robb	....	assistant sound editor (as Jimmy Robb)
Urmas Rosin	....	sound mixer
Paul Shubat	....	sound mixer
Paul Shubat	....	sound re-recording mixer
John Sievert	....	foley artist
John Smith	....	adr editor
John Smith	....	dialogue editor
Randy Wilson	....	foley recordist

Special Effects by
Paul Bosak	....	special effects assistant
Greg Davies	....	special effects assistant
Max Macdonald	....	special effects
Mike Murawsky	....	special effects assistant
Melinda Ramsay	....	special effects key

Visual Effects by
Neishaw Ali	....	visual effects executive producer: SPIN
W. Michael Beard	....	visual effects producer
Jeff Campbell	....	visual effects supervisor
Phil Dakin	....	lighting artist
Eric Doiron	....	digital compositor
Shaun Escayg	....	animator
Ben Falcone	....	digital effects artist
Jason Giberson	....	film scanning
Mikkel Groesland	....	animator and rigger
Peter Hartwig	....	digital artist
Steven Lewis	....	senior digital compositor
Nick Perks	....	3D technical director: SPIN VFX
Rodrigo Santos	....	visual effects
Norm Stangl	....	executive producer: SPIN
Bojan Zoric	....	digital matte artist

Stunts
Tom Farr	....	stunt performer
Tom Farr	....	stunt rigger
Chloe Jones	....	stunt performer
Kelly Jones	....	stunt rigger
Darren Marsman	....	stunt performer
Efosa Otuomagie	....	stunt performer
Curtis Parker	....	stunt performer
Sue Parker	....	stunt performer
Alison Reid	....	stunt coordinator
Alison Reid	....	stunt performer
Bryan Renfro	....	stunts
Robert C. Shannon	....	dive supervisor

Camera and Electrical Department
Cudah Andarawewa	....	camera operator: "b" camera
Michelle Auchu	....	camera trainee
Shane Baker	....	first assistant camera: "a" camera
Terry Banting	....	gaffer
Randy Brown	....	generator operator
Caroline Campbell	....	second assistant camera
Chad Edwards	....	electrician
Cinar Eryasar	....	electrician
Harper Forbes	....	key grip
Sophie Giraud	....	still photographer
Shem Greig	....	grip
Frank Hardin	....	generator operator
Paul Hildebrand	....	grip
Sheldon Levene	....	electrician
Joe McCormack	....	best boy grip
John Pogue	....	best boy electric
Frank Polyak	....	camera operator
John Tennant	....	grip
Johnny Wersta	....	dolly grip

Casting Department
Kay Rogers	....	extras casting
Clare Walker	....	casting associate

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Billie Blast	....	wardrobe set supervisor
Kim Harkness	....	assistant costume designer
Barbara Rowe	....	wardrobe supervisor

Editorial Department
Louis Casado	....	film timer
Rob Gyorgy	....	DI editor
Heidi Holm	....	digital intermediate project manager
Tom Mayclim	....	negative cutter
Alexandra Rotundo	....	first assistant editor

Music Department
Brian Nevin	....	music scoring mixer
Carl Zittrer	....	music supervisor
Maria Molinari	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Transportation Department
Steve Belli	....	driver
Srdjan Bukvic	....	driver
Robert Callaghan	....	driver
George 'Bulldog' Fedick	....	driver
Artur Forst	....	driver
Karen McDougall	....	driver
Dave Puddister	....	transportation captain
Peter Ward	....	driver
Robert Whelan Jr.	....	transportation captain
Bill Wilson	....	transportation coordinator

Other crew
Mark Alleyne	....	assistant location manager
Allison Barber	....	unit publicist
Glenn Carter	....	location manager
Mike 'Fuzzy' Ellis	....	vice president of digital film
Sandi Ettinger	....	craft assistant
Ryan Hupponen	....	assistant production coordinator
Krista Johnston	....	clearance
Nicole Lajeunesse	....	bookkeeper
Cassandra Lammerding	....	location production assistant
Suzanne Link	....	script supervisor
Denis Oliver	....	stand-in
Rick Parker	....	animal wrangler
Leslie Richardson	....	stand-in
Michelle M. Robeson	....	production assistant
Nora Simmons	....	production accountant
Colin D. Simpson	....	production office assistant
Tina Toffoli	....	executive assistant: Peter Simpson
Hanna Tower	....	production coordinator

Production Companies

• Marshville Productions
• Marshville Productions Inc.

Distributors

• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) (2007) (USA) (theatrical)
• Califórnia Home Vídeo (2007) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Odeon (2007) (Greece) (DVD)
• SBP (2008) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2007) (Germany) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2007) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Special Effects

• SPIN VFX

Other Companies

• Spin Productions  visual effects
• Urban Post Production  sound post-production

Also Known As:

Marsh (USA) (DVD box title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, disturbing images and some language.

Runtime:

Greece:90 min | Canada:92 min | Argentina:92 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | Australia:MA | Argentina:16 | South Korea:18 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R16

Filming Locations:

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Marshville Productions

Goofs:

Continuity: The cracks in the mirror are much different from when Claire first smashes it and when Hunt is examining it.

Quotes:

Geoffry Hunt: My father used to say, "Hunt," - he called me Hunt... - he'd say, "Hunt, you can dodge the draft, can cheat on your taxes, but never desert a damsel in distress."

Movie Connections:

References The Shining (1980)

Soundtrack:

Lost In Time

Fright Flight

THE MARSH is yet another scary movie to satisfy the apparently inexhaustible demand for fright films of this genre. It is obviously a low budget film that suffers from a silly script resurrecting tired themes of communication with ghosts and the intervention of paranormal specialists.

Successful children's book author and illustrator Claire Holloway (Gabrielle Anwar) is besieged by recurrent nightmares that prompt her therapist to recommend a sabbatical, advice she heeds as she moves out into the country to a little creepy town called Marshville. She rents a old house near the marsh from a woman Mercy (Brooke Johnson) and discovers from the local newspaper editor Noah (Justin Louis) that the town is riddled with history of hauntings following the disappearance of a little girl into the marshes, the victim of sexual assault that has never been adequately investigated. Claire's time in her new 'home' is racked with appearances of the dead little girl and her muddy perpetrator and she finally seeks the help of a Paranormal expert Hunt (Forest Whitaker) who helps her solve the etiology of Claire's nightmares and provides an exit for the ghosts.

Most of the film is dark with poor Claire just wandering around the creepy house with her open-mouthed/wide-eyed frightened look, avoiding the flying detritus caused by the angry spirits that haunt her. Gabrielle Anwar is beautiful to look at but is not really called upon to act. Likewise Forest Whitaker is paralyzed by an inept script that even this fine actor can't overcome. The music is the canned, synthesizer variety and the camera work is jerky and gets in the way of the story. This is a movie for avid fans of scary flicks who can overlook the multiple production and writing problems. Grady Harp