The Marsh (2006) User Reviews

Fright Flight

[gradyharp · 4/10 · 28 April 2007]

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

The usual hokum

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 8 December 2013]

THE MARSH is an absolutely typical ghost story about a lonely woman moving into a lonely house that turns out to be haunted by...yada yada. The end result is that it plays out exactly as you'd expect, featuring the few unlucky actors to be caught up in this mess finding themselves at the mercy of various CGI-augmented spirits whose appearance has been crafted in the most ordinary way.

The script is poor and the direction worse, with none of the creative people involved failing to make anything of the premise. It says much that my memory of the film is already fading, at a rapid pace, a mere 24 hours after I watched it. Gabrielle Anwar (THE TUDORS) fails to bring life to a rather stiff and uninteresting lead character and seems to be trying to get her American accent right rather than delivering a decent performance. Forest Whitaker (PHONE BOOTH) appears slightly befuddled and is probably wondering what he's doing caught up in this nonsense.

Because this is nonsense, I'll make no bones about it. Every haunted house cliché in the book is played out, from the restless ghost of a kid (a little blonde girl, of course) to the vengeful spirit with the scary eyes. The jump scenes are predictable as is the rest of the plot and the effects are poor, taking you out of the movie every time they pop up. A dismal effort, this.

Okayish

[Spaceygirl · 6/10 · 16 July 2007]

"The Marsh" works as a typical, haunted house story. There are those that have criticised it, but really, what did you expect? Starring Gabrielle Anwar. WHO? Oh, that pretty french girl who was in that submarine movie. Right. It's a B-movie, people! So don't expect too much and you may be pleasantly surprised. Forest Whitaker, pre-King of Scotland, provides a shot of star value and basically holds the movie together. The special effects are good and the best thing about "The Marsh" is that's so pretty! The house is pretty, the female lead is pretty, hell, even the ghost is pretty! Its like a Normal Rockwell painting that's been messed with. Quite cool, just check your brain at the door and you'll be fine. :)

A poor and unoriginal re-tread of common themes

[Shudder1 · 3/10 · 29 August 2006]

***Contains Spoilers*** I can't quite believe the previous review. I have also just seen The Marsh at London's Frightfest and I and my friends were wholly unimpressed.

It feels like another film in a long line of by-the-numbers supernatural thrillers that have come out of Hollywood in the last five years such as Stir of Echoes, Hide and Seek, Secret Window, The Sixth Sense, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Skeleton Key, The Mothman Prophecies, Bless the Child, The Forgotten, The Others etc, etc (Some of these films are quite good, but you get my point)

I have become very bored of creepy houses (this one was particularly un-imaginative) creepy cornfields, creepy little girls in night dresses, creepy dolls and scarecrows, creepy children's drawings, creepy children's songs, windows blowing open in gusts of wind etc, etc

It is also frustrating when EVERYTHING vaguely frightening is accompanied by a thunderous drum beat, even things like a shot of a child's teddy bear hitting the floor during a flashback! This device seemed to be the only means of creating any scares.

While this film was very professionally made it was very well-worn and tedious, with a series of flashbacks and revelations about something terrible which happened in the protagonist's past. The set in particular was not good and most of the flashbacks centered around a stained glass window in a door which was entirely modern and looked like it could be bought in any home improvements store.

The ultimate villain-ghost that is finally revealed to have triggered the events is actually just a rather misguided and pathetic character so when they came over all demonic at the end it rang really hollow for me.

The events themselves which triggered the haunting were, once again, rather unimportant yet predictable and wholly unoriginal.

A by-the-numbers money spinner in my opinion

Just Nonsense

[shaipaneer · 2/10 · 20 July 2009]

This movie is very badly written. A few things pops into mind. And i'm just writing some of the nonsense things that this movie have

1- Who are the twins? what were they doing with the 3 guys and a 1 girl?

2- Why in the hell the news papers talk about a violation of one girl, when the only thing that makes sense is to notice the missing of TWO girls, two girls are missing and the news paper talk about a raped girl? that just plain stupid. Maybe they were already ghosts (ahahah it's irony), 'cause they disappear and no one notice, there was no family, nothing. They appear from thin air. We just know that what was said to the lead part of the movie, that the parents died in a car accident. If so, was someone of the 4 kids part of her family? Of course not, the movie is just stupid...

3- The gun that kills the "rapist" (what rape?? we just see the legs of the girl during a suffocation) was in another floor of the house and appears in the closet for the little girl to use. not even gore-comedian movies are that stupid.

4- The woman (the girl that was with the 3 boys) after all that she sees goes and stays in the house to live? That's "macabre" of her part, and she doesn't seem that type. (time line error surely)

5- This is really a question. What has the picture to do with the murderer/rapist (what rape??), is it an ancestor?

The few things that make sense are weak, this was a terrible movie. And i like low budget horror movies, and many of them also has poor plots and few sense, but like this.... this is not a low budget film, and it seems that a dead-line was made and the movie makers just rushed to do one, whatever it was.

Ahem.

[goldesprit · 21 May 2007]

A Halloween movie--not terrible if you actually watch it on that Holiday, with a few drinks, as you do other things.

Not an amazing or terribly original film. Smooth and seamless special FX.

Forrest Whitaker does a very fine job...with what he is given screenplay-(and direction)wise.

Just don't expect to be amazed by the plot and execution.

No one who worked on this project should be shattered if some viewers notice that it was done for the money.

Nothing wrong with that.

Entertainment.

Murky script bogs down this pseudohorror

[p-stepien · 3/10 · 24 July 2009]

Claire Holloway (Gabrielle Anwar) is a children's book writer specialising in nightmare bedtime stories. Most of those are taken straight out of her own dreams full of marshes, weird houses and things that go 'chlup' in the middle of the night. By freak chance she watches a glimpse of a house which haunts her dream in a ecodocumentary about swamps. Interneting away she quickly finds the dream-house and naturally decides to confront the situation by making a nice little vacation by renting the house. Soon after dreams start becoming more real and soon she must confront the nightmares that have been scratching at her brain for years. Fortunately she has a trusty sidekick parapshycic Geoffrey Hunt (Forrest Whitaker) to hold her hand on the way of solving this truly Scooby-Doo mystery.

The Marsh is truly a movie bogged down by its own script. It starts out promisingly enough only to spiral into absurdity and illogical plot solutions. The multiple twist endings make you smile instead of say 'Ahhh!' as they make the story consistently... well... dumb. Most key to the story: A dead ghost kill off people whose only fault was being asleep at the time of tragedy. But in general plot points stick out like a sore thumb and basically nothing makes much sense. Questions answered are answered badly. And if the two very last scene in the movie doesn't bring out a smile of pity for the movie I will be sincerely surprised.

Other than that acting and tech credits are fine, but nothing memorable. Passable at best, laughable at worst.

Effective ghost story with a twist or two...

[Indyrod · 7/10 · 21 October 2007]

OK, now here is a ghost story that came way under my radar and turns out to be a superior ghost story with a couple of twists. A lady children's book author is plagued with nightmares of a little girl disappearing in a swamp and images of an old house. When viewing a television story, she notices the house in her nightmare and the surrounding area, specifically a marsh where she keeps seeing and following this little girl. She tracks down the property and moves into the house, in a small remote area close to a little town. After installing a door she finds in the cellar, strange things begin to happen and what were her nightmares are now becoming too real. Yes, the house and the marsh hold deep secrets in the town and the house, and she enlists the help of a local paranormal consultant played very well by Forest Whitaker. He moves into her house with his equipment and quickly realizes the supernatural is at work. This movie succeeds on every level with excellent performances, and a very tight story that keeps you guessing until the final reveal. Are her nightmares really lost memories of a past she has forgotten, and if she is the little girl ghost then how is that possible? All the questions are answered, and I had a real ball with this one. Highly recommended.

Dull and Hokey

[actually_jesus · 2/10 · 20 January 2007]

I saw this film at Frightfest in London and it was by far and away the worst film that I saw over the weekend. Everyone that I spoke to at the festival agreed that it was a stinker so I'm not sure who posted on here giving it 10/10 and saying it was awesome?! Can you spell PR agent? On the plus side the effects were good, the direction wasn't bad and the acting was generally sufficient (given what they had to work with).

On the down side was everything else. The plot was clichéd, hokey, difficult to follow and incredibly boring! The dialogue was amateurish at times and generally cringe worthy throughout. Worst of all (and this is clearly the cardinal sin of a horror film) it wasn't remotely scary. Even the occasional BOO! would have been appreciated... but no.

The director is young and seemed like an affable young chap who I'm sure will progress in the industry. He will look back on this with embarrassment (if it ever gets released, fingers crossed not). He did seem like he'd had budget and studio constraints as evidenced by the fact that when I asked him the likely rating of the film in the Q&A after the screening he replied, "y'know... PG-13... gotta keep it marketable".

That summed up the extreme rubbishness of this film. Billed as a supernatural thriller it's preternaturally dull. If you want to see a half decent film of this type check out something like "Skeleton Key"... and if anyone thought that was bad (which I didn't, but I know it has its critics) then woo... really don't go and see 'The Marsh'!

Not the best out there, but worth watching...

[johntcaldwell · 6/10 · 25 April 2007]

Maybe it is the string of terrible horror flicks I have seen lately, but I actually liked this movie. Most of the stuff of late has been plagued with low budget effects, completely incompetent acting, and lines that made you cringe.

I don't know why so many hated this film, because the acting was good, story was decent, and effects OK. It may not be a blockbuster, but it was definitely worth watching once you have seen all of the other big name movies.

PS: My wife felt there were too many characters so it was hard to keep up with them all.

brutally slow film

[eldarthepilot · 2/10 · 22 November 2006]

I saw this at the NY horror film festival and debated walking out many times. Its real slow. Its one of those movies that relies on scary sound effects to over-compensate for the fact that little is happening in the scenes. Gabrielle anwar and Forrest whitecker are good actors who are wasted in this boring and lifeless film. There are a few good special effects sequences, but even those scenes lack creepiness. The movie tries to build up suspense but doesn't really give us anything to be afraid of. quite frankly, it just lacks good scary content.

Its production values are very good, but that just makes me angrier that the film isn't better. I saw other films at the festival (particularly "Fingerprints" and "Last Rites of the Dead") that were made for much less money and yet were a thousand times better.

Really good old fashioned horror.

[pixxxy · 10/10 · 29 August 2006]

I just saw this feature film at London's frightfest film festival, the best horror and genre, fantasy and thriller film festival in Europe in my opinion.

The director Jordan barker, who looked really young introduced the film and Gabrielle anwar was meant to be there but unfortunately she couldn't make it.

the film feels like an old fashioned horror m,movie from the 80's and as far as i'm concerned that is a great thing.

The acting was great, Gabrielle Anwar, who has just vanished since her star turn in the Al Pacino 'hoo ha' movie, and I have always wondered what happened to her, but she is great and still looks beautiful, but she can really act.

Forest Whitaker is always good and the director was steady and precise, the director talked after the movie and he said he had unique problems on this film as it was a much bigger budget than his previous film, but I still think he did a good job.

Flawed but Entertaining Chiller

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 15 September 2007]

The successful children's writer Claire Holloway (Gabrielle Anwar) is troubled by scary nightmares and is under psychological treatment. While working out watching television, she sees the landscape of the Rose Marsh Farm in the Westmoreland County, and she notes that the farmhouse is linked to her nightmares. She decides to spend her vacation in the farm, which is located nearby a swamp, and she is haunted by the ghosts of a little girl and a teenage boy inside the house. She is befriended by the local publisher and historian Noah Pitney (Justin Louis) but after a sequence of disturbing visions, she decides to contact the paranormal consultant Geoffry Hunt (Forest Whitaker). Together, they investigate the mystery and disclose a tragedy that happened in the farm about twenty years ago.

"The Marsh" is a flawed but entertaining chiller quite underrated in IMDb. The eerie story has a bad screenplay that leaves many unanswered questions and never explains what happened with Claire's parents (I believe they died in an accident based in one dialog); or her relationship with the little girl (was she her friend or sister?); how the little girl was murdered (I believe the boy tried to rape her, there are many evidences); why Mercy was taking care of the girls; did Claire live in the farmhouse?; how could she completely suppress her childhood from her memory?; what kind of portal was opened in the room? last but not the least, the incident in the beginning of the Twentieth Century has nothing to do with the plot, is just presented to confuse the viewer. Anyway, disregarding these flaws, this film is above average in the genre. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Not Available"

This movie ranks for the 3 Ps : Painful, Pitiful, Pathetic.

[Skibodeau · 1/10 · 16 February 2007]

What a tedious movie. Climbing a mountain with a backpack full of rocks would be more enjoyable than sitting through this movie.

Characters interactions are completely deficient. Irrelevant dialogue is horrendous. Might possibly have been better as a silent movie.

Story is so uninspired that I wonder if it was actually written by someone or if this is just some random computer generated stuff.

Some interesting points : - After half an hour of watching this movie, you feel like it still hasn't started but yet, at the same time, you feel like it's been playing for hours. Adds to the supernatural value.

• As pointed out in other reviews, it doesn't really have any scary factor but it might make you feel sick. If that's the kind of thing you're looking for...

• The only real surprise, to me, was that the friendly black man, with supernatural open-mindness, doesn't get killed by an axe.

Worth a laugh or two.

I'd rather watch a movie about lava lamps.

the horror

[aghosh69 · 2/10 · 22 May 2007]

I been getting very depressed with movies lately and decided to watch some horror flicks to lighten up my mood. And with sheer luck this movie lands on my lap and I read somewhere that is a classic story with a forgotten method of movie making. I now know why it was forgotten. Far be it for me to promote drug abuse but clearly this director needs to take something to boost his imagination. Poorly executed movie with a simple story plot that has a twist which was convulsed into a boring pile of yesterdays excrement that most likely got lodged in the toilet. Abusive use of sound effects and horrible sense of anticipation that pretty much puts anyone to sleep. To those that come across this movie I ware you run.. run fast and do not look back no matter what or who tells you how artistic this is. Chances are that the place that has this movie is pretty much a marsh that is sinking down to a bottomless pit.

this movie oozes cliché and unoriginality

[khuniak · 3/10 · 20 April 2007]

Firstly when you see a ghost common sense dictates you get the hell out of the house, why would you stay in the house seriously, this movies suffers terribly from cliché, it becomes so much of a problem that it actually becomes quite funny.

The acting is extremely under par, the story done 100 times before with much better results, and the effects were lacking which also describes the story.

The director seems to have taken the scripts from every other done to death horror in this particular type (old house, child, etc, etc) and then kind of mashed it all together hoping for the best and coming up with the worst. To be honest some type of registry with the names of these terrible directors should be posted on the net so that myself and others will no longer have to be tortured by their vile trash that they try to pass off as movies.

well to end this, stay away from this movie and thank me later.

low budget ,poor directing and acting

[petit76 · 12 September 2009]

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. EVren Buyruk

The star of her own nightmare.

[michaelRokeefe · 5/10 · 29 December 2007]

Its a chiller. Better than average special effects. A story that seems to just not come clear. Claire(Gabrielle Anwar)is a stressed out , sophisticated author of children's books. She will soon take the lead role in a story a little too heavy and scary for a kid's book. She has frightening dreams and even sketches faces she'll see soon enough. Clair takes some time off and decides to stay at the Rose Marsh Farmhouse, which looks very much like a house she has sketched before. Strange things begin to happen when Clair settles in the farmhouse. She meets Noah(Justin Louis)the publisher of the local newspaper and historian of the small community. The apparitions she begins to see in the house causes her to call on Noah Hunt(Forest Whitaker), a consultant on the occult and paranormal. Together, they begin to unravel the town's dirty, dark little secret. But has she found meaning to her previous nightmares?

Enjoyable IF you like horror / suspense movies

[ceace21 · 6/10 · 2 May 2007]

Most of the reviews here seem to have been written by people who don't truly enjoy the horror genre. Why criticize a horror film because it's "unoriginal"? Maybe it's because I've been watching films for over 30 years, but believe me, there's nothing original in any horror plot. Yet, I love these movies. Most of the fun is involved with how the story unfolds, how it arrives - not with how original the elements are. Clichés can still be fun. This film has great production values for a low budget film, and solid acting by Forrest Whitaker. The female lead seemed to be a weak actress, but it could have been because the script was indeed weak, and I kept wanting her to SAY SOMETHING. This film is atmospheric with a snowy, cold atmosphere, creepy special effects (note, creepy, not startlingly horrific) and a solid plot foundation in an old tragedy. The children's book illustrations were great, even down to Stickyfeet's alligator companion, which shows up as a childhood stuffed animal. The villain was indeed horrific to me, as the sexual murder of the child was more than "misguided and pathetic" to me. Not to mention the teenage selfishness and carelessness that made the whole tragedy possible. Yes, filled with clichés, weak dialogue, but still interesting and fun to watch. In the world of B horror films, it's a B+.

Good picture, bad sound

[Skynet-TX · 5/10 · 23 November 2007]

I only voted 5 out of 10 for this film because the sound quality is so POOR that it does not make the film really enjoyable. When the actors are speaking you can only hear them if you set the volume to the maximum. But if you leave it there the ghost scenes will break the glass in your window and you will become totally deaf. The film itself is very good and if you managed to uniform the sound it will be even better. The DVD has a sound of poor quality as well, so instead of the original watch the ripped and corrected one. Some scenes are a bit similar to Poltergeist or Exorcist but since it's a ghost movie, they must be so. The actors are good and the acting is good as well. Only the sound is poor. But that is really.

Good actors...average movie

[caste78 · 6/10 · 5 April 2007]

I've just seen the film with my girlfriend and really she was grabbed to my arm throughout the movie. I think the films wasn't very good, but the actors gave it a especial support. Forest's performance was excellent, his co-star Gabrielle was just as good. The sound was good, it really scared us. I think most of the people that saw the movie felt the same because if you see the user rating, until now, many people graded it 10/10. The movie definitely scared. But... the flaws were both the script, and,of course, the plot. No original and certainly a little slow. The idea that a girl lose her memories due to a traumatic fact but unconsciously she express them on different ways throughout her life... I'm sure you have seen it before, haven't you?. Morever there are some parts that have no sense, for instance, Why did the little rose's ghost had to kill the rest of the guys, if her little partner Claire had taken revenge killing the murder?, because they didn't say anything and buried her in the marsh?, or she just thought they were guilty for not saving her? or may be lest they forget don't be drunk where a little girl is in danger. Hard for me to understand why she did that. A bad script.

For what it's worth, it tried to be a better movie.

[greensteele · 5/10 · 4 June 2007]

When I first sat down to watch this movie, I had the notion that it would be something that would not be that good. Just looking at the ratings, I knew that I probably would be telling myself at the end of it that "I just wasted time on this!" Well, all I can say is that I knew what I was going to say, and I ended up saying it.

The first thing that I would like to say is that I pretty much would consider the title of this movie to be "The Rose Door", being that very little of what happened to any of the central characters in this movie actually happened in the marsh and it all happened behind the Rose door.

So, on to the story. To sum up the story, basically it the classic ghost story that tries to through in a few twists in the mix. I won't go into great detail about the story, just to say that it is about Claire Holloway, performed by Gabrielle Anwar, who is hunted by nightmares and feels the need to find out clues to what is going on in these nightmares. She sees a house in her dreams and decides to investigate it. This is how she ends up in a small town at the house from her dreams, which happens to have a marsh as it's front yard.

Of course she tries to make sense of the things going on in the house, so she goes to Geoffry Hunt, played by Forrest Whitaker, who just so happens to be a paranormal expert of sorts. No matter how good of an actor Whitaker is, I just could not see him as a paranormal expert so I was already somewhat mystified by his casting.

This is where I will end my description because I don't want to give everything away, even though I do have to bring up some spoilers just to prove my point. To clarify my ratings though, I will point out a few things that I thought was lacking.

First, the entire process of Claire finding out important events to the little girl's story seems to be a little drawn out. Usually, I'm all for a movie that wants to be thorough in this regard, but for me this movie seemed to want to force this feeling onto me and ended up failing miserably.

Also, there was no tension in this movie, whatsoever. I mean, for a supposed horror movie, I believe tension is what can make or brake it. Having drawn out death scenes where the tension is built up is fine, but to not have any unexpected tension elsewhere in the movie will make it seem stale when death scenes do come around.

The last thing that irritated me about this movie was that ending. Specifically, the scene with Geoffry, Claire, and Phillip getting the blanket back. I don't know if the writers or the director was trying to give any redeeming value to Phillip or Phillip's son or not, but here is my reasoning for being so upset about this scene. I felt they were trying to force me to be sorry for Phillip's family. Why would I feel sorry for this man who, not only knowing allowed his son to be brought up by a despicable mother in which he explained to them when he gave them blanket, but in some respect allowed his son to be a deviant in the first place? Was it not his son that killed the girl and stated that they should all just keep quite and let his father handle it? There had to be a reason the son thought he could go to daddy to clear things up.

In the end, I wasn't disappointed by the acting. I would have given this movie a lower rating if it had not been for the decent acting. The visual effects, though sparse, where actually pretty good and weren't overly done. Other than the casting of Whitaker as previously mentioned, I thought the rest of the cast where believable.

Subtle and scary

[larsedik · 8/10 · 28 April 2007]

I had no expectations for this movie and was spellbound from the moment I started watching it. At lot of that is due to the subtlety of the sound - it does not overpower or try to manipulate - it merely stays mostly in the background and enhances the suspense rather than detract.

Most of the acting was good, but Forrest Whitaker's performance was flat IMO. Maybe he is supposed to play an insipid character, but he neither adds nor detracts from the movie.

I thought the writing was good - the movie really did not remind me of anything I'd seen before, and so I had no expectations of how it would turn out. If you watch it on DVD, it should definitely be late night and in a very dark room.

Could have been better. Could have been much, much worse.

[bondibox · 6/10 · 4 February 2008]

I rented The Marsh because I enjoy a good Gabrielle Anwar film. Actually, those are few and far between -- the truth is I'll watch anything she's in. I must say this is better than most of the movies she's done (likely thanks to the absence of Craig Sheffer).

Her character was well defined and complex, but she seemed more curious than frightened. It made sense when she spoke about how fairy tales are supposed to give kids the willies, and that's what kids like - I had a copy of Der Struwwelpeter when I was a kid - but this film wasn't really scary or anything much more than creepy.

I had braced myself for the worst, and was waiting for one of the two clichéd scenes, you know the wizened old man who says "you don't know what you're dealing with here'" or the abrasive and skeptical sheriff / authority figure who knows more than he lets on. So it was refreshing when Whittaker's character moved the plot along as quickly as it did.

The opening scene was marvelous, and the scene with her therapist could have been great with some smoother editing, but the flashlight in the dark videography is worthless. The death scenes are waaay cheesy. In the end, I'd say the director pulled it off, but it was touch and go there for a while.

All in all, this was a (bad) B movie, but with just enough sunk into the production to make it halfway decent.

borrows elements form other movies in the genre,but is better than many of them

[disdressed12 · 5/10 · 22 March 2008]

i didn't mind this movie.it had some definite eerie moments.the atmosphere is great.the music is really haunting,as well.i did find some of the movie similar to others in the genre,but i found it much better than The Ring,or The Grudge.i wish the movie had been more straight forward.i didn't like the fact that it was so loud at times.that kinda annoyed me.i thought Forest Whittaker was good in his role,and Justin Louis was good,as well.but Gabriel Anwar,the lead,i didn't like very much.she seemed too aloof and inaccessible as an actress,and it to me,it came across on screen.maybe that was how the character was supposed to be,but it didn't work for me.for me,The Marsh is a 5.5/10