|
 riter/director
Sheldon Wilson's "Shallow Ground" is an
ambitious attempt at combining several aspects of
the horror genre into one blood soaked package.
Although "Shallow Ground" is at heart a
variation on the venerable woodland slasher motif,
the film also incorporates, to moderate success,
murder mystery style plotting and vaguely
apocalyptic supernatural elements. From the very
start it is quite obvious that this is a film
determinedly based around a secret, which is
unlikely to be revealed without long stretches of
narrative foreplay.
Unfortunately, as with so
many other films of this type, "Shallow
Ground" suffers from the fact that both of
its denouements fail to satisfy, leaving the
viewer feeling bewildered and disappointed. That
having been said, the film as a whole is
entertaining, fast paced and actually quite
gripping during its early stages, before it sinks
beneath the weight of its badly articulated and
ultimately senseless profundities.
The
film opens in startling fashion, with a blood
covered, naked young boy walking into the police
station of a small woodland town on the eve of the
station's abandonment. Although the boy refuses to
speak, he carries a knife used in a vicious,
unsolved murder which took place a year ago, for
which the sheriff still blames himself for failing
to prevent. As the sheriff and his deputies
investigate, the bodies begin to pile up, dark
secrets are uncovered, and it becomes clear that
something far more sinister may be unfolding.
Aware of the usual narrative limitations of this
type of film,
Wilson
overcompensates by writing in a subplot for almost
every character, and spends the first hour raising
an endless stream of enigmatic questions. Although
this does make for a complex and at times engaging
plot, a rarity in the modern genre film, it
unfortunately also robs the proceedings of any
real focus, and as such the film's various threads
feel somewhat disparate. Similarly, the downside
to the film's short running time is a feeling that
things were rushed, and that more background on
the characters would have made certain disclosures
in the film far more convincing. As it stands,
their motivations are often unclear, and many of
their actions, most notably their stubborn refusal
to simply leave, seem to fly in the face of
reason.
There is a fair amount of tension throughout, both from
the viewer's attempts to decipher the film's
obscurities, and from the fact that
Wilson
includes a fair amount of action. There are a number
of reasonable scare scenes, mostly built around
the killer stalking his victims, or the
increasingly bizarre displays of the boy's
unearthly powers. The film is very bloody in
places, with several gruesome murders and the
wonderfully gratuitous use of fishhooks and wire.
Wilson
shows some talent as a director, giving the film a
creepy look and making the most of the woodland
setting. There is an atmosphere which recalls the
heyday of the classic "Friday the 13th"
series rather than its insipid modern brethren,
which gives "Shallow Ground" an almost
nostalgic feel. The film is visually quite
impressive, if uninspired, and looks far better
than its limited budget would suggest.
"Shallow
Ground" is a competent and reasonably
thrilling piece of genre film making that
nevertheless falls apart during the final act. The
majority of the film's many revelations are either
nonsensical or disappointingly obtuse, and are
poor rewards for the viewer's patience. The
killer's identity in particular is a major let
down, and is laughable rather than chilling, and
which serves mainly to underline a number of
gaping holes in the plot.
Still, although the viewer
will likely feel frustrated when the credits roll,
for the most part "Shallow Ground" is an
entertaining ride, and one which at least shows
some ambition in shaking off the shackles of the
genre.
Wilson
proves himself to be a director worth watching,
and one of those who, provided he can refine his
narrative technique, has the potential to breathe
new life into the genre. |
