Customer Reviews

The Marsh

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Popular children's book author Claire Holloway (Gabrielle Anwar) is tormented by nightmares. It is about a spooky mansion and the surrounding marsh and in the dream she always has to witness something very disturbing, which is getting worse every night. Following advice from her therapist (and watching a TV program), she moves into a farmhouse in the countryside that looks exactly like the one in her dreams. And of course, she soon learns that the house is haunted.

Claire's decision to live in the house seems quite a drastic method to face her fear, but she is helped by a kind local resident, paranormal phenomena consultant Geoffrey Hunt (Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker). They investigate the strange occurrences in the house and the marsh, but the process is not particularly new or unique.

"The Marsh" has right ingredients to make a good ghost story - good actors, good photography and good production designs - but they forgot one thing: good script. The story is derivative and the film is not scary. The film becomes interesting in the final chapter, but the wait is too long.

Forest Whitaker gives a solid performance (as always) and Justin Louis is also effective as support, but even these talented actors cannot do much in the predictable plot and narrative that include typical sound effects, flashbacks and a creepy little girl in white. How many times have we seen creepy little girls since "The Ring"?

I have been looking for a good ghost story to come around. As a fan of the Ghost Story movie with Fred Astair and the Chowder Society. I was hopping that Hollywood would start coming back with some old fashion ghost stories. The creature stuff with the fancy graphics has become somewhat repetative. An American Haunting is another good break in the monotany.

Claire Holloway (Gabrielle Anwar from Body Snatchers) is a children's book author haunted by recurring nightmares about a house, a little girl, and a marsh. She actually locates the house on the internet and soon moves into it! Strange occurances begin almost immediately, forcing Claire to seek the assistance of a paranormal investigator named Hunt (Forest Whitaker from Body Snatchers, Species, and Panic Room). The mystery deepens as the supernatural events intensify, leading to a final showdown between humans and the restless spirits. I was frequently reminded of POLTERGEIST and THE RING, but not enough to ruin things. Both Anwar and Whitaker have an authentic quality that helps in the suspension of disbelief. THE MARSH is a worthy addition to any ghost story collection...

It was not the best BUT no where near the worst. I really enjoyed it and would deffinitely watch it again with friends. I highly recommend buying this movie. The acting and script is excellent.

This really is a good ghost story... not a 'things that go bump in the night' through the whole movie like others (Messengers for example).

The plot continues to develop throughout the movie, and if you can predict the ending of this, then you are pretty intuitive. It was quite a surprise ending.

I really enjoyed it.

I was very pleased with the movie. It was a bit slow in the beginning but it picked up once she got help from the paranormal investigator. I liked the atmosphere in the small town with a big creepy house sitting alone. Also the camera angles were nice. They stretched in some of the hall shots and over head views were given in tight spots. I also liked the way the camera focused on the door with the glass rose. I also liked the mystery the movie revolved around. The ghosts were done nicely. Yes they were pale and the little girl had long hair but at least her hair was blonde and didn't hang in her face all the time and she didn't move in quick intervals.

The opening has our author reading to schoolchildren from her book, "The Swamp", surprisingly the movie is called "The Marsh". When the author finds out there is in fact a house like the one she saw in her dreams to write about in her book, things start to become spooky. She ends up finding and renting the house. Not long after a local newspaper man is interested in what she is doing in their town. Then a paranormal investigator joins her in exploring the odd events she is seeing at the house. A reasonably decent "Poltergeist" type thriller. Certainly worth at least a rental. Good DVD quality and decent replayability. Good for most the family. May cause nightmares for the small ones.

Typical ghostly haunted house tale, that provided an ample supply of startling scares, decent enough to grasp my curiosity.
'The Marsh ' is a suspenseful, and at times admissibly frightening film that should find an appreciative audience of this genre.

Similar Fright Films:
The Gift (2001) Genre: Horror/Suspense
Stir of Echoes (1999) Genre: Horror/Suspense
Signs (2002) Genre: Horror/Suspense

I had mixed feelings watching this movie. The Marsh is not an original horror movie as I kept comparing it to movies like Stir of Echoes, Dark Water etc as I watched it. That being said, it has an interesting though not remarkable premise, and is well-shot. Gabrielle Anwar [who seems to be in quite a few horror movies these days] plays a children's book author, Claire Holloway who keeps having disturbing nightmares about her childhood and events she no longer remembers as having occured. Upon seeing a familiar place on tv, she ventures out to a small town in Westmoreland County, Marshville, where she leases a house she finds disturbingly familiar.

It doesn't take long for Claire to encounter spooky entities and experience disturbing visions. She enlists the aid of a spook consultant, Geoffry Hunt [Forest Whitaker] and he helps her discover the truth behind Claire's visions. It appears that Claire's 'return' to the town of Marshville has unleashed supernatural entities that are seeking revenge for a tragedy long past and Claire is somehow in the center of it.

The effects are good for what I assume is a low-budget movie - the entities look creepy enough, and the scares are the usual blink and you'll miss it kind. The movie also has a sufficiently bleak and menacing atmosphere, especially in the scenes where the entities wreak havoc.

As for the acting, both Anwar as Claire and Whitaker as Hunt do a credible job with the script they are given, though I felt this role was far beneath Whitaker's talent [this movie was before The Last King of Scotland for which he deservedly won an Oscar].

True horror fans who feel they deserve better may not appreciate this as much, but I felt it was worth a rental and the story held my attention till the end.

This was a pretty good little ghost story. I am a Forrest Whitaker fan, so I enjoyed his role in this film. I would not want to pay $8.00 to see it in the theatre, but it makes a nice edition to my collection.