Hallowed Ground

Plot synopsis:
After becoming stranded in a small town called Hope, Elizabeth "Liz" Chambers, (Jaimie Alexander) discovers her arrival was foretold a century earlier by the town's founding preacher Jonas Hathaway (Nick Chinlund) and that she is an integral part of his impending—and terrifying—rebirth. Forced to stay overnight in the town, Liz meets Sarah Austin (Hudson Leick), a reporter for a tabloid newspaper, who is in town to investigate legends of living scarecrows. The townspeople of Hope once sacrificed people by nailing them to crosses in the cornfields until a young girl alerted residents of the nearby town of Liberty. Horrified to learn of the murders going on in Hope, the townspeople of Liberty nailed the local preacher who spearheaded the sacrifices to a cross. Legend contends that one day he will be reborn.
Sarah persuades Liz to accompany her to the cornfield. At the cornfield, Sarah takes photos of a scarecrow that she and Liz construct and hang on a cross, intending to use the photograph for the newspaper's front page. Sarah is later attacked and killed by the scarecrow, which comes to life. The scarecrow tries to kill Liz as well but she manages to escape in the squad car of a deputy, who is killed upon arriving at the scene.
She drives to the sheriff's office, where she tells her tale. When the deputy is unable to reach anyone by radio or phone, he leaves Liz alone while he goes to find out the problem. Liz is able to fend off the scarecrow when it arrives, stalking her. She tries to flee in her car but sees that the engine has been removed. She takes refuge with the town's preacher (Ethan Phillips), but discovers that the preacher is the leader of the townspeople, who worship the spirit of the founding preacher. The preacher intends to bring the spirit back to life by fathering a child with Liz, whom the spirit can possess. The sheriff arrives in time to stop the townspeople, but loses consciousness in a car crash. When the clergyman tries to rape Liz, she fends him off and escapes.
As she flees, she finds Sabrina (Chloë Grace Moretz), a child hiding in an underground shelter. Her parents were killed by the scarecrow, but she had escaped. Meanwhile, the townspeople set out in search of Liz. Liz hides Sabrina in a hole in the cornfield while she goes for help. She makes it to the next town only to find everyone dead. She is picked up by the sheriff, who escaped, and Liz tells him about Sabrina and jokes that the townspeople think she is a virgin. When they return to the cornfield, Liz discovers that the sheriff has been possessed by the spirit of the evil preacher.
The preacher now goes in search of Sabrina as Liz is not pure. Sabrina sneaks into the farmhouse and sets it on fire. The townspeople let Liz and Sabrina escape while they burn the body of the preacher, as the prophecy tells them to. Liz flees with the child, but the spirit of the preacher possesses the body of Sabrina's father, who they encounter hanging on one of the crosses in the cornfield. Vines ensnare Liz as the animated corpse appeals to Sabrina.
A murder of crows appear and the townspeople believe it is a good omen, until the crows attack and kill them, as well as attacking Sabrina's father, allowing Liz to extract herself from the vines. Liz and Sabrina escape, hitching a ride from a truck driver who is passing through the area. He turns on the radio, and a song comes on that reminds Liz and Sabrina of their ordeal. Liz turns the radio off, and they continue down the road, leaving Hope behind.

Tags: insanity, murder

Review:
A Really Earnest Try. HALLOWED GROUND is a peculiar little movie.
The object is to make people's pulses race, not to put the audience to sleep.Elizabeth's car breaks down in a strange (and underpopulated) little town.
Stranded.She goes to a diner and gets into a conversation with a tabloid reporter conveniently in town to do a story on strange events in the area many years ago.
So we have a little CHILDREN OF THE CORN, a touch of THE Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE, and a dash of those movies Hammer Studios made where Christopher Lee's cult got outsmarted by Peter Cushing.
Not the most original horror movie ever, but it has a fast flow and it passes the time..
However, there are a good couple of kills, and the flow of the movie is very fast.
The story, gal gets stranded in a town with a bizarre past of a preacher using living scarecrows to scare off actual crows.
Some how they become best buds in what is essentially maybe an hour worth of time, I somewhat enjoyed this flick, but then it is not without some flaws.
The opening features a horrible computer animated scene of a guy in a cornfield with crows and it looks awful, I was expecting a much worse picture from that scene as I hate computer generation that is completely unnecessary.
The scarecrow angle was rather good then abandoned and forgotten near the end where we have a crappy looking crow attack.
I wasn't expecting very much, especially with plot keywords like "Killer scarecrow", and it's not my particular favorite horror sub-genre.In the end, it wasn't that bad.
Overall the acting was OK...some of the townspeople seemed a little cardboard, but the leads do a good job.It could have done with a few less scenes of people running through cornfields, but at 83 minutes with credits, I think it needed all the time it could get.
This is my first IMDb review, and I'll keep it short.I watched this movie on the sci-fi channel during the never ending writers strike when nothing good was on TV.
I expected it to be a poorly acted generic horror flick, which it was.
It basically borrows from classic horror flicks (e.g. Children of the Corn) and doesn't contain much in the way of originality.
All in all it isn't a bad movie, but could have been much better, particularly the highly unbelievable CGI crow.
A Gem. Every week I stop into Blockbuster and rent the new direct to video horror movie and every week I'm pretty much disappointed.
Yes, the CGI isn't top notch but great CGI doesn't make a great movie.This is a horror movie with complex characters that does not conform to a specific genre's rules.
It could easily have been a scarecrow slasher movie with lots of dead teenagers but it tries for more.I applaud it for that.For those direct to video junkies like myself, Hallowed Ground has great production value, great acting (for the genre), and best of all...An original concept..
Decent B-Movie Horror Flick.
The people giving this movie 1 out of 10 and whining about "bad CGI" obviously didn't bother to look at the budget of the film ($1.5 million - considerably lower than the classic horror blockbusters).
If you were expecting to sit down and watch a timeless classic, you should have rented "Casablanca" or "The Wizard of Oz." Ranting about bad acting (which, while not the best acting in the world, is certainly not the worst) and bad directing (if you can do better, let's see it), and claiming that anyone who gave it a good review "obviously" worked on the movie (oh, you're omniscient now?) makes for a really amateur review.
If you didn't like the movie, that's your opinion, but at least give actual examples of why you thought the acting and directing were bad, and don't shoot off at the mouth insulting reviewers who disagreed with you.
Maybe they actually have a life and don't have time to review five billion movies like some people apparently can.Now, as I say, this isn't some high-caliber horror flick that is going to win an Oscar.
It is a fun suspense flick that makes for nice Halloween fare for a horror movie marathon.
The plot isn't completely unique, but it is a decent concept of good vs evil.
I'm not sure why people are complaining about "bad CGI," since there is very little CGI used in the film, and it is certainly not needed.
Hallowed Ground was neither a good or great movie.
I did like the stylish camera work, there are some haunting moments in the score, the acting is decent considering what they had to work with and there are a few good ideas in the mix.
There are lots of bird's eye shots, inset shots and POV--a lot of great camera work, actually, as well as well choreographed action and a very good score.
After she becomes stranded in a small town, a young woman (played by Jaimie Alexander of "Rest Stop") discovers her arrival there was foretold a century earlier by the town's founding preacher and that she is an integral part of his impending -- and terrifying -- rebirth.
Oh, and there's a scarecrow that likes to kill people, too.So I waited too long to write this review and the film is no longer fresh in my mind.
But maybe the film isn't worth a thorough dissemination, as it really wasn't particularly good.
I don't know.Having seen both "Superstition" and "Horror Rises From the Tomb" this year, the idea of a prophecy that has an old religious fanatic coming back from the grave really wasn't a shocking new development in cinema for me.
it was still a man who believes in the supernatural who had turned to killing in order to get his way with things, so there's not really a huge stretch.What really struck me as the mistake with this film is the focus on the city of believers (not unlike "The Reaping" or any other film with a religious, isolated city) and not so much on the scarecrow that came back to kill people.
Some of us like to look at this sort of thing once a week or more (I'm not one of those people).
I'm not one to watch films if I become bored or if I dislike it.The highlight for me was a stupid bird flu joke, which, now, I cannot recall.
Now the first problem i had with the movie was the beginning scene, when they are putting the man on the cross, now would'NT that make you think that the man on the cross is the scar crow trying to get the women?
Some of it was confusing, the little girl's dad, is the dead Reverend, it's been like 3 months since the premier, and i forgot how the dad became the Reverend, that part really mad me confused.
JAIMIE Alexander is a young woman who inadvertently stumbles upon a town full of loonies who believe a legend about a demented preacher involved in human sacrifices.
The ghost of a town is the wrong place for a gal like Alexander to be, for she's in immediate peril from them and a scarecrow that comes to life.It's all very reminiscent of every horror film ever made about cornfields and "children of the corn" and skies full of menacing black crows.
The scarecrow angle could have been played for better thrills.BRIAN McNAMARA, as the town sheriff who knows more than he's willing to say about everything, is fine, but JAIMIE Alexander gives the impression that she's not capable or willing to give the role of the distraught woman more than a basic reading.I just happened to come across it while surfing cable TV and stayed tuned to see whether it developed into a logical fright film.
The cornfield scenes were extremely well photographed but there was a tacky "direct to TV" look about the rest of the film..
mullet sporting, human sacrificing, scarecrow worshipping, Talaxians that grow mutant corn which grows on killer vines.
It is Ethan Phillips that stars along Jamie Alexander and Brian McNamara in David Benullo's Hallowed Ground, an insufferable exercise in rolled out horror clichés.
Hallowed Ground, director David Benullo's second foray into directing since his nearly impossible to track down and deeply creepy (not in a good way creepy) incest fantasy, Cupid, left me with a few questions.
Does the pitch—or pitchfork— for an abortion like this go something like, "Yes, it's Children of the Corn meets Dark Night of the Scarecrow, you know a dense, indecipherable, mish-mash of every horror or slasher film made in the last thirty years." Who thought this was a good idea?
I don't know the man, however, my guess is he's a run-of-the-mill USC or NYU film school type, a typical, unthinking, and blinkered, North Easterner that has never spent time in the Midwest nor interacted with the people of rural America he so crudely portrays.
Red state America is populated by mullet sporting, human sacrificing, scarecrow worshipping, Talaxians that grow mutant corn which grows on killer vines.
Hallowed Ground starts out in isolated Midwest of the US where Liz Chambers (Jaimie Alexander) has car trouble & breaks down, Liz manages to make it to the small town of Hope where local mechanic Earl (Jim Cody Williams) says he will have to order a part for Liz's car & she's stuck there for the night.
Liz heads over to the local diner & meets newspaper reporter Sarah Austin (Hudson Leick) who is writing a story about Hope's sinister past & it's evil founding Preacher Jonas Hathaway (Nick Chinlund) who used to crucify sinners & leave them in the corn fields so their anguished screams would scare away the Crow's who ate the corn before Jonas himself was crucified & burnt by neighbouring townspeople.
Liz decides to join Sarah & they drive out to Jonas's house where legend has it his evil spirit still lurks, as Jonas himself prophesied he comes back from the dead to reclaim a new body for himself & he needs Liz to provide a baby for him to possess...Written & directed by David Benullo this originally premiered on the Sci-Fi Channel before going direct to video & isn't that bad a film I suppose but at the same time it's far from great, a mix of Children of the Corn (1984) & Rosemary's Baby (1968) if you can even begin to imagine such a thing Hallowed Ground passed 80 odd minutes harmlessly enough & it had one or two good ideas if nothing else.
I did like the idea of crucifying someone & stringing them up in the middle of a cornfield like a human Scarecrow to let their screams of pain scare all the Crow's away but apart from the opening flashback it's an underused idea & the climax where the soul's of the murder posses the Crow's to dish out some justice is a nice idea too but again underused & a bit random & how did Liz know the Crow's were possessed anyway?
At only one hour & twenty minutes long it has a good pace & never lets up but things start a bit quickly without much build-up, there's never any given reason why Liz is the chosen one or how Hathaway can possess a baby without it dying but not an adult or how the town of Hope was planning to get away with it especially after murdering the entire neighbouring town including the police force or even why the townspeople of Hope believed Hathaway's ancient prophecies.
Character's are alright, the plot is alright & it moves along at a fair pace so I guess you could do worse but you could do better too.For those who like to spot film mistakes there's a biggie at the end, when Liz & Sabrina are in that old dude's jeep listening to the radio look at the window next to them & you can clearly see the reflection of the camera filming them from the opposite side.
The first half of Hallowed Ground feels like a Halloween (1978) style slasher in which a Scarecrow novelty killer is running around bumping people off but thankfully the film abandons the killer Scarecrow idea & becomes a demonic possession flick.
The Scarecrow looks alright if a little silly, although competent Hallowed Ground isn't that scary or atmospheric but it is well shot.With a supposed budget of about $1,500,000 the production values are fine & it's quite a nice looking film although some of the CGI computer effects are poor as they are in most low budget films so Hallowed Ground isn't unique on that point.
The acting is OK, Hudson Leick is quite good & brings some life to her character but she is killed off early on.Hallowed Ground is a middle of the road direct to video low budget horror film that isn't terrible but at the same time just isn't that good either.
If you actually think about it the script falls apart but at least it's short & provides a few decent scenes & a one or two nice ideas..
It had descent production values, acceptable acting, and a generally involving pace.But as many other reviewers have pointed out, it's so ridiculously derivative that it's sometimes difficult to watch.
"Hallowed Ground" is decent for what it is, but is hampered by it's incessant clichés.**SPOILERS**Experiencing car problems, Liz Chambers, (Jaime Alexander) finds herself stranded in a small-town along with reporter Sarah Austin, (Hudson Leick) who is doing a story about the area.
Coming across Sheriff O'Connor, (Brian McNamara) who is also an outsider to the town, she is let in on the secret of the town, when a maniacal preacher a hundred years earlier had placed a curse on the town for their torturing and killing him to cover up his plan to sacrifice the locals to God for better crop production, and she's chosen to bear his seed to bring him back to life.
Even with a soft spot for the dark-brutal-history-of-a-weird-town plot used in many horror films, the buried town secret set-up and the religious zealotry, along with the intriguing prophesying and general freakiness of the town's population makes the plot amusing.
The film hits the ground running with its approach, as right away, the mythology is tossed into the creepy mythology as we see a nutty preacher condemning some poor sap, and then, with no warning, with it's crucifixion time.
This one even has some nice action scenes, with enough shooting, house fires and a tater sacked mask scarecrow killer that eventually becomes unnecessary to the story.
Overall, this one here is better than expected but still decent.The Bad News: This one isn't bad, but did have a couple of problems.
Way too much of the time, the actions coming from the film have a sense which isn't original, thought provoking, or meaningful enough for anyone to care.
This one contains a lot of parts, from the stranger just happening to break down in a town that just happens to have a prophecy concerning someone like them to come to the town right when they need them to is a little out-there as far as credibility goes, and it does make for some really groan-inducing moments.
The Scarecrow, as a main character in the movie, comes to life and begins to seemingly terrorize the town.
These few flaws drop the film down somewhat.The Final Verdict: Not all that bad, and having some good points to it, but too bogged down with it's clichés to come up as anything beyond the ordinary.
I mean, I'm willing to suspend my belief to enjoy a good sci-fi or horror flick, but not to a ridiculous degree.I am writing this as I watch the movie.
I'm not a video connoisseur, but how come all these movies involve city-boy cops, nutty religious folk, fields, and a gas station?
For the bedroom scene, I was hoping for a good horror-rape by a scarecrow.
This is supposed to be a horror movie, isn't it?
This is far too predictable.Okay, so it's more than an hour and a half into this mess (on TV, so that's including commercials), and I honestly have no idea what this movie is really supposed to be about.
In fact, it looks like the same footage of the burning house over and over again...PSEUDO-FLAW (this is derived from common sense, or really the lack thereof): You'd think, perhaps, one would consider getting the heck OUT of the corn fields, especially since the majority of the murders happened there.FLAW: Being a vegetable gardener and rather familiar with things like corn, I must pose the following: corn does not grow on a vine, nor does it have a deep or extensive root system.
Death by crows in a horror flick is good (though unoriginal now), but I distinctly heard the screeching of a hawk amidst these rather poor CGI crows.
Liz Chambers (a solid and sympathetic performance by fetching brunette Jaimie Alexander) finds herself stuck in a small town after her car breaks down.
Moreover, the sound acting from the capable cast holds this picture together: Chloe Grace Moretz does well as frightened little girl Sabrina, Brian McNamara likewise registers nicely as the earnest Sheriff O'Connor, Nick Chinlund has a field day as evil preacher Jonas Hatheway, and Hudson Leick provides plenty of winning spark as eager and unscrupulous tabloid newspaper reporter Sarah Austin.
A good try, but sounds like several others..
This film is photographed well and the acting is actually decent; but the story line seems so familiar.
This supernatural horror rendering has an attractive young woman(Alexander)being stranded in a seemingly quiet small town while her car all but dies.
Kudos to director David Benullo, who did successfully present a good project, albeit predictable.