Nice effects though.

Lack of good storyline.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Hallowed Ground was neither a good or great movie. In my eyes, I'd say it was mediocre. 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. On the other hand, while not bottom-of-the-barrel awful, the effects do still have a rather cheap look to them, the scarecrow is alright but not as menacing as he should be as a result. The characters are clichéd and not really that engaging and the script has a rather stilted nature about it, but the biggest let down was the story, which promised much but was too derivative and dull in alternative to thrilling and atmospheric. All in all, not good and disappointing but not as bad as some have made out. 4/10 Bethany Cox

"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. Arriving at the spot, they come under attack from a mysterious scarecrow, forcing Sheriff O'Connor, (Brian McNamara) to rescue them. As the encounters between them start to grow, she soon discovers that there's something strange going on around the town involving the townspeople. 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. Stuck in the town, she tries whatever possible to escape their clutches.The Good News: This one here wasn't bad when it got some good parts to it. The main point in this one is the spectacular plot in here. 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. These are time-tested tricks which come into great play here and make it really chilling. It's also filled with a large amount of rather cool-looking scenes in here. 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. Crucifixion scenes are pretty awkward and uncomfortable scenes, and this one slathers on the awkwardness of having a grown man nailed to a cross and planted in a cornfield. All semblance of terror is swept up with a cool sweeping shot of a series of crucified folks in a cornfield that is really impressive and unique. There's also an impressive scene of an apocalypse worth of crows towards the end, and there's a really nice aura given off by this sense. 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. The film basically became a series of chase sequences involving the followers that want to impregnate her against her will. There's some nice gore in here as well, with plenty of nailed bodies to walls, pitchforks through the neck, a few impalings, some gunshots and more in here, leaving some rather nice views in here. 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. The biggest one is that the story and setting weren't sufficiently scary and original enough to create a serious horror flick. 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. However, the fault lies in the fact to not to stick with the horror film staple of letting the audience create their own fear by keeping them in the dark. Instead, they present the scarecrow every chance they get. They generally show where he is and what he is doing at all times, which is usually standing around with a pitchfork waiting and stalking. The movie also betrays its one halfway decent chill, where the sight of blood on a minivan that knowingly contained a family. However, not too surprisingly, only the parents died, as the little kid managed to escape. Not enough movies have the balls to kill kids off on screen, but if you can't even bring yourself to kill one off-screen, then it really deprives of the sense of fear and dread. This one should've had the chance to offer up even more chills through it's ability to be that discriminate. 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. Worth a look for passing interest fans, or for those with a special appreciation for these films, while the others would better off with a more traditional fare.Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language

What is this movie about? 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. Prepare for a stream of consciousness review of this not-so-amazing film.Wow, a gasoline station. A corn field. This is absolutely unoriginal. The reporter isn't bad, but her demise is far too fast. Where is the character development in this movie??? FLAW: The lead actress started the police car when she first escaped from the corn field, but cops don't ever turn their vehicles off while on duty.FLAW: The cop left her alone in the police station, not to mention with shotguns conveniently mounted on a wall rack. Of course you'd leave a distraught young lady alone in a station with unlocked guns... This is just completely unbelievable.Whoa, suddenly a congregation appears, as told by the bland priest who seemed to be reading his lines off a teleprompter. The acting in this movie is sub par, to say the least."Take her to the gas station!" What? I'm not a video connoisseur, but how come all these movies involve city-boy cops, nutty religious folk, fields, and a gas station? During the crying scene in the police car, I assume this was an attempt at further developing our main character. However, it is a very lame performance and adds nothing to the film whatsoever.FLAW: Wow, those congregation folks sure do travel fast, don't they? They're all in the church when the cop drives off, assuming a 40mph clip. But those crazies know exactly where to find them, even though they're 'ordinary folk', not the undead scarecrow with powers, who we see again. Up to this point, he had been trying to kill the girl, but a tattoo changed all that. What?! 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? But no... a way too fast death by pillow of an undeveloped priest character.FLAW: Holding a lighter out to the left side of the body immediately causes a reddish spot to shine on you from the right. No laws of physics here! FLAW: There's that little girl Sabrina, now hiding out underground. The townsfolk are able to find anyone anywhere, but some how a CHILD outwitted them and escaped? Not probable.FLAW: Our heroine swears not to let anything happen to Sabrina, but then she leaves her to fend for herself. Ah yes, the pinnacle of protection there. She's going to run to the next town to get help from cops, most likely due to the fact that it worked so well in this town.The town down the road is unpopulated. The phones are dead. The people are dead. This movie is far too predictable. But at least our heroine showed up, just in time to find all the strung up bodies, which any other person would've seen, I think.Again, the conversion of the sheriff is obvious when he reappears. 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. A mad scarecrow killer? Some mad townsfolk killers? Somehow the scarecrow-reverend needs a baby overnight to come back to life, but he won't get it from this non-virgin womb. Don't forget the little-girl-trapped-in-the-shelter rescue subplot. Despite its predictability, this flick is confusing.Thank goodness for the arsonist child. Thank goodness for the wild and random shooting of the cop. We are grateful for the conveniently-placed pitchfork.FLAW: Notice the fire that quickly envelops the house but then burns consistently. 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. Therefore, where are these vines coming from to hold the prisoner? Neighboring grape fields? FLAW: Is that blood or BBQ sauce? Daddy looks great for having been nailed up on a cross for more than a day, especially considering the local crow population.FLAW: What is up with the fake crows... that live underground(?). 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. Those birds are not of the same feather.So now we're hitch-hiking. Apparently we haven't learned our lesson about strangers in a small town.PSEUDO-FLAW (again, common sense): The driver has no questions when picking up a bloody, scratched-up woman and a disheveled child. Perfectly normal, perfectly natural. The very end is the most confusing of all when we see that the preacher is still alive, then pan to the open road ahead, and then show the credits.Relatively well-filmed, but completely lame in all other aspects.

Every week I stop into Blockbuster and rent the new direct to video horror movie and every week I'm pretty much disappointed. Most are shot with non-actors in lead roles, some with home video equipment. Some are boring and some are painful. This is the rare gem of a movie in this field of crap.For a direct to video feature, the movie has scope. 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.