Wordiezett So much average

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Micitype Pretty Good

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

TheLittleSongbird 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

Paul Andrews 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. There's a bit of gore, a few nails hammed through peoples hands, a pitchfork shoved through someones body & through someones throat. 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.

James Hemphill The film honestly isn't that outstanding, but I do give credit to the cast members, Jaimie Alexander,Nick Chinlund, and Chloe Moretz, they made the film bearable, Chloe being at such a young age did splendidly. About the film itself, it is nothing less of mundane sci-fi film.We have all seen the film before, crazed man back from the dead, goes on killing spree. The only twist being this one was a preacher, and he was a bit beyond insane when it came to sacrificing to "God" to keep away crow that had infested his fields. All in all it isn't a bad movie, but could have been much better, particularly the highly unbelievable CGI crow. I give the film a 7 out of 10, and that is being highly generous.

gavin6942 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. Therefore, I cannot make very good specific criticisms. Sorry. But maybe the film isn't worth a thorough dissemination, as it really wasn't particularly good. I enjoy Jaimie Alexander, so it was nice to see her in another horror movie (are you a horror actress or a TV actress, Jaimie?) but besides that... 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. So this time it was a preacher instead of a warlock or witch... 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. I didn't quite understand the scarecrow, but I wanted to see more of him (an maybe get a better background). People with cult beliefs just don't do it for me, unless there's some really, really good explanation (which there rarely is). I'd complain about the cop being in on the whole thing, but I already made that complaint today in my review for "Lake Dead"... just stop it already! Should I complain about the gas station being in on it, too? You know, like "House of 1000 Corpses" or "Vacancy" or many others? Do all these small towns take notes from the same textbook?Sure, you get a crucifixion. I like them, you like them... we all like seeing people nailed to the cross. Some of us like to look at this sort of thing once a week or more (I'm not one of those people). So there's blood. I don't recall any nudity, though... unfortunately. I mean, I like Jaimie Alexander with clothe on -- she's classy. But she had a friend in the film... if you're going to die anyway, why not just take your shirt off?Like I said, I cannot make very good specific complaints. But I wasn't impressed. Everything about this film reeked off some other films. Oh, scarecrows like "Jeepers Creepers" or corn rows like... "Children of the Corn"? And I've already made numerous other references in this review. I suppose if you're going to rent this, you're going to rent this. Some of you may even be gullible enough to buy it. But I want you to know if you're going to do it, it's not going to be because of me. My copy is getting less play than Richard Simmons at the Playboy Mansion.