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(2006) **1/2
Popular children’s book author, Claire Halloway has been struggling with recurring nightmares about a dilapidated country house, shadowy figures, and an overgrown marsh. After her shrink recommends that she take a sabbatical, Claire rents the Rose Marsh Farm house in a small rural town. This sabbatical proves to be anything but relaxing when almost immediately there is a sharp increase in her visions and nightmares. At the same time she begins to notice that parts of the Rose Marsh Farm resemble drawings from her children’s books. With the aid of ghost hunter, G. Hunt (get it?), and local newspaper publisher, Noah, Claire begins to piece together a mysterious incident from her past. Just what is a ghostly little girl trying to tell her and more importantly who is the malevolent ghost pictured above?
The Marsh is yet another rip-off in a series of Asian cinema ghost story rip-offs. There is nothing new here and if you’ve seen movies like The Ring, Dark Water, The Eye, JUON, etc., you’ve already seen much better versions of The Marsh. The “mystery” is not all that interesting although there are a few effective scares along the way. Ultimately The Marsh is ruined by its third act. For two-thirds of the film Claire slowly pieces together the puzzle of her childhood while frequently running into resistance by the Marsh’s denizens. The motivation, which at times includes attempted murder, for the townsfolk to keep the “secret” of the Marsh from Claire never makes much sense, as the consequence of Claire learning about the tragic incident from her childhood would not result in any culpability for anyone. Weak.
2 comments:
I think it's bizarre how many of these incidents are caused by the recipe of nightmares plus an attempt to relax and forget about the nightmares. If you're having dreams about a creepy rural house, why not go relax in Paris?
I'd like to see a movie shrink suggest to someone that they go find that creepy house and pretend to relax there, so that they can face the problem. You should start that up, JPX. You can call it CGT for Cognitive Ghost Therapy.
(And then of course be laughed out of your profession, which is a prerequisite for becoming a mad scientist.)
And now that you have a blue print for today's mad scientist - see Carnosaur review - pretty soon you will TAKE OVER THE WORLD!
(insert maniacal laughter here)
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