When all was said and done,
Shallow Ground may have been a little too shallow . . .
. . . at least in the storytelling department.
Aside from the fact that you never really get a grip for what is really going on until the last 20 minutes of the film, it was rather boring and didn't make a whole lot of sense. The film had some potential I guess, but just went nowhere with it.
The gist of the story is this - just as no good deed goes unpunished, neither does any bad deed. There is some sort of serial killer on the loose in a small rural town that is home to a Sheriff Jack Shepard (Timothy V. Murphy) who talks with an annoying Irish accent, his longtime (but now estranged?) girlfriend and deputy Laura Russell (Lindsay Stoddart) and a city boy turned country deputy Stuart Dempsey (Stan Kirsch) - who are all in the process of clearing out of the town for some unknown reason. As is Darby Owens (Natalie Avatal) although I am not sure what her purpose in the film was other than to be the newest victim of the serial killer.
There are a few characters that fit that "what?" niche in the film. For a good part of the movie the main attraction, the bloody teenage boy (Rocky Marquette) fits into that catebory as well. Turns out he is the culmination of all of the murdered persons coming back to get their revenge. Oh, there is also another bloody person, Curtis (Ori Pfeffer) that comes back to town to get someone who has done something very bad . . . but why only these two bloody people? That is a question that is never answered. And why are the bloody people coming back now? That is another of the plethora of unanswered questions.
All in all a good premise (other than the identity of the real serial killer), it was just that everything else about this movie pretty much sucked. Too bad too because the bloody boy was an original and interesting idea and the ending calls for a sequel. Maybe this would be an instance where the sequel could be better than the original? It really couldn't get any worse.
Shallow Ground Movie Cast and Credits
Directed By
Sheldon Wilson
Writing credits
Sheldon Wilson
Cast (in credits order)
Timothy V. Murphy ... Jack Sheppard
Stan Kirsch .... Stuart Dempsey
Lindsey Stoddart ... Laura Russell
Patricia McCormack .... Helen Reedy (as Patty McCormack)
Rocky Marquette .... Boy
Natalie Avital .... Darby Owens
Chris Hendrie .... Albert Underhill
Tara Killian .... Amy Underhill
Myron Natwick .... Harvey
Steve Eastin .... Detective Russell
John Kapelos .... Leroy Riley
Christine Avila .... Mrs. Underhill
Ori Pfeffer .... Curtis
Victor Campos .... Bus Driver
John MacKane .... Passenger #1
Tom Druilhet .... Bus Passenger #3
John Henry Whitaker .... Passenger#2 (as John Whitaker)
Sheri Foster .... Female Detective
Jeff Enden .... Mark
Todd Worden .... Young Harvey
Christine Boutros .... Harvey Victim #1
Anjeanette Carter .... Harvey Victim #2
Shayne Eastin .... Harvey Victim #3
Brent McEwan .... Bus Passenger
Kelly Cooper .... Bus Passenger
Rodrigo Vera .... Bus Passenger
Christian Badami .... Bus Passenger
Jennifer Herron .... Bus Passenger
Marshall Allman .... Victim #3
Eloisa De Laurentiis. .... Jessica Reedy
Heather Deschamps .... Victim #3
More Shallow Ground Movie Information
Shallow Ground Movie Review and Information Page at The Internet Movie DatabaseMore Reviews of Shallow Ground at Rotten Tomatoes
