SHALLOW GROUND

US, 2004, 97 minutes, Colour.
Timothy V. Murphy, Stan Kirsch, Lindsey Stoddart, Patti Mc Cormack, Rocky Marquette.
Directed by Sheldon Wilson.

Shallow Ground is a popular horror film, straight to video for enjoyment on television. It was written and directed by Sheldon Wilson who wrote and directed other horror films, Night Cries as well as Kaw.

The film takes place in a location called Shallow Valley. The police station is about to be closed down. The sheriff is about to move when a young man, covered in blood, appears. His appearance seems to be connected with the murder of a girl a year earlier.

The boy has an effect on all the people in the town, taking them back to their past, the murder of the girl, present dangers. What emerges is that this film is a ghost story, a prod to the conscience of the people in the town.

Modest, but in its way, interesting and entertaining.

1. The popularity of this kind of horror film? Murder in the backwoods? Combined with a ghost story? Predictable/unpredictable? Successful?

2. The rural area, the small town, the surrounding woods? The old police station? The old house? The modern homes? Caravans? The cars? A contemporary setting – but with the echoes of the past? The atmospheric musical score?

3. The title, Shallow Valley as the location? The population, the sheriff, the nearby town? The school buses? Used realistically to create a realistic setting? Symbolically?

4. The focus on the blood-covered boy, walking through the woods? His appearance, sense of mystery? Going to the police station? The blood and the flow from him, along the floor? The graffiti of no-one leaving, everybody’s fate joined together? His control over the blood, lack of control? His refusal to answer questions? His speaking in different voices? The fingerprints and the identification with the missing people? His touching the deputy and the deputy’s vision? The sheriff touching the blood? Seeing what happened? The kinetic power? His being in the station, his disappearing? His reappearing in the countryside, on the side of the road, crushed by the bus? His final reappearing to Helen, his killing her? The achievement of revenge? The composite photo indicating that he was the combination of those who had been murdered? The shock ending with the doppelganger killing him?

5. The sheriff, the tension with Laura, his having been unable to save Amy, her father blaming him? His relationship with Laura, the tension? Stuart and Laura and Stuart’s departure? The packing? The situation, the boy, the sheriff coming, becoming involved? The personality of the sheriff, Irish, morose? His investigations, going into the countryside? The clash with Amy’s father? His working with Stuart? In the countryside, the bus incident? The meeting with Helen, his being taken by her, his escape? His concern about Laura? The finale, the escape, the confrontation? Being free? Laura and her work for the police, the tension, mopping the blood, concern, ringing her father, her father coming, saving her? Her confrontation with Helen, in the car and the crash? Becoming free at the end?

6. Stuart, the deputy, wanting to leave? Being touched by the boy and having the vision? His helping with the investigation, driving, the bus crash, ferrying the passengers? The irony of the revelation of the truth, in the bus, the blood? That he was on the take, the murder of the drug dealer? The law official exposing him? The murdered man’s ghost killing him?

7. Darby, the blood samples, her tests? In the woods, the same fate as Amy, her friend? Helen killing her?

8. Helen, seemingly friendly, the chats? The irony of her house, the corpses, Jack discovering the truth? Her capturing him? Shooting him? Her madness, the grief for her husband and daughter, killing those connected with the accident at the dam, especially their children? The final confrontation, with the boy, her death?

9. Amy’s father, his responsibility, watching the video, his grief, his wife unable to help him? His death?

10. Detective Russell, the bewilderment in the town, his eventually coming, to see his daughter, saving her?

11. The incidental characters, the bus driver and his shock, injury, the passengers on the bus? The drug dealer in the town?

12. The importance of the visuals, the eeriness of the wood, the faded colour? The Gothic overtones? The symbol of the boy covered in blood? The ghost story – and the boy as a composite of characters? The meaning of the end when his image murders him?

13. The popularity of this kind of drama?