In
the words of writer/ director Miles Doleac, Hallowed
Ground
is about a married couple trying to rebuild their relationship after
an affair. They travel to a secluded cabin and stumbles into a blood
feud between the Native American owners of the property and the
neighboring clan, who obsessively guard their land and punish those
who trespass on it in terrifying ways.
I
struggle to see this film as a horror, although it has slasher
elements here and there, without getting graphic. Hallowed
Ground
is more of a suspense thriller with occasional supernatural features,
but before you think this is a ghost story, let us assure you that it
is far more than it appears to be when you first start venturing into
the world of Vera, Alice and their new acquaintances.
This
film holds a lot of surprises, one of which is a decent plot. Do not
be fooled by the slow progression that helps us meet the characters
and the overly dramatic force-feeding of political correctness –
this film has substance and style. What makes the first part tedious
is the hammering on same-sex relationships and the judgement they
face as some sort of social commentary. Stereotypes – lesbians and
hillbillies (not together, sorry!) are prevalent in the first bit and
the film feels awkward. However, once the villain – expertly
portrayed by Mr Doleac himself – is introduced, the film starts
salivating before the bite.
Sherri
Eaken, previously seen in NCIS:
New Orleans
(2014) and Queen
Sugar
(2016), teams up with Doleac’s real-life spouse, Lindsay Anne
Williams, as her wife. The couple head out for a weekend away to
rekindle their relationship at a woodland cabin owned by a Native
American woman, played by Mindy van Kuren (Ridge
Runners,
2018, among many short film credits).
Little
do they know that they strolled into and trespassed on the wrong side
of sane when they accidentally breach the fence of Bill Barham, the
local psycho, bully and sheriff. At first, it seems like just another
wrong turn scenario for the couple, with the stereotypical heavy
Southern accents and dead animals thrown into the harbinger warning,
but that is where Hallowed
Ground
baits and switches.
Among
a mix of Indian lore (the imagery of the spirit
Injun
is awesome), Southern history drenched in bloody violence and a clan
of mighty white Christians with a proclivity for rather pagan-looking
rituals, there is the backstory. This gives the film a very welcome,
very rare attribute: a good story. According to the story, the pact
between the neighbors are forged in an old feud, but this paradox is
what makes things interesting with the outsiders involved.
The
film hits on several moral factors and it addresses the genuine
ignorance of hateful indoctrination and whether hate can be altered
with tolerance and familiarity. Along with making you choose your
side, Hallowed
Ground
keeps you shouting at the participants, which proves that the film
hits a nerve, even very gently.
Miles
Doleac, writer and director aside, is superb as the baleful enforcer
of twisted tradition reminiscent of a biblical misogynist. He
successfully provokes your urge to shoot him in the face, which, in
my opinion, makes for a solid heel actor. He is also responsible for
other gems such as The
Hollow
(2016) and The
Historian
(2014), again featuring Lindsay Anne Williams.
Hallowed
Ground
sports proper acting and the actors effectively sell their
characters, especially Ritchie Montgomery, who plays Sandy, the
groundsman. The viewer is drawn in to the moral battle between the
two neighboring groups and genuinely feel for the characters. If this
is a horror, it is victorious in managing to tell a story without
unwarranted blood spatter or whoo-girl titties.
Technically
sound and set in the beautiful landscape of Hattiesburg, Mississipi,
Hallowed
Ground
is a great watch that will have you wondering, resenting and cheering
while the blood flows and the women scream. It is a beautiful parcel
of thrills – Southern style.
-Tasha Danzig
