 A successful children’s book writer, Claire Holloway (Gabrielle Anwar, Scent Of A Woman) is currently touring for her latest book, “The Swamp.” As successful as she is, though, Holloway is continuously haunted by visions of her childhood and events she no longer remembers. She does not realize these are memories, of course; she believes they are just dreams. Therapy having proven unhelpful, she decides to venture on a retreat to the sleepy town of Marshville in Westmoreland County. But Holloway soon realizes that the place she’s been dreaming about is the very place she’ll be living in … and all her nightmares are about to become reality.
Yeah, I know. Try not to fall asleep on me while reading this – as I did watching The Marsh.
There is a rule in writing (at least, in critical writing) that says for every point you make, you should have two examples to support it. I think the above plot setup is completely and entirely unoriginal, and I question if I even need to come up with a list of films to prove my point. I think it’s fairly safe to say that if you’ve seen any 10 supernatural thrillers, horror films or random episodes of The X-Files you are bound to notice more than a few similarities. But in actuality the whole haunted house thing has been most recently played out with East Asian horror films such as Dark Water, The Heirloom and a slew of others.
Anyway, once Claire gets to Marshville it doesn’t take too long for weird shit to start happening – and thank god for that. Her nightmares soon become daydreams. She sees spirits in her house. Thankfully, Geoffry Hunt (Forest Whitaker, slumming it immediately before The Last King Of Scotland), a paranormal investigator who just happens to be living in the same town, is able to help recognize that the day dreams Claire is having are actually repressed memories from her childhood. Even worse, now that she’s back, spirits have been let loose on the town, seeking vengeance on the townspeople who hurt them years before.
 Let’s talk about Forest Whitaker for a moment. Here’s a fantastic actor who won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Idi Amin in the aforementioned The Last King Of Scotland. This makes The Marsh something of an anomaly, because there is no way in hell I could imagine he was interested to this script unless it was at gunpoint. Like many potential viewers of this film, I was attracted to The Marsh because of his association. And you know what? Given his dialog and actual role, he doesn’t do that bad a job. It’s nothing stellar, though. Anyone could have pulled off the Hunt character, and it’s somewhat sad to see this stain his resume in the same year he won the most coveted award to which an actor can lay claim.
To try and remain as spoiler free as possible – you know, just in case you still have a baffling desire to watch The Marsh - I will refrain from delving into the plot further, but you probably already have a good idea what will happen with Claire and Hunt. Instead, I feel compelled to point out the films other central flaws.
 Actor turned director Jordan Barker is new in the game to say the least. Having only directed one film prior to The Marsh, I am willing to overlook some of the film’s staleness. What I can’t be so disregarding of is the fact that so many of the set-ups are stolen directly from other movies. The hallway stretches, the long static shots of doors, the slow creep-ups as the heroine approaches an apparition. All of this was shown in exactly the same way in The Others, and even that film took from better horror films. The way the ghost girl creeps around when she seeks vengeance is the same as in Ringu/The Ring, and the whole of the Marshville setting is filled with genre jump-scares so overused that even the average movie going public recognizes that they are blasé.
This film is credited to have a score by Eric Cadesky and Nick Dyer. I don’t remember a single note or cue from the score at all. That pretty well sums up my feeling on that.
Cinematographer David Perrault deserves some commendation. The Marsh looks fantastic, and the setting is ripe for supernatural exploitation. But everything is again stripped from other films, primarily the  American remakes The Ring and Dark Water, and most similarly The Forgotten. It’s a shame, really. It’s beautiful, it isn’t fresh.
But for all the film’s issues, my biggest gripe with The Marsh is by far in its script. The main “villain” is, when all is said and done, so passive throughout the film that the mean-spirited demonist feeling he shows in the climax is not at all convincing. In fact, any good in the story that I might have picked up on previously was completely lost in the contrived “how do we end this now?” approach in the final showdown.
I wanted to like The Marsh. I’m a huge horror fan, and I really like Forest Whitaker. But I can’t recommend this to anyone. Not anyone. If you’re thinking about renting The Marsh, don’t. There’s got to be something in our recent reviews section more worthy of your time.
 The
DVD Presentation
As usual, Sony releases another damn fine DVD. The picture, while predominantly featuring a blue/gray hue this style of horror film frequently enjoys, is exceptionally sharp and grain is very light. The audio mix is fairly immersive. The surround effects give a good sense of being “in the movie.” To bad it didn’t make me feel as though I was in a better one. For those that require them, subtitles are available in English, Japanese, Thai, Korean, Chinese and Spanish, and an additional stereo track is available in Thai. These Asian languages struck me odd at first, but then The Marsh seems to be inspired at least in part by the Asian Horror scene so perhaps they plan to market that angle. Either way, the DVD is awesome, even if the film isn’t.
And the Extras
Are?
Behind-the-scenes featurette – (26:19)
This is your by-the-numbers EPK feature. Everyone talks about how great each other was and how they had such a great time working with them. Much is said about how brilliant the writing and directing was. Blah… blah… blah.
 Previews
Forced but skippable trailers play when the disc is inserted for the silly looking Decoys: The Second Seduction and Attack Of The Gryphon. These are also selectable in a gallery along with trailers for Incubus, Clive Barker’s The Plague, Population 436, Hostel, Urban Legends: Bloody Mary, Seraphim Falls and The Messengers. Sadly, no trailer for The Marsh.
The
Bottom Line
Skip, The Marsh. It really isn’t worth your time. There isn’t anything original about it, the acting is neither exceptionally good nor bad, and there is not a single thing I can point my finger to and say, “That was cool.”
It isn’t the worst film I’ve ever seen by any means, but it’s as bland as they come. The Marsh is stale.
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