Fertile Ground (2011)

I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

Boring

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

Fairly formulaic story. A likable couple move into an isolated country house after suffering a miscarriage, wife is sensitive to ghostly manifestations and grows tetchy when hubby doubts her. Are the manifestations real or a product of her spiralling instability? The direction is very effective, very fluid, it is rare for the camera not to be slowly panning around events. And while the acting of the two leads is very strong (Leisha Hailey as Emily and Gale Harold as Nate – Hailey in particular provides a convincing essay on descent into total misery), this kind of story has been told many times before. It doesn't help that the ghosts are very solid looking, and that the undead William is played by Gale Harold in a wig.In the end, we are undecided whether or not Emily's tragedy is to blame for her own cruel madness or whether the curse of the house has been pre-planned all along.

The Director has a good eye for shot composition, and the pace of the film was good. Moved along well. Main setback was the lack of character development for the male lead. He was generally unconvincing up against the solid performance by the female lead Leisha Hailey.As a result of his lack of authenticity, the transition he goes through into the more evil version of himself felt forced, unnatural and unjustified. A symptom of bad casting, writing, editing (essential parts of his development could have ended up on the cutting room floor) or bad acting.The sound design was good but the dialogue had issues. Better sound recordist needed, or quieter locations, or a better dialogue edit, or a bunch of ADR sessions would have helped here. Not sure which dept was at fault. Ahh yes, you guys heard of this thing called "Denoise"" RX4 would have helped clean up your noisy recordings.Overall it was compelling, only for the strong female lead. All other casting in the film was mediocre.I loved the drift away section in the party scene. Total Magic !! Spend more time looking for the right actors and put some money into hiring a more seasoned casting department. Even on a low budget, if you put the time in, more ideal actors will emerge.

Fertile Ground (2011) Been on my watch list for a while, Couple move to home after the wife losses her baby, then move they move to a new house, Then wife see strange thing start to happen around the house and husband dose not believe. This movie felt like every other haunted house movie I have seen, I felt that didn't really got ground , this movie didn't not feel scary for one second, the whole movie was bit bland.It could be really boring no real plot in the movie, it could the be really bad script (Half of it didn't even make sense or it could have been the really bad acting from everyone in this movie, i would say all of the above. I wouldn't say the worst haunted house movie but it as got to be one of the most boring ones i ever seen. 4 out of 10

I was anticipating this film because I felt that what I saw in the trailer had potential. However...when I watched it, I was a bit let down. The character of Emily Weaver (Leisha) was very one sided, stilted, and over-dramatically acted. I felt that the direction of the film was lost in the amass of trying to be a supernatural thriller when in actuality, it was the fabrications of a mad-woman. The only character that I even cared for was Nate (Gale). I watched this film a second time after seeing the ending and it completely confirmed my feelings toward the character of Nate. To me, it felt like he knew that nothing was really happening and that his wife was losing it. Like I said, the direction was lost in trying to make this film something that it wasn't, I felt that the writers, producers, and director tried to sell a lemon as an orange. But the only real acting, I felt, came from Gale Harold's character. Basically, the film was ruined for me by the direction, the writing, and the character of Emily Weaver. Nonetheless, I gave this film 6/10 stars because I have to give credit to an actor when credit is due.