Fields of the Dead is an okay little ghost story - one that I could never get behind 100%, but I almost want to give it credit for what it doesn't do. So many of these low budget haunting flicks depend far too much on editing tricks/jolty visuals/etc. - it was nice to see one that was actually relatively straightforward for a change. And it would have been *really* easy to go found footage with this - they are out in an old barn/cornfield doing research for our main guy's thesis project. Just say you're documenting the research and - BANG! - found footage horror movie 65218-C. And while the effects aren't grand by any means, they never try anything too outlandish. I've given some movies a hard time for trying things that are clearly out of their range (be it budgetary/skill-level/whatever). So I think I kind of have to give Fields of the Dead credit for knowing when to say when.
Now, that's not exactly high praise; there is still some kind of stupid stuff and it really isn't all that scary/suspenseful, but it goes down easy. Sometimes that is all you need.
After an aggravating semi-"comedic" prologue that gets the requisite nudity out of the way, we get a cool credit sequence and are thrust into a van with our seven characters: students out to do fieldwork in an old cornfield for college credit. Their leader Trent takes the whole undertaking very seriously, as he needs it for his thesis. You'd think their van may break down, but they actually make it to the old barn that serves as their base for their soil research (just digging holes, from what I can tell). FYI the old barn *may* be have been the site of a Native American massacre many years ago. Anyways, some creepy relics are found, and some uninspired possessions and haunted shenanigans ensue.
The characters are serviceable - nothing less, nothing more. A few are likable, but with most of them you're just waiting for them to die. It's a pretty standard group - the prissy drama-queen, the horny frat-type guy, the tough/no nonsense girl. Nobody really gets an arc or anything like that - they pretty much just exist to find spooky stuff and maybe get killed. Their leader Trent (Mark Booker) was actually pretty enjoyable to me, although that was probably because of my own baggage. You see, something about the way he talks and even looks reminds me of the bark beetle guy from Birdemic. If you know who he is, maybe you can see why it was entertaining. In my own little fantasy world this is the prequel he never got - he was so torn up about the events of Fields of the Dead that he moved west to live a solitary life in the woods.
The best actual character is Cheryl (Mel Recker) - she's the one who is eventually taken over by the evil spirit. She's the only one who really gets to act, and does a fine job of it, switching back and forth from crazy (possessed) to scared (not) and back again. She gives the most convincing performance in Fields of the Dead, and it's not even close. The horny frat guy Alex (Mark Harwell) made me laugh a couple of times and had decent charisma. He's forced to deliver some real groaners, but does the best with what he's given.
The script is sometimes a little too clever for it's own good (the set-up and delivery of the verbal jabs come off as unnatural). Either that or it's kind of stupid. To wit - our characters just randomly finding things is the main motivating force in the story. One found object is directly responsible for the haunting, and another found item conveniently tells the entire backstory of the place. But there are a few genuine laughs, one good scare, and at least one person I didn't want to see die, so that's something.
This isn't going to please any gorehounds though. It's very much of the "swing a weapon off-screen and blood splatters up" variety. The ghosts aren't so much ghostly as just regular people you mostly see in flashbacks - otherwise they're just whispering to people (often times indecipherably). And they don't really kill people directly - there are a couple of accidental deaths. Pro-tip: if a ghost appears in your car, you should slowly pull over and come to a complete stop until the haunting has passed. I'm guessing "distracted by a ghost" will not look good on your insurance claim.
So I don't know. I can't say I really liked it, but it wasn't aggressively bad either. I needed to watch a movie, and it went down fine. It's the Miller Lite of horror movies! If you keep your expectations in check, there are worse ways to spend 90 minutes.
I would shrug my shoulders if someone asked me if they should watch this film.
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