The Marshes (2018) User Reviews

Beware the Swagman

[TwistedContent · 3/10 · 16 January 2020]

I love aussie horror movies, the backwoods setting has provided ferocious fun in "Wolf Creek", "Rogue", "Storm Warning" and many others - for those reasons "The Marshes" had been sitting on my watchlist for years before finally coming out. Sadly, it doesn't join the top echelon of Australian horror movies as it is, for the most part, either lacking or slacking.

"The Marshes" starts out fine, introducing nearly all of its characters in the first 10 minutes & showing promise with a decent, sun-kissed cinematography. All is still somewhat okay as we find ourselves in the bushes and the marshes, the aesthetic pleasures provided by Australian nature and wildlife keep it going, along with a decent lead performance by Dafna Kronental. Soon enough I realised the story won't go any further than it already has come, the cinematography starts turning in a big ball of close-ups, shaky camera movement & low-budget solutions that are not exactly 'cutting it'. Furthermore, the last ~40 minutes, which is the action part, takes place entirely during bright daylight, which might've worked on paper, but the result is - it didn't help the mood one bit. The original score's kinda alright, though. Kinda. Oh, and the villain, well, is an inspiring, (for the most part) blurry and shallow supernatural killer figure. As a result of all the flaws, "The Marshes" inevitably runs out of stuff to offer, clothes what it has in shabby filmmaking choices & eventually starts dragging, before ending on a respectable but highly underwhelming note.

I wanted to like "The Marshes", I did, but it just turned out to be so underwhelming. Yet another proof that cool cinematography and awesome locations can't save a movie if it doesn't have story, substance and important genre elements. I'd much rather recommend another re-watch of both "Wolf Creek" movies than this. With a heavy heart, my rating: 3/10.

When Wolf Creek meets Jeepers Creepers

[danielcereto · 3/10 · 15 May 2020]

I am a fan of movies like Wolf Creek and Jeepers Creepers. Here in this movie the director tries to copy and mix both but the execution is weak. First, acting is unreal and pretty poor. Second, the script is pretty bad. Nothing happens on the first 45 minutes. Last, I still don't know what I've watched. So, overall a weak b-horror movie. I don't recommend it. Instead try to re-watch Jeppers Creepers or Wolf Creek again.

Interesting Ideas but Falls Short

[Reviews_of_the_Dead · 5/10 · 25 January 2020]

This was a film that I checked out when I thought needed a 2020 horror movie as a featured review for my podcast. I thought there weren't any releases hitting the theaters so I gave this a watch on Shudder. I ultimately ended up not reviewing it for that, but made it a mini-review. Now I heard it wasn't very good and saw the rating, but still wanted to give it a chance before deciding. The synopsis here is deep in a remote marshland, three young biologists conduct research, but when they encounter evil, science ends and survival begins.

We start in a laboratory where Pria (Dafna Kronental) is talking with a co-worker. It is brought up that there's only one position between her or another scientist when that person comes in, Ben (Mathew Cooper). He asks if he can tag along with the expedition to the marshlands with Pria. She agrees that they can make room. That's when an undergraduate who is also going comes in, Will (Sam Delich). Pria seems to find him attractive as he takes the supplies to the car.

On their way, we see that Pria and Ben have done this before. Will is a good sport and tries to join in on their game of guessing the bird calls from an iPod. They stop off to get gas where Pria has a run in with a hunter, Zac Drayson. He seems interested in her until he finds out she is a scientist and thinks she's there to ruin the water like in other towns. She tries to convince him that's not the case, but he won't hear it. He also acts quite immature while she pumps gas or tries to get into the building to pay.

The trio sets up camp and then goes about their business. Over a campfire Pria and Will show interest in each and Ben tells them a tale about a Swagman who supposedly lived in the area. The next day, Pria and Will go off and encounter that jerk hunter from the gas station along with a lady, Amanda McGregor. There's more being rude from them as they're not supposed to be there as the land is a reserve. They did kill a pig and Pria takes a picture of them with it to report.

This wasn't the smartest idea. Pria starts to have some vivid dreams and this move into being terrified of noises around them. The two hunters are messing with their stuff, but there could be something out there worse than them. It comes with whistling a tune that Ben told them about.

Now this movie did some things that did hook me early. The first thing is that I like our three main characters are either scientists or a student so I was ready for some investigation. On top of that, I like the setting of this marsh with the high grass, because as I've said before, I grew up the country with cornfields that were taller than me which are scary and disorienting. Then on top of that we have these two hunters they encounter. The problem is that with all of this good set up, it falls flat for me.

The opening images are of tiny, microscopic creatures that would probably be in the water. So I immediately start to think that this could be an infection movie. Nope, I think this is used as stock footage as we get other images from animals so that goes no where. Then I thought we might get something like Deliverance. That movie is referenced quite a few times. They're bothered by hunters who Pria calls the male an inbred hick. This also really doesn't go anywhere except that they do mess with them a bit. This movie finally settles into what it wants to be, where it is skirting the lines of supernatural or just being a deranged person, but it never commits to either. To make it worse though, it uses a bunch of dream sequences that actually annoyed me.

I don't want to just beat down this movie, but despite its runtime of 95 minutes, it takes forever for something to happen. I don't mind taking the first thirty minutes to introduce us to what we have here. We do get to meet the main core of the characters during that stretch and establishing where they are as well as what they're doing. The problem then becomes that it takes another 15 minutes to finally get something to actually happen. It never hooked me and I found it boring due to this. We do get something that could involve time loops, but much like the other things, doesn't get fully explored. The ending actually made me mad for what it did as well. It is a shame as the villain is pretty creepy too, especially with the look and implications of them.

That takes me to the acting, which was a bright spot. I liked the dynamic that we get between Kronental, Delich and Cooper. Pria and Ben are butting heads because they're vying for the same position that there only seems to be enough money for one. He gets a bit dirty in calling her out for showing interest in Will. Since he's a student it is against the rules, but I'll at least give him credit for her warning. The sexual tension between her and Will did feel real. When things get tense, I feel that they're actually worried. Drayson and McGregor really don't have the biggest part, but I like how rude they are and it is interesting what happens to them both. Eddie Baroo looks really interesting in his role as well. He really fit and was quite creepy actually.

Moving to the effects, there really wasn't a lot to actually talk about. A lot of things that do happen are off screen. We get a little bit of blood, which looked real. I would say that the people that are attacked do look afraid. I would have to give credit to the cinematography here. They initially framed things as they probably didn't have the budget and this helps there as well as preventing us from nit-picking. The shears that the killer is using were quite creepy as well.

Now with that said, this film did have me hooked with some things, but then really did let me down. I don't like to bash a movie if I don't have to. This unfortunately tried to do too much without really doing anything. I just found it boring and where it went didn't go far enough. I did think that the acting was bright spot for sure and even though we don't get a lot of effects, it is framed in a way where I'm not bothered. The soundtrack didn't really stand out either, but it didn't hurt either. I did like the whistling song that we get as it is an interesting theme for the killer and kind of creepy actually. I personally found this to be just below average for me. Some good things, but didn't do enough and lost its way because of it.

4.5/10

Incredibly boring... nothing happens (no spoilers)

[mjanssens26 · 1/10 · 24 February 2020]

This is supposed to be horror? Please do not waste a moment of your life watching this extremely BORING film. You could fast forward the first 45 minutes before anything remotely interesting starts to happen. Waste of movie potential and only three main characters which really doesn't give film-makers much to work with. I think the film-makers must be the ones reviewing this. I'd like to give a higher mark for effort, but the movie's a complete bore. The actors are good though, but they needed a much quicker-paced screenplay. A somewhat rip off of Wolf Creek without the terror and interesting villain.

Did you hear the whistling?

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 5 July 2020]

Two Aquatic ecosystem biologists and their intern travel to a remote marsh to collect samples in Australia. Will (Sam Delich ) the intern tells a story about the area with the ghost of a murdered Swagman in swamps who whistles but not as good as Val Kilmer (The Traveler). They meet some illegal hunter sand later the Swagman.

The could have done something with the soundtrack to have made the film intense. They had all the parts of the hillbilly ghost slasher except that.

Guide: F-word. Sex. brief male nudity.

Picnic at Dangling Plot

[ofumalow · 4/10 · 16 June 2020]

This is a good-looking, acceptably acted film that goes the "Wolf Creek" route not just in outback-horror theme, but in taking a long time establishing character and slight warning bells before finally bringing the horror. Unfortunately, where that strategy hugely paid off for "Wolf," making the horror content all the stronger, here the long buildup only underlines how weak the payoff is. The "Swagman" nemesis of apparent Australian folk legend whoi bedevils three university field researchers here is treated too literally to pull off the supernatural menace intended, and too abstractly to be credible as a real-world one depicted (we actually see him gutting people, etc.).

All the urgency, tension, panic and so forth that should explode in the second half instead turn out to be things this director doesn't do well. The movie just kind of slowly falls apart when it should grip us ever tighter. I get the feeling that the filmmaker was attracted to using this flat, marshy outback territory as a sort of "Blair Witch" labyrinth in which people get lost-absorbed into a hostile landscape, so to speak. But the more blatant genre aspects he had to incorporate to get funding (meaning the Swagman hook itself) aren't things he has much feel for, or probably even wanted to do.

So you've got a horror movie in which all the things that should be supportive atmosphere (primarily the often-impressive widescreen cinematography, plus a pretty good score) are decent, but the horror that should be the focus becomes increasingly lame and convictionless. It's a movie that gets less scary as it goes on, yet the audiovisual elements remain just interesting enough in a semi-arty way that the silliness doesn't translate into "so bad it's good" fun. So, the whole thing is a bit of a wash--one that suggests talent, perhaps, but not for this kind of film.

Great atmosphere and sound effects

[omendata · 5/10 · 17 January 2020]

Not many Aussie horror films I have not liked and I did like this one but as the other reviewer points out the story needs fleshed out more.

Great atmosphere, photography and quite chilling kills and the sound effects were superb but without the bones of a story to flesh it out on it just gets an average 5/10 from me!

Slow burn

[NF68Golf · 3/10 · 23 May 2020]

Good production values, but the beginning of the film is so slow and dull! Shots of random roadkill and fish feel gratuitous.

An agonizing overuse of shaky cam, in an incredibly uneventful movie

[selfdestructo · 2/10 · 7 October 2022]

I would think by this stage of cinematic history, shaky cam would be downright passe. Not according to this guy! In The Marshes, you've got shaky cam to convey tension, suspense, action, horror, travelling from one place to another, getting lost (in the fore... No, this one has "The Marshes!"), hell, there's a sex scene with relentless shaky cam! I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Only the laziest of filmmakers convey action or chaos by shaking the camera around. It is simply ineffective and confusing.

After the first 45 minutes, I said, out loud, What in the F am I watching? (Only I didn't say F). It's a thrilling tale about microbiologists, in Australia... Testing water samples. Chew on that. Apparently the teacher has an affair with her student. Or was that a dream? Pria has this awful tendency toward dream sequences. Right up to the bitter end.

I have to assume this writer/director wanted to create a franchise-worthy villain. He's got a weapon of choice, he's a cannibal, he's big and imposing, big beard, er, he's Australian, and... has a hat. Frankly, they under use "Swagman" (it's implied this guy's an imposter, a copycat killer, so who knows?), he's presented in glimpses and silhouettes. There is no tension, you hear whistling (I'm talking franchise!), he appears out of the marshes, or drags someone away. I actually thought the rednecks were more threatening. They throw in an occasional glimpse of gore, or a dead animal. Oh, PLENTY of random shots to pad out this runtime, because one thing this movie is clearly lacking, is ideas. It really all amounts to nothing.

In one scene, Ben (Pria's surly assistant, not the love interest), is strung up, and they hatch an impromptu "ambush." WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE AMBUSH? One second they're hiding and watching in the bushes, then Ben is gutted, and what? Pria and Will have fallen asleep? Pria discovers two hooks and entrails... and promptly leaves Will behind to cower? Somebody, please tell me, what was the logic in this sequence?

It's really good for what it is

[DebraIonaVogel · 8/10 · 6 February 2021]

It's a movie about a couple of biologists and an intern out in the marshlands of Australia taking samples. Few characters, but great character development. Once the bad guy is introduced, I was really concerned for our protagonists.

It's a slow burn, I agree, but it'll get you to some very scary and uncomfortable places.

It's a small budget indie Australian movie with an exceptionally eerie and original soundtrack. It's shot very well and edited superbly. Great care was taken to deliver the best product they could. Bravo guys!

I don't know why there are such harsh reviews. It's not a zillion dollar budget blockbuster, but it delivers all the creeps, horror and scares! Loved the ending, great "twist".

I really liked it, give it a watch!

Fell asleep for half an hour

[patrickjames1313 · 2/10 · 18 May 2021]

When I woke up the movie continued and nothing happened. Won't scare you unless you have a fear of being bored to death.

Never given a 1 to a movie before.

[Rancid_Planet · 1/10 · 3 August 2021]

This should never have been released. Its like a bad student film. Story goes nowhere, nothing happens to anyone, the bizarre music that doesn't fit the scene, its just god awful, super long and boring.

A Pitful Premise Promises Initially Then Descends Into Sheep Drench Flavoured Boredom

[bretthernan-02733 · 14 September 2020]

Firstly, I'd like to apologise to the poor unfortunate actors in this 'feature', as I know jobs are hard to come by in Australia and it's not your fault you wound up in this utter stinker. You guys deserve better, and I hope each of you has a chance in the future to perform in a movie not so exploitative of the public as to sucker them into suffering what this film was, ie, completely trite trash unworthy of viewing by any member of the human race, despite how heinous their crimes.

This is a film that felt like the writer just gave up trying after the first few minutes, but went on regardless, and no one bothered to read the script until after they finished shooting and even then no one cared.

With all seriousness, I wonder how something this pathetic could ever have been made? Surely Shudder productions paid in advance, not caring what schlock they ended up with, just as long as it had 'Australian' written on it so they could sucker that geographic region of the earth into wasting their money paying a subscription fee, no doubt, to them, the artless charlatans.

The end product conformed to their Mills and Boon romance novel formula-style concocted awful cliche of movie style that they so often present, composed of mangy old three leggers they've rustled from the glue factory reject pen, to populate their list of 'Shudder original horror classics' (give me a break!), which they insultingly claim fits into the horror genre (like my head fits into a ballerina's slipper).

The only true horror was in my mind's eye as I suffered the comprehension that this bomb really had sunk so low as to attempt to turn the Australian folk song 'Waltzing Matilda' into a horror movie, and in doing so, stuffed it up utterly and completely. Of course this song's nature, as a public domain status tune and therefore free from fee type source material, suited the miserably stingy nature of this production, which gave nothing and reserved any imagination it might have utilised instead for something completely unrelated, (if at all endowed with such a faculty which evidently the 'executive creative team' were not).

I felt true fear only when I realised others would unwittingly also be watching, and when considering how much more of it I'd have to endure if successfully able to say I'd watched it all, which, in the end, I just could not.

What were the protagonist's motivations? Did not a hamburger appeal to his tastes? What flawed logic addled by use of far too many stimulants lead the writers to think him in any way at all frightening? Only in my confusion expecting to be entertained was there anything like fright. Was he a ghost or a man? Who really cares anymore, if at all, ever? Why put in any effort toward junk that falls so short of what even a bad film promises?

This film serves as an example of tedium of the highest order. I've never seen a movie before where I fast forwarded to the end to prove to myself the inevitable utterly predictable and unsatisfactory ending I'd assumed all along would and did come, and it did come, and then, exactly as I'd expected, but even more anti-climatically than in my despair I'd imagined it capable of failing to attain.

This film hearkens back to the days of the massive tax breaks offered to film makers when every man and his dog strapped on a discount film camera without reading the instructions, drunkenly started shooting and made it up as they went along, thinking only of the tax credits their novelty prophylactic business was going to receive as result.

It was as though the film makers threatened a ten year old kid on a bus to scribble out a picture of anything at all on the back of an envelope and that then served as their entire script, had so little thought or effort been put into making something worth watching (which it was not) and which, by writing this much about this dour lemon, has granted to it way more interest by myself and all the unfortunate others than ever does it deserve to receive, such an affront to the concept of entertainment does it serve.

Avoid at all costs, including self blinding, and, once again, to the actors, please, do not hurt yourselves-it was clearly not your fault.

This movie gives you nothing

[Das_Fenster2000 · 1/10 · 17 April 2023]

Typical Aussie setting, typical Aussie "you can run but you can't hide" type of film. Honestly, the acting wasn't bad at all, but the plot sucked. I said no spoilers because there's nothing to spoil. Some dude that seems possibly supernatural in some way by how he gets around and how quickly he gets around, but is some big guy with big guy breathing, clanking pans on his pack yet he seems to be able to sneak up on these people. The description says " three young biologists conduct research but when they encounter evil, science ends and survival begins." Well, is this "dude" the evil? Is it the marsh area they are in? Why does it seem like it's supernatural? Reading through the cast, the Swagman is the "dude" I'm referring to, then I see a "birdman" and was thinking maybe all of this is all for of this birdman creature that we never see, whatever that is, but nope. You get no answers, no story, no anything with this dismal attempt at a film that, at best, just leaves you uncomfortable.

Aussies do it again.

[petera00 · 8/10 · 21 January 2020]

Geeeze... Im falling in love with the grittiness of australia... Kind of sad that a lot of these marshes are probably burning but they continue to make excellent and gory films. If you have shudder... Check this out. You wont be disappointed.