Digging Up The Marrow Review (US RELEASE)

29th Jan 2015

Director Adam Green plays himself (or a version of himself) in this pseudo-documentary style fiction about a team of filmmakers (notably Green and his cinematography Will Barratt) who catch wind of a character named William Dekker (Ray Wise) who claims to have found a doorway that monsters come out from.

Eager to capitalise on this story, Green and his cinematographer Will Barratt decide to follow the guy into the woods and film the results.

Word and promotions on the film have been kept fairly tight lipped so as to service movie goers with a fresh experience with little to no knowledge going into the film in order to make the surprises therein more of, well, a surprise. And to this end the so called marketing of the movie works a treat. Going in not knowing what is going to happen or what to expect does help – especially as this in large part a scary film.

Anyone familiar will Green’s work will delight in following the director in without the aid of a trailer or still collection online. Non-fans of the genre might need a little more persuading – but with a bit of luck, the right sort of word of mouth might make a few more fans of green out there.

Quite simply – fear is of the unknown in this film and there are a good few proper scares in here. To avoid spoilers we will simply say that the effects work is second to none and brilliant thought out; movement being particularly effective. The sound work is also a key factor. Green has used his limited budget and put it to good use and despite the documentary feel, has shot the piece well.

As for the cast – Wise steals the film with his nuts portrayal (as well as literally the only guy in the film not playing himself). Everyone else – who is playing themself do a decent job of reacting to what they are presented with.

The film is due for release in the UK in the summer. The age certificate will land somewhere between 12A and 15 (and we only say that because we are unsure of the swear word count). But if it lands a 12A with the content intact then Green has not only returned to proper frights but has done it for a universal crowd without ever feeling the need to fall on tired and worn tropes in recent horror film memory.

Digging Up the Marrow is a reminder of how scary and how much fin simply wandering around in the dark can be. You frighten yourself and your friends and set yourself up for some big laughs, and big scares. If you go into the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise.