You can't bury terror!
Hallowed Ground is a 2007 American horror film featuring Chloë Grace Moretz.Liz Chambers' car breaks down in the middle of a small Town with a Dark Secret. A hundred years ago, their founder descended into fanatical madness and crucified his town's sinners as scarecrows. He was killed by the residents of a nearby town, but vowed to return. Nowadays, his cult has reformed and is plotting to bring him back by their current preacher mating with a woman who bears a mark on her skin. A mark Liz has tattooed...
This film contains examples of:
- Attempted Rape: The preacher tries to force himself on Liz so she'll birth a baby for Hathawaay to possess. She stops this by smothering him to death.
- Big Bad: Jonas Hathaway, a fanatical Sinister Minister plotting to return from the dead.
- The Chosen One: Liz is prophesied to be the perfect person to birth a child for Hathaway to possess.
- Creepy Crows: Averted. Hathaway believed that crows were servants of Satan plotting to destroy Hope's crops. However, this belief is portrayed as inaccurate and the first sign of his madness. Meanwhile, the spirits of Hathaway's victims take crow form to wreak their vengeance.
- Cult: The main antagonists are a small town cult who believe the protagonist is destined to give birth to a body for their deceased founder to return in.
- The End... Or Is It?: The spirits of the cult's victims manage to slaughter them all, but Hathaway gets up again as our heroes drive off.
- Human Sacrifice: The cult crucifies sinners in cornfields so God will bring them prosperity.
- Loves the Sound of Screaming: Hathaway crucified his victims alive and left them to starve because he felt the screams would scare the crows away.
- Mandatory Motherhood: The baddies of the film are trying to make Liz birth a child for their founder's ghost to possess.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: These are freed from their dead bodies by fire and can possess living objects or people to interact with the living, but are most powerful when possessing a newborn and growing up in the new body. However, they are vulnerable to anything that would damage their current vessel. They can also take animal forms.
- Outliving One's Offspring: It turns out Liz had a child before the events of the plot, but he fell out a window and died at age 2.
- Pedophile Priest: After Hathaway learns Liz isn't a virgin, he decides to impregnate Sabrina instead, despite her being about 10.
- The Purge: In order to prevent anybody from helping Liz, the cult massacre any nonbelievers in the area, including the entirety of the next town over.
- Scary Scarecrows: The cult dress their victims like scarecrows before crucifying them. In the modern day, Hathaway possesses a scarecrow to pursue Liz.
- Sinister Minister: Jonas Hathaway, a madman who convinces the people of Hope to crucify people so their crops will prosper.
- A Taste of Their Own Medicine: When the people of Liberty discovered Hathaway's crimes, they crucified him like he did to his victims. However, they were merciful in that they burned him alive instead leaving him to starve like his victims did.
- Virgin Power: The cult try to make Liz birth Hathaway's new body because they think she's a virgin. When Hathaway finds out she isn't, he decides to impregnate a child she helped instead.
