''Unhallowed Ground'' is a 2015 British

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

horror film that was directed by Russell England, marking his feature film

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many film makers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

outside of television. The movie had its world premiere on 25 April 2015 at the British Independent Film Festival. It received a limited theatrical release in the United Kingdom during June 2015, followed by a DVD release in the United Kingdom and Germany later that same year.

Plot

A group of male boarding school cadets, Aki, Rish and Danny, have been assigned with guarding Dhoultham School on the last day of their term. This initially seems like it'd be a boring, routine assignment that will pay off only with experience, until the cadets find that they'll be joined by some female cadets from another school, Verity, Sophie and Meenah. The teens quickly decide to throw an impromptu party, however their fun is soon spoiled when they realize that Dhoultham has been the site of multiple horrific deaths that date back to the 1600s, when many died from the Black Plague. The group soon finds that the school is very haunted and that the ghosts are out for blood. To make matters worse, they're not the only ones trapped in the school as would-be cat burglars Jazz and Shane have broken into the school with the intent to rob it blind.

Cast

Ameet Chana Ameet Chana (born 12 September 1975 in Epsom, Surrey, England) is a British-Indian actor. His most notable role is Adi Ferreira in '' EastEnders''. In May 2006 he took over presenting the Breakdown Show (Bhangra Music) on BBC Asian Network ( ...

as Jazz * Poppy Drayton as Verity Wickes * Marcus Griffiths as Aki Adebola *

Thomas Law Thomas John Law (born 17 December 1992) is an English actor. He began his career as a child actor, playing Peter Beale in the BBC One soap opera '' EastEnders'' from 2006 to 2010. He was the fifth actor to reprise the role, followed by Ben H ...

as Daniel "Danny" Gordon * Andrew Lewis as Dr. Carmichael * Rachel Petladwala as Meena Shah *

Morgane Polanski Morgane Polanski (born 20 January 1993) is a French-Polish actress, best known for portraying Princess Gisla in the History Channel series ''Vikings''. Early life and education Polanski is the daughter of Polish filmmaker Roman Polanski and F ...

as Sophie Dunant * Paul Raschid as Rishi "Rish" Patel *

Will Thorp Will Thorp (born 21 June 1977) is an English actor. Early life Thorp attended St Augustine's Catholic College in Trowbridge. He studied at Bath College and joined Musical Youth Theatre Company. Thorp was also a member of the National Youth T ...

as Shane * Richard Derrington as Dr. Richard Graystone

Reception

Critical reception for ''Unhallowed Ground'' have been mixed. Common criticisms for the film centered around its characters and scares, which ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' and '' Time Out'' considered to be ineffective. Dread Central gave a mixed review, stating that it was "a competent, but largely uninspired horror jaunt that, in whole, proves just about worthwhile on the strength of its cast and a smattering of good ideas (not to mention the seriously cool plague doctor design). But you certainly needn’t kick yourself too hard if you give it a miss." Nerdly and

Contact Music Contactmusic.com is an online magazine of cultural criticism based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, and ...

were more favorable in their reviews, as Nerdly felt that the film grew on them over time and Contact Music commented that it was a "terrifically atmospheric little horror movie that's definitely worth a look for genre fans".

Awards

* Best Horror Film Award at the London Independent Film Festival (2015, won) * Best Supporting Actor at the London Independent Film Festival (2015, won - Marcus Griffiths) * Best Supporting Actress at the London Independent Film Festival (2015, won - Rachel Petladwala)

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 4198034 2015 horror films British horror films British independent films 2010s English-language films 2010s British films