One of the worst movies I've ever seen

Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

Instant Favorite.

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

The premise of the story is simple: An old man living alone in the woods accidentally stumble upon a murder of a small child, and tries to convince the police that the murder has occurred. Though very little dialog is provided throughout the film, the visual narrative told by the camera's eye alone made the film quite engaging. The setting of the gray woods conveys a feeling of loneliness, which complements the quietness of the characters themselves. We can also sense helplessness in the old man's inability to convince the police of the murder, which parallels the silenced child's inability to tell her own story.True horror lies in feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, and irrationality. This film successfully addresses these elements by visuals alone, rather than relying on cheap sound effects or blood and gore that other bad horror films use when the narrative is weak.Cleverly, the story unfolds at a slow pace to build up tension for a few creepy and startling moments. The ending is also unexpected and believable. Reminiscent of Japanese horror films, such as "The Ring," and "Dark Water," or English horror films, such as "Lady in Black," and "The Innocents," this film provides viewers the experience of true atmosphere horror. I recommend anyone who enjoys a good chilling to the bone scare to give this film a try.By the way, if you haven't seen the films I just mentioned above, you might want to give them a try as well.

The plot is straightforward an old man living off a main road in woodland one day witnesses a man murdering a child in the woods. Soft For Digging follows the old man's attempts to try and convince the police that what he saw was not a figment of his imagination. However, there is a problem each time the old man guides the police to where the murder happen no corpse can be found. Soft For Digging has a diminutive dialogue which reflects the majority of the scenes of the film, an old man living by himself in a house. During the film I found that I was scared twice namely when the murdered child abruptly appears before the old man. The rest of the film I have to admit did not engage me; I found the tempo of the film a little too slow. The limited dialogue was not a problem. However, the development of the story and its conclusions, after watching the film, took too long. I feel more could have been made of the relationship, ghostly encounters, with the child and the old man. Alone in the woods at night unsure of your own mind can lead to some eerie situations, children are always scary as ghosts, see Dark Water.

This film, that received an incognito release back in 2001, isn't actually as good as it's minor cult following would suggest. That's not to say that it isn't good, however; it's refreshing to see something a little different and although the film is flawed, it does succeed for that reason. The story follows a reclusive man that lives in the woods and witnesses a murder while searching for his cat. The film doesn't have any dialogue, and is told in chapters. This makes the film different from the outset as it leaves the audience with only their own thoughts as to what's going and nothing is ever really explained. Other films, such as the worst film ever made; The Blair Witch Project, have tried similar ways of developing a plot and most have failed. This one doesn't really succeed, but it's probably the best example I've seen yet.The film is almost completely set in the woods, and there aren't many people other than our central character shown on screen. This gives the film an intense feeling of loneliness and isolation, which is always unsettling. The film also seems to have taken some influence from true cult classic 'The Evil Dead' in the way it is shot. The way that the camera moves through the woods is reminiscent of the 'Raimi-cam' that was introduced in said movie. In spite of having no dialogue, and moving relatively slowly; Soft for Digging never becomes boring and the scenes where we are allowed to brood with the main character are kept alive by what the audience thinks as we see him trying to continue with his life. The film features some very unnerving nightmare sequences, which are the movie's best moments and also come as something as a surprise in a movie of this nature. Nothing, however, can prepare you for the ending, which is as ambiguous as it is disgraceful and I almost guarantee that it will shock, repulse and surprise you.There's not really enough of this film, and what there is isn't really good enough to call it 'good' without lying. However, this is an impressive first feature from director J.T. Petty and I look forward to seeing better things from him in the future.

This movie will appeal to elderly women who may have seen the Exorcist in a daring moment of their middle age and were absolutely terrified into a near heart attack by THAT movie and are now trying to get that little jolt from watching something not billed as 'graphic horror.'This movie is NOT a horror movie. Well, it would probably scare someone who was shocked by 'Blair Witch,' but that movie is not worth expounding on here. But, elderly women would love this. It has an elderly man running around in his long-johns a lot. It has a a little girl with 'dead' make-up on being shown in quick, flashy shots, and we know that that kind of film making is scary itself! Did I see it? Was that blood? Is that the killer's eyes running through the woods? William Malone used that technique way too much in his recent horror flicks.I laughed at the inane lack of exposition of this film. It had potential and should have had dialogue. Yes, yes, it is sooooo artistic to have a movie with three lines spoken. Yes, but it is also highly pretentious. *spoiler* The 'horror' is an old man witnessing a supposed child being strangled. Granted, it's not SUCH a surprise since the director puts in these little 'silent movie' screens of text explaining the 'chapter' we are about to see, so I knew the kid was gonna get it, along with everything else that happened.I'm not knocking J.T. Petty's attempt at making a film. In fact it had many aspects that I found rather pleasing. The choice of music was excellent in that it was so melancholic and dreary that it added to the dream-like quality of the filming. The lingering on objects, or watching the action going on behind an object, that is creativity and I enjoyed that. The use of locations was quite nice and atmospheric. I see that this film was made in 2001 and he has another one from 2003, 'Mimic:Sentinel,' that I will certainly check out. I also liked the clandestine sense of humor displayed; the farting, the whole cat thing, the priests method of delivering his lines.However, for future, new, budding filmmakers, please note that you can get people who can REALLY act (and for free) if you try harder to get them. Perhaps a University, a local playhouse, high school drama teachers, etc. You can also have a 'silent' film if there is enough in the story to challenge the viewer to think (this films intention I'm sure) and have visuals equal the story, but to have it be all so.....vague, is a bit trying too hard to be innovative. Especially if you have characters walk up to other characters and not say anything but gesture instead. How often does that happen? Especially at a crime scene?A 3 out of 10 for sure attempt and probably a good future for J.T. Petty, but he may try comedy instead.