Some things I liked some I did not.

ridiculous rating

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

***SPOILERS*** "Spreading Ground" starts off with a rash of murders of five year old girls in the oceanside town of Burman City. As the killings are connected to a single serial killer the city's chief executive Mayor Hackett, Elizabeth Shepherd, want's the unknown killer to be both captured and killed if possible within 48 hours in order to keep her pet project, by successfully floating a bond in the upcoming municipal elections, for a new sports stadium alive.Mayor Hackett's unreasonable order put her top cop Capt.Nieman's, Chuck Shamata, head on the chopping block in giving him, and those under him, the sole responsibility to catch or kill the rampaging child murderer within a time period of two days. It turns out that not only are the police interested in catching the killer but the local Irish Mafia as well. Getting their ace hit-man Johnny Gault, Tom McCamus, on the case he gets the low down on who the killer is by a pick pocket team snatching his key-chain during one of his kidnap murders.There's also Det. Ed Delongpre, Dennis Hopper, who's the cop put on the child murder case who has a slew of problems of his own. One of them is his estranged daughter Leslie, Leslie Hope,whom he hasn't seen for ten years who also just happens to be Mayor Hackett's personal assistant and publicist. All this makes Det. Delongpre as well as his partner Det. Micael McGivern, Fredrick Forrest, job in finding the killer more difficult then it already is.Were given a clue to the killer's mental state at the very beginning of the movie in a flashback when he was a young boy. It turns out that he's obsessed with water in that it cleanses both the body and soul of persons who are submerged in it like one being baptized. The killer goes a step farther then baptizing his victims by both bashing their skulls in and dumping their unconscious bodies into the local water purifying plant, where he works at, and drowning them.***SPOILERS*** With both Detectives Delongpre and Forrest and Irish Mafia hit-man Gault working independently they track down the elusive killer in the tunnel of the water treatment plant as he tries to make his getaway. We given a long speech by the killer in how he in fact saved his victims from a life of sin and depravity by mercifully murdering them.Det. Delongpre who was about to put the cuffs on the homicidal maniac just couldn't hold it in any more and did what he in fact prevented Gault from doing: Put a bullet in his hide and leave him for dead for the meat wagon, or police pathologist van, to carter him away.The movie just tried to be too surreal and avant guard, like European films of the 1950's, in it's message to really be effective as an average or very good straight crime film. There's was also a hint of police corruption and being blackmailed for it, by Mayor Hackett, on the part of Captain Nieman that really didn't add anything to the films storyline but only confused it more then it already was. The strange relationship between Det. Delongpre and his daughter Leslie also put a strain on the movie in it, for the most part, not going anywhere and just bogging it down. It took the untimely and unexpected death of Det. Delongpre's dog and companion of 13 years Burt to get both father and daughter together and finally bury the hatchet that they've been swinging at each other with for over ten years. Burt's death also got the two, as the film came to an end, to sit down at the local diner and put their differences behind them over a hot and steaming cup of coffee.

Just saw this movie and thought it was great. I also thought the acting was great. Not sure what to the make of the negative review but like all reviews it's just someone's opinion, NOTHING more. I would recommend it to anyone looking for an enjoyable but disturbing mystery/crime flick. It wasn't slow moving and stuck to the storyline well. It was gripping enough all the way through and didn't get boring once.I thought Dennis Hopper did a very good job as well the actress who played his daughter. The ending while not surprising, was especially important in that it questioned the workings of our justice system in which the mentally challenged is sometimes allowed back on the streets only to kill again.

the lowest score possible is one star? that's a shame. really, i'm going to lobby IMDb for a "zero stars" option. to give this film even a single star is giving WAY too much. am i the only one who noticed the microphones dangling over hopper's head at the station? and the acting, or should i say the lack thereof? apparently talent wasn't a factor when the casting director came to town. my little sister's elementary school talent show provides greater range and depth of emotion. and those fake irish accents were like nails on a chalk board. the only thing that could have made this movie worse would have been...oh, wait, no,no, it's already as bad as it can get.

Derek VanLint has done an outstanding job with this film. As I watched it, I imagined that either he had immense control over his director of photography or that he WAS one and the same, aside from being the overall film director. I was right. His eye for making a scene as intense as possible, and for finding what not to SAY, but what to SHOW, is amazing! Anyone who didn't enjoy this needs to re-evaluate just how many explosions or car chases they still need to see in their lifetime. This film does not rely on the overused junk that "mass appeal" films can't seem to do without. Also, Dennis Hopper is great in a role completely against typecasting! Frederic Forrest seems strained and pained as the overworked and overtired sidekick detective.