Legend of the Bog (2009) Movie Review, Trailer, Film Still and Poster

Ireland 2008
Director: Brendan Foley
Cast: Vinnie Jones, Jason Barry, Nora-Jane Noone, Gavin Kelty, Adam Fogerty, Shelly Goldstein
Rating: R
Release Date: 9 June 2009 (DVD)
Running Time: 1 hour 31 minutes 39 seconds

The Movie Review

Legend of the Bog film still 1


LEGEND Of The BOG
Storyline:
Cast:
Ending:
Overall:

Hello again there guys, I was so excited yesterday for having found another horror movie from Ireland. I admit I didn't get to see many of that. Plus, this time it tells about a local legend. For me, it's exciting to learn about other people's culture, especially pertaining something horror :-) Besides, Vinnie Jones is on the list of cast, so I guessed at first this movie at least will be something intense.

Legend of the Bog or Bog Body is as the title suggests it, is of course about the Bog in Ireland. Bog is wetlands mainly found Ireland and Denmark as a place that naturally embalm the dump bodies that have been tortured in the Pre-Roman Iron Age. A bog was believed by the ancient people as a place where no soul can't escape, it's a perfect place for the wicked or sacrificed people. Our protagonists, or more precisely future victims, are comprised of such unique parties, there is a sassy middle-aged American woman with her taxi driver, two foxy girls named Mallory (Olga Wehrly) and Hannah (Amy Huberman) who are cousins, and a talkative archeologists who studies the Bog, Professor David Wallace (Jason Barry) with the help of his sexy but uptight assistant, Saiorse Reilly (Nora-Jane Noone). They all experienced problem which make them eventually stuck at the same seemingly-abandoned house in the middle of the vast bog. A bold and heartless hunter (Vinnie Jones) turns out to be the owner of the house and he is not very welcome to the whole lost-thing. The Hunter's mission is to slay bog bodies that come to life as many as he can. Unfortunately, one of the bog bodies (Adam Fogerty), which is also the ancient warrior, has arisen and kills everyone on his way. It's only a matter of time before he encounters those clueless guests. What will happen to them all?

Legend of the Bog is simply put is another strong reason why we're bored at history class. This movie generously tells us the history of the bog through the Professor David's mouth. He tells us this, he tells us that, but the movie doesn't give us any strong reason to watch it till the end. Actually, the first scene is already a heads up that it would be a sucky horror flick. Now don't expect to see this movie as a 100% pure horror, it has the taste of comedy in it and surprisingly the music in some parts is very jolly similar to the dance festive of the middle aged Europe that my feet even impulsively follow the rhyme. It doesn't try to be entirely horror. But the jokes, which are supposed to be funny, feel forced. And so Legend of the Bog is neither scary nor funny. The bog warrior is so bad it's funny, it could scare a 5-year old boy for sure.

And take a look at the cast. Nora-Jane Noone from the spectacularly claustrophobic The Descent (2005) and Doomsday (2008), Jason Barry from Beyond Re-Animator (2003), and Vinnie Jones? How could they end up in this Bog, it's beyond me. What is more disappointing they seem tired and weary. Usually in this kind of awful movies, the director would put an actress who's willing to give it all to be the eye candy, but not in here guys. The few good things about this horror movie are probably the beautiful but eerie landscape of the forest and the bog. And also the colouring of the movie, and the scoring. The truth is, it feels more like one of Sci-Fi channel's productions. So my advice is, skip this film, even Vinnie Jones couldn't save this movie.

If you are interested more in the real story of the Bog instead of the movie, here are some sites that might interest you:
National Geographic: Tales from the Bog
Wikipedia: Bog Body