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Director: JT Petty
Cast: Edmond Mercier, Sarah Ingerson, Andrew Hewitt,
Kate Petty
Country: U.S.
Year: 2002
Running Time: 74 min
Format: 16mm
 There
must be something about the woods of Maryland that beckons
filmmakers and inspires frightful thoughts and images. Filmed
on a low budget in the woods near Elkton, Soft for Digging
recalls that other "woods of Maryland horror film" with respect
to showing the same independent spirit and knack for frightening,
but beyond those surface comparisons, it stands as a truly
unique and original film.
It begins innocently enough with "Chapter 1: In Which We
Are Introduced to Virgil Manoven…" Virgil lives what seems
to be a content, if somewhat lonely, existence in a cabin
in the woods, but his habitual daily existence is disrupted
the day his very bad cat runs off. While searching for the
runaway cat, he believes he witness the murder of a young
girl. Though the police can't find any evidence of any crime,
Virgil remains haunted and begins a quest on his own to solve
the mystery of what he saw.
Soft for Digging relies heavily on sound to create the mood.
With the number of lines of dialogue in the entire film being
able to be counted on one hand, it is up to the soundtrack
to tell the story and set the mood. With an intense score
and by moving what are normally background images into the
forefront, Petty is able to ratchet up the tension and the
terror just when you thought it was safe to go back into the
woods.
--Dan Krovich
Presented By: JT Petty
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