Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

***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.

This movie kinda let me down. It seemed a lot like the movie Jaws when the Hopper was telling the Mayor to close parks was like when Roy Shider was telling the Mayor to close the beaches. They both said no way its summer! But the box says Hopper has to get into the mind of a killer and think like one. But he really doesn't do anything too interesting or exciting. I'm not even a little convinced he and his partner have any experience doing police work when they are in the office wondering how they are gonna solve this case. They just say lets do police work and we'll solve it. And whats up with all the old men with pool cues. I didn't even begin to believe that they were mob bosses. And then the guy who was doubting the guy the mob picked to handle finding the killer. With his hundred dollar haircut and that he thinks his Di@k is the size of a schoolbus. Come on what cruddy lines. I thought he was gonna hit him with a baseball bat like in the other movies. I got this movie used and wouldn't buy it new. I suggest you skip this movie. Oh and it was funny seeing the microphone above the scene where hopper is going out to get coffee.

***Possible Plot Spoilers***I adore Dennis Hopper. I question why he accepted the role of a police detective in 2000's The Spreading Ground. This movie flat out sucks and I'm about to tell you why.This is about a small town which is about to get a contract for a sports arena. One hitch: there's a killer on the loose and that is bad for business. The Mayor makes a deal with the Irish Mob to find the killer and make sure he never makes it to court. Det. Ed Delongpre has other plans. He wants this guy caught too, but he's on the level and believes in the system. He wants to see the system do it's job.That could have been pretty good. It could have been riveting. It was horrible. First, they label this guy a Serial Killer. Err no. There are specific criteria and none of it fits here. The bad guy has killed 5 kids the first day, and I think it was 2 the second day. This entire movie spans like a 48 hour time period.... Hardly Serial Killer action. I don't care what warped motives they give him in the end, Serial Killers do their deed over a long time span. They do not just all of a sudden kill 7 kids in two days. That's a Spree.Ok that irritant aside, the acting was atrocious. The only name here was Hopper, and he's the only one who came even close to pulling off his part. Unfortunately, he's kinda type-cast to me and I think he does psycho parts much, much better. This just wasn't a good vehicle for Hopper. It didn't allow him to do what he does best, which is to act all creepy. It's not that he did bad, it's that I've seen him do so much better. The Irish Mob guy, Johnny Gault (Tom McCamus - Long Day's Journey Into Night), who is in charge of their investigation is just over the top stiff. Contradiction? Not really. He is trying to play the cold, hard kinda guy and he does that to the point that the character is just wooden. Boring to the max. He didn't scare me. He didn't inspire any emotion at all except boredom. I cannot tell you how many times I checked to see how much longer it was til the end of this movie.The other thing about this is that it had the feel of a made-for-TV movie. You know what I mean. The poor production values, low budget, re-use of scenes to save costs. Just eh. Yanno? But, I feel like comparing this to those is an insult to those.Derek Vanlint was both the Director and Cinematographer on this project. He bit off more than he could chew. I can't help feeling that Hopper must have took this role as a personal favor to a friend. That's the only rational I can come up with. This was Vanlint's first job as Director, third as cinematographer. Hopefully this was a learning experience for him. I won't ruin the ending in case you do decide to torture yourself with this one, but I do want to say that they all dropped the ball here...even Hopper. In a scene that should have been emotionally gut-wrenching for the detective, it was just..well.. blah. I didn't see any of the angst at all that would accompany the total gear-change this guy made. Very disappointing.This 100 grueling minutes long and Rated R for violence and language. No kid under 13 is going to have any interest whatsoever in watching this, so no worries there. It's not suitable for anyone anyway. heh. Skip this one. You'll thank me later.

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.