Review of The Hallow (2015) by Orlando O — 04 Apr 2016

The Hallow has some sharp concept ideas that feel inspired by other horror films, it does have some thrills and some misses with the opportunities of being scary. It is still a fair horror film for trying at least. The idea of a family Adam (Joseph Mawle) and his wife Claire (Bojana Novakovic) and their baby moving into a house in the woods already sound like a perfect set up for a horror film. Adam is a forest conservationist, there reasoning being moved to an isolated forest area, after a few non-welcoming advice people in the town tell them like leave the area for their own good. The people in town believe a folktale of fairies roaming among the woods. One non-friendly neighbor tells them, he lost his daughter from the things that walk around in the woods. Adam refuses to believe the fairy tale stories from the town folks, believing it has to be some kids or people who are trying to scare others. Until the night, when the creatures come, assaulting the family, and are on the hunt for the baby.

The creature design and the practical effects were pretty neat, which they did not rely too much on cgi. The film would definitely fit in the 1980s category. The concept does get some inspiration from other films like Evil Dead, The Thing, and The Descent. The film overusing the forest setting, a family living in a house which is barred by a specific steel. One of the village folks gives Claire, a scary creepy designed book, which gives some story about the creatures. The film never goes into any detail, about the forest fairies besides, there is a black gooey thing that forms some pore and transforms anyone that it gets into contact with into something else. Definitely, looks like they got some of the creature design from the video game The Last of Us, in a way.

The downside about the film, it is not scary for a horror film. The direction does not give any momentum or surprising thrills to even put the audience on the edge. We see the characters hold off against the creatures in the house. Occasionally, see a practical creature hand sticking up from the ground and trying to grab someone. The best part is, at night time, the characters are in the forest and they see mysterious figures from a distant, as moments of lights shine on and off, and the figures gets closer. Now those moments are pretty creepy and the movie is so well at doing that. Sadly, there is not enough to even put it on a scary category. I feel like the film does fall a little apart by the time it reaches the third act, and Claire is escaping with her son while being surrounded by the creatures.