Review of The Hallow (2015) by Brett B — 17 Jan 2016

As someone who enjoys a good "monsters in the woods" tale, there's stuff to like about THE HALLOW. It is quite nicely shot, complete with some wonderfully atmospheric moments and evocative locations.

The first half is rather leisurely paced (one could call it a slow burn), as it slowly builds up the supernatural conflict and lore, before launching into a second half that ramps things up considerably and turns the film into something of a siege story.

The execution of the story's various creatures is solid and appropriately creepy, accompanied by an excellent sound mix. The movie is flawed, however; the rules of the mythology are never clearly defined, so they remain fairly murky - supposedly "big" moments pass by with little effect because it's hard to follow the significance.

Also, the scenarios that play out throughout the film's second half will be familiar to most horror fans (as they owe a debt to things like NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and that ilk); while these sequences are effectively constructed, there's little real invention on display.

In the final analysis, THE HALLOW is an eerie creature feature with a great deal more polish and artistic flair than that usually entails, but it also doesn't feel like it fully hits the way it should.