Review of The Hallow (2015) by André D — 21 Dec 2015

Though not scary by the conventional definition of horror, Corin Hardy's The Hallow is most certainly an interesting project (compared to the slew of mostly lazy horror films this year), blending the young filmmaker's eye for atmospheric, mystical aesthetics with folk storytelling. Developed from around 2007 and inspired by a nature documentary, Hardy - currently attached to The Crow remake - merges Irish folklore with the unbelievably larger than life Cordyceps parasite to produce a slow-burn horror piece that incorporates family drama, slasher, home invasion and body horror tropes into a rather protracted, rocky experience.

For those unfamiliar with the parasite, Cordyceps are a species of parasitic fungi that - for a lack of a better word - 'infiltrates' a host, and progressively takes over said host; some forms of the fungi are able to completely 'control' a host's behaviour. In the horror genre, Cordyceps are largely underused as a storytelling jump-off point; the most famous use of the fungi was in Naughty Dog's critically acclaimed videogame The Last of Us, back in 2013, which saw the fungi causing the collapse of mankind after it mutates enough to control the human brain, and turning the infected into deformed zombies. Make no mistake that while The Hallow follows certain narrative beats as the videogame with the usage of Cordyceps, it is in no way a rip-off, though any innovation effectively ends here.

From several sequences in a barn to the third act in the forest at night, shot in tinges of blue and green, with a particular visual finesse in bringing the creatures that go bump in the film's darkness to creepy life, Martijn van Broekhuizen handles his position as The Hallow's cinematographer well enough that it makes sense why he is being retained as Hardy's DP in the remake of The Crow. And while the film is undeniably a visual treat and a directorial feat as a creature feature, The Hallow's suffers considerably over the poor pacing, underdeveloped characters, and relatively flat premise that exist solely to prop up the possibility of a sequel, which is exactly what the ending stinger does. Perhaps it's best that Hardy stays in the director's seat, while better writers pen the screenplay of his next film.