‘Nature has a dark side’
The Hallow – originally titled The Woods – is a 2015 horror film directed by Corin Hardy from a screenplay co-written with Felipe Marino. A British-Irish co-production filmed in Ireland, it premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival on 25 January 2015.
A US Scream Factory Blu-ray was released on April 5, 2016.
The movie starsvJoseph Mawle, Bojana Novakovic, Michael McElhatton, and Michael Smiley.
Reviews:
“The accelerating action becomes something of a horror orgy as the woods cough up a frightening array of creatures, and threats to the family come from all sides, including within. But audiences are unlikely to mind the overload given that the stakes remain high and the tension never flags in a film that delivers almost non-stop scares through most of its second half.” The Hollywood Reporter
“At the film’s best, it’s a pale imitation of Straw Dogs, The Evil Dead, or The Descent; at its worst, it’s a point-and-awe celebration of mundanity. And that’s a shame because not only is the film shot to perfection, thanks to cinematographer Martijn van Broekhuizen, but it’s also capitalizing on an intriguing blend of genres that sparingly co-exist today.” Consequence of Sound
” … a feature-length excuse for promising director Hardy … The production embraces a thrilling mix of practical effects, animatronics, puppetry and prosthetics along with subtle CG enhancements to create a vivid collection of nightmarish fiends (dubbed fairies, banshees and baby snatchers by the locals).” Variety
“The Hallow is relentless when the creatures come after Adam, his wife and his baby. They just keep coming and break through every barricade, poke through every keyhole. Big loud jump scares are backed up by first rate creature design and staging of the attacks.” Bloody Disgusting
“The Hallow bravely puts its monsters front and centre, but does an effective job of building up to their appearance to a degree sufficient enough for us to accept them without unintentional laughter. The old-school effects bring these fanged fairy folk to life in a way CG simply can’t.” The Movie Waffler
“The use of Irish lore makes for a change of pace in what is still basically a cabin-in-the-woods picture, though the hallow themselves owe more to recent fright-flick fiends like the crawlers of The Descent or the feral vampires of Stakeland than authentic Celtic myth. Still, they are effectively used for jump scares…” Empire
Fun facts:
The film contains an homage to the infamous splinter-in-the-eye scene in Lucio Fulci’s Zombie Flesh Eaters.
Trailer:
