Let’s start with the story. If you didn’t watch the trailer, a family from London (Dad, Mom, Baby) moves into a cabin in the woods in Ireland. Adam (the dad) is there to survey the woods for a logging firm. The locals seem to despise the family because they believe the woods are full of evil fairies called the Hallow. Adam and Clare, not intimidated by superstition and the constant foreboding soundtrack, ignore the townsfolk until the whole holy hell of the Hallow comes down on them, trapping them in the woods one night.
I know that sounds a little pedestrian and for the most part The Hallow starts out predictably, but there are definitely a few surprises in this modern fairytale. In the first half there is a lot of formulaic foreshadowing, you’ll feel like you’re headed for yet another tired ‘people trapped in a house with monsters outside’ story; just hang in there. I have to agree with the critical consensus that by the end you’ll want a follow up film to explore this mythology. This is one of the better entries in the monster genre recently and if you’re looking for a good jump or two and some gooey gore, The Hallow will more than satisfy. The film looks great and the monster effects are truly outstanding; I hope this is the start of a trend of practical effects based films from Director Corin Hardy.
The disc includes a bounty of special features including a ‘making of’ featurette, Director’s Storyboards, Illustrations, Director’s Sketchbook, and creature concepts.
Adam Ruhl is a writer and life long Cinephile. He is the Executive
Cinema Editor of Pop Culture Beast’s Austin branch; covering festivals,
conventions, and new releases. When not filing reports, Adam can be
found stalking Alamo Drafthouse Programmers for leads on upcoming
DrafthouseFilms titles. Adam once blocked Harry Knowles entrance to a
theater until he was given extra tickets to a Roman Polanski movie.