Hello my Video Nasties,
Another day, another horror film review. This time I’m going to be talking about the 2015 supernatural horror The Hallow.
Directed by Corin Hardy, the film centres on conservationist Adam and his wife Claire, who move to a remote village in Ireland with their baby son, Finn. They take up residence in an old mill house, surrounded by a forest, the very forest Adam will be spending most of his time working in.
This is something he continues to do despite a distinctly frosty reception from the locals and repeated warnings from their nearest neighbour, Colm Donnelly. As a brief aside: it genuinely infuriates me how often Colm is mispronounced. It’s Cuh-lum. NOT Kolm. But that’s not the point of this post, but please take it as a learning moment ha!
Ignoring every red flag being waved directly in his face, Adam presses on with his work in the forest, collecting samples of fungi and plants. At one point he’s doing this with baby Finn strapped to his back, because of course he is. I get it, sometimes there’s no other choice than to take the baby with you but…Come on Adam, the spooky forest, really?!
His dog, Iggy, draws his attention to an abandoned building where Adam discovers an animal carcass riddled with some very dodgy looking fungal growth. Now, the building could very well be full of asbestos, and he has absolutely no idea what that fungus is, but aye, by all means, have a wee poke about while your infant is strapped to you. I don’t think he’s going to win any father of the year awards for that!
Meanwhile, back at the house, Claire is busy removing the iron slats from the windows (solid choice), when Colm pays yet another visit. He warns her that the forest isn’t good for Adam or “the little one”. Understandably shaken, Claire brushes it off and carries on with her day.
From here, things start to escalate. Finn’s bedroom window is smashed while the baby is sleeping. The Garda are called, and the couple voice their suspicions that they think Colm is to blame. The officer assures them that it was probably just a bird. Before leaving, Garda Davey fills them in on the legend of the forest: “The Hallow” a breed of creatures including faeries, banshees, and, delightfully, baby stealers.
Adam, naturally, dismisses this entirely. And as with most horror films, this is the exact moment where everything ramps up another notch and then keeps going until the bitter end.
Overall, it’s a solid film with some great tension and striking imagery. The practical effects are well done, and it’s a good example of how smart shooting can make a limited budget work in your favour. For a small-budget production, it’s impressively executed.
That said, it is mildly infuriating that Claire has little to no personality beyond being “the wife” and “the mother,” while Adam is, at times, spectacularly dense opting for a kind of pseudo-macho stubbornness over the safety of his family. BUT if you can look past that, you’ve got yourself a tidy little folk horror with some genuinely creative creature design.
This one gets 3.5 skulls out of 5 from me and is definitely worth a watch if you’re looking for inspiration on how to do low-budget horror relatively well.
Got a different take? I’d love to hear it so drop a comment below.
Stay spooky!
👻SG👻
☽ SpookyGee ☾ 