Site icon Philosophy in Film

Review: The Hallow (2015) ★★★★

<p>Ireland is slowly edging its way onto the world stage as a source for quality horror films&period; <em>Shrooms<&sol;em> &lpar;2007&rpar;&comma; <em>Citadel<&sol;em> &lpar;2012&rpar;&comma; and <em>Grabbers<&sol;em> &lpar;2012&rpar;&comma; among others&comma; have proven that the Irish know a thing or two about producing engaging&comma; frightening horror for international audiences&comma; while still holding on to a distinctly Irish identity&period; <em>The Hallow<&sol;em>&comma; directed by Corin Hardy&comma; who collaborated on the script with Felipe Marino&comma; is a film that combines aspects of several different horror subgenres&comma; namely creature-features and body-horror&comma; and centers the story around ancient Irish mythology and fairytales&period; The film opens with an excerpt from <em>The Book of Invasions<&sol;em> &lpar;c&period; 1150&rpar;&comma; a collection of poems that attempts to chronicle the history of Ireland and its people&period; The quote reads&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Hallow be their name&comma; and blessed be their claim&period; If you who trespass put down roots&comma; then Hallow be your name&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>At the start we see a young couple&comma; Adam and Claire&comma; played by Joseph Mawle &lpar;<em>Game of Thrones<&sol;em>&rpar; and Bojana Novakovic &lpar;<em>Devil&comma; Edge of Darkness<&sol;em>&rpar;&comma; respectively&period; They stand aboard a small boat sailing along the scenic Irish coastline&comma; holding their infant son&comma; Finn&comma; as they contemplate their new lives in Ireland&period; The family has decided to leave the hustle and bustle of London for a remote cottage in the Irish wilderness&period; Adam&comma; who is an expert botanist&comma; intends to study the surrounding woods&comma; presumably for the sake of preserving and protecting the ecosystem&comma; though this is never expressly stated&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While still getting settled in the new house&comma; Adam takes Finn out for a walk&comma; where he discovers a deer carcass in which strange microbes are growing&comma; creating spiky protrusions and thick&comma; black sludge&period; Always the diligent researcher&comma; Adam can’t help but take a sample back to the house for further investigation&period; Meanwhile&comma; their new neighbor&comma; Colm&comma; played by Michael McElhatton &lpar;<em>Game of Thrones<&sol;em>&rpar;&comma; insists that Adam must stop working in the woods&comma; claiming that it is private property&period; Naturally&comma; they dismiss him as an unhinged hillbilly&period; After the window in baby Finn’s room suddenly breaks during the night&comma; they suspect Colm&comma; but soon even more strange phenomena occur as Adam and Claire begin to unravel the mystery of the land on which they have chosen to &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;put down roots&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;859" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-859" style&equals;"width&colon; 625px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-859" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;06&sol;the-hallow-300x169&period;jpeg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"625" height&equals;"352" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-859" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">The actors play their parts brilliantly&comma; and give an extra air of believability to the story &lpar;The Hallow&comma; 2015&rpar;&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Like any good horror film&comma; <em>The Hallow<&sol;em> works to set up several dichotomies in the narrative&colon; the city vs&period; the country&comma; industrialization vs&period; nature&comma; human vs&period; monster&comma; and so on&period; These all work together to create a story that not only enhances the horror&comma; but reinforces interesting themes at the same time&period; In <em>The Hallow<&sol;em>&comma; science and fairytales&comma; which are so often put at odds in horror films&comma; are uniquely blended&period; The monsters in the film are products of both ancient fables and modern science&period; Despite this interesting blend&comma; the filmmakers still use the tired theme of over-confident &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;city folk” moving into the country&comma; where they are met by the strange and hostile &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;natives” who try to warn them about the evil lurking nearby&period; Needless to say&comma; their warnings go unheeded&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Taken solely as a horror film&comma; <em>The Hallow<&sol;em> is more technically impressive than frightening&comma; though it is definitely frightening at times&period; The film is beautifully shot&comma; creating a claustrophobic atmosphere in the dark woodlands of Ireland&period; The principal characters play their parts well&comma; portraying a loving couple who simply want to keep their child safe&comma; at whatever cost&period; Where <em>The Hallow<&sol;em> really excels is the back-story&period; Director Corin Hardy took what could have been a simple creature-feature and adapted it to be uniquely Irish&comma; utilizing combinations of different Celtic tales and folklore&comma; including that of the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;far darrig” and &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;changelings&period;” The whole thing works well&comma; and doesn’t suffer too much from the usual horror clichés&comma; though the second act verges on reverting back to the familiar game of cat-and-mouse between the couple and the creatures that lurk in the woods&period; Nonetheless&comma; we are witness to what turns out to be a surprisingly intimate portrayal of a family just trying to survive against an onslaught of ancient evil&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;860" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-860" style&equals;"width&colon; 624px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-860" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;06&sol;thehallow-002-820x410-300x150&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"624" height&equals;"312" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-860" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">The creatures are relentless &lpar;The Hallow&comma; 2015&rpar;&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>In summary&comma; <em>The Hallow<&sol;em> is a great film&period; It hits the mark in so many ways&comma; and while it certainly has a few shortcomings&comma; it exceeds expectations far more often than it disappoints&period; if you are a fan of creature-features or body-horror&comma; or you are simply intrigued by Irish folklore&comma; <em>The Hallow<&sol;em> is a must-see&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>The Hallow<&sol;em> is currently available to stream on <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;netflix&period;com&sol;watch&sol;80038964&quest;trackId&equals;13752289&amp&semi;tctx&equals;0&percnt;2C0&percnt;2C2bfb87ad9ee2ef3e308a9aadd27e8b303b7af886&percnt;3A96682b00479aa067f10820b98d15b40b73824460">Netflix<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Or it can be purchased on <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;amazon&period;com&sol;gp&sol;product&sol;B01L7YJ0PS&sol;ref&equals;as&lowbar;li&lowbar;qf&lowbar;sp&lowbar;asin&lowbar;il&lowbar;tl&quest;ie&equals;UTF8&amp&semi;tag&equals;mjones34880c-20&amp&semi;camp&equals;1789&amp&semi;creative&equals;9325&amp&semi;linkCode&equals;as2&amp&semi;creativeASIN&equals;B01L7YJ0PS&amp&semi;linkId&equals;d75f90c89fe04880f3c7614340049454">Amazon<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Rating&colon; &starf;&starf;&starf;&starf; out of 5<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Exit mobile version