Sadly Over-hyped

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

This is a very special horror film... because it's a horror film! This flick really does meet all the criteria of the genre... Secluded house in the woods; Check. Something strange happening in the woods; Check. Monsters of fairy tales and legend; Check. A newlywed couple with a newborn child; Check. Tension to create fear; Check. Atmosphere to give a nice spooky eerieness; Check. Special effects to make you shake and shudder; Check.The only thing this appears to be missing is a priest and a few teenagers, but hey! I can live without them.When I read the blurb of the story I knew I had to watch the film. Adam's (Mawle) new job as a woodsman in Ireland's last forest, brings his family to a secluded millhouse. On one of his investigations of the woodland, he comes across the carcass of a dead animal, which has a strange substance growing out of it. Taking a sample, he finds it to be a living organism... one that can destroy it's hosts cells. But before he can make the report other, more violent events occur. At first, he believes it's the locals as they see him as the enemy since he works for the men wanting to pulp the trees. But before long, he and Claire (Novakovic) begin to realise that it's not the locals they need to be afraid of.The film is beautifully shot and the opening sequence sets the atmosphere for the rest of the movie very well. Though the new family are smiling and looking forward to a prosperous future, the overcast sky gives the feeling of a storm ready to break... things are not going to be sunny for this family. The pace is quite meandering and builds slowly into soft peaks, this has the effect of letting the tension and unease get under your skin. Not just a hack slash and scream film. Along with some strong acting from the cast, it makes the film very enjoyable.The thing I liked about the characters is their ordinariness. This makes them more believable and easier to relate too. The only actor that appears to go a little over the top is the Police Officer, Garda Davey (Smiley), though I do know people of the same temperament as him so I can overlook it. It's the subtleness of the actor's and actress' portrayals that make this film stronger, especially Mawle, who does a good concerned wonder.However, there are a few drawbacks. The main one being the creatures themselves. these are meant to be the Fairies and Banshees, etc, of Irish myth. But, to me, they look nothing like you would expect. It would have been nice to see smaller Fairies and screechier Banshees, for a start. But these are minor things, they may have added a strength to the overall film, however, as they are, they don't detract the viewer from the story at all.If you're a lover of real horror films then this one is for you. It's one I'll be only too happy to watch again... and again...

A couple with a young child move to rural Ireland & meet hostility from the locals - but far worse horrors are to come from mythical creatures that live in the woods where their house is situated. There are plenty of scary creatures here and the special effects are adequate. But two things let this film down in my opinion. Firstly I did not like Joseph Mawle in the role of Adam. Not because of his acting ability, I just couldn't get into his character. Secondly the onslaught of the creatures on the family started too soon & therefore lasted too long. Towards the end I just wanted the credits to roll.

The Hallow. Here we have yet another film where the trailers make the film seem better than what it actually is, which is obviously disappointing as there is nothing worse than seeing a film that looks promising only to be let down. Now, I know the trailers for films are usually pieced together in a way to entice audiences to watch them (unless it's a film that people KNOW they want to watch regardless), but the point still stands...the trailer for The Hallow is better than the overall film.However, with that being said, the film (at least for me) wasn't a complete waste of time (I only said the trailer was better than the film...not that the film completely reeked) and it is watchable, but only just.The film has a good enough premise and plays on the Irish folklore of faeries/banshees ("baby-stealers") with the film-makers giving it a pretty good dark & grim feeling, and I'll admit that some of the atmosphere within the film is very nice. The unfortunate thing is The Hallow never got much better after the first initial 30 minutes or so. It never got any worse, but it didn't exactly take off either.I'm actually surprised reading reviews that stated the movie was fast-paced as I found it to be anything but fast-paced and it got pretty slow in parts. There were moments where it moved a long at a decent enough pace with some good tension to accompany it, but to say the film was "fast-paced" is a bit much I feel.I definitely wouldn't say that The Hallow is one of the best British/Irish horror movies as there are much better (28 Days Later, Hellraiser, The Descent just to name a few), but it's also definitely not as bad as some people make it out to be.If you're a fan of (or open to watching) British horror films - low-budget or not - then I'd say that The Hallow is worth a shot. Just keep an open mind and don't put too much expectation into it.

I usually trust IMDb ratings when there has been a relative high amount of reviews and when I saw the lowish rating on this movie (5.7/10) I was about to give it a miss however I was pleasantly surprised I did not. After watching the movie and reflecting on its current rating I came to the conclusion that some people expect way too much from directors and actors these days. I can only suspect these low ratings come from die hard horror fans. I found the setting and premises whilst not original to still be engrossing enough. A mystic Irish forest, a young family and strange neighbors. The lighting was fantastic and their was a plausible reason the family was there (the father was a tree scientist) and they were not just strangely seeking to renovate an random old house in the middle of nowhere - which is the premise for a lot of typical horror movies. I liked the hybrid mix between science and the supernatural. Having and explanation as to why there are freaky monsters running around it makes it more believable. The black parasitic sludge. Some people complain about the slow build up but I thought it was great suspense. The foreboding mood was engrossing. Yes there were a few cheap jump scares but hey most movies have them. Some people explained the characters were one dimensional however I thought the actors came across as quite believable. An occasional pot smoking scientific new father, a young mother trying her best to raise a child. They try to call the police at the first instance of real trouble (unlike most horror movies in which the characters seem to try to "tough it out despite the fact that there is some quite freaky stuff going on. I have to say I really enjoyed this movie and liked the UK/Irish production. I felt the characters were real and I would like to see more horror movies come from Europe. (Pan Labyrinth, 28 Days Later were all good). Europe has a lot of great superstitious mythology. I find these movies a lot more palatable than the shallow crap Hollywood churns out.