The Hollow

Although, the tale of the Headless Horseman has been told in previous films, Kyle Newman's directorial effort for "The Hollow" is not bad, but not good either. Set in the modern day, The Hollow tells the story of a young teenager named Ian played by Kevin Zegers. Ian happens to be interested in a girl at the local highschool played by Kaley Cuoco. Although she is dating the highschool quaterback (Nick Carter) she falls in love with Ian. But things go wrong when Ian discovers he is the great-great grandson of Icahbod Crane, and on Halloween, the legend of the headless horseman rides again and begins a grisly slaughter against the teenagers of the town. It is up to Ian to stop him. The Hollow lacks suspense and some occasional bad acting, but the story and the musical score kept the film at pace. It was interesting to see Joseph Mazzolo in a film, since he has not been familiar in films since "Jurassic Park". Also Stacy Keach steels the film has the mysterious graveyard keeper who knows the secret of the horseman and Ian's past, and it was nice to see Judge Reinhold as the abusive father type and Oscar nominee Eileen Brennan (Private Benjamin), as usual, looking mean and cruel. Above all, The Hollow, really could have used a tad more originality and maybe shifted a little bit instead of the standard teen slasher film, but you can't except much from a film such as this.

In the city of the Sleepy Hollow, a descendant of Ichabod Crane is hunted by the Headless Horseman in the Halloween night.

This silly movie is a reasonable slash movie. There are some good special effects, and the big secret to have a good time is to shut down the brain and do not think while watching "The Hollow". There are many stupid lines, especially from the character of Karen that makes the movie funnier. I only recommend this movie for viewers that loves slash movies and do not have a better option to see. It is impressive the numbers of favorable reviews released for this movie in IMDb by users with only one review, just to promote "The Hollow". They probably will give lots of negative votes to this comment, but I would like to advise IMDb users that this procedure is adopted in many bad movie, to mislead the reader with good reviews. Pay attention on the number of reviews written by the reviewer. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Halloween Macabro" ("Macabre Halloween")

The acting is what you'd expect from a group of young actors being led by a young director, and probably a production management group of those in their 20's. The older actors, like Keach and Reinholdt do well, but then they've got talent to draw upon. The story is interesting yet lacks a sense of build and suspense. It's unpleasant to see the filmmakers essentially use Washington Irving as a horror character, or I should say use his grave as a horror element. The Headless Horseman is a nice horrific image with an over-sized, hideous looking jack-o-lantern for a head (which should have been slightly smaller). He's not quite as scary as the Christopher Walken horseman in Sleepy Hollow, but still pretty good. He's also a little too sluggish on his horse, not really as quick as one would expect. The climax is weak and could have been better realized. It's a worthy climax in theory, but just not well-handled and with very limited action.

The Hollow is the kind of film you watch with a bunch of friends and family who have a good sense of humor. The story uses the archetypal Headless Horseman theme and does a silly bit with poor Washington Irving's grave, but Stacey Keach is priceless as the curmudgeonly Klaus Van Ripper. The name alone is a hoot. What makes this film better ,for me anyway, is that my family and I visit Sleepy Hollow every Halloween for their Legend Weekend festivities. The original Keach character still gives tours of the Old Dutch Church where the bridge used to be and we got some great photographs of him amongst the graves of the Van Alan family. Anyhow, The Hollow, despite some gratuitous gore is not a bad escape for a rainy night and a bowl of popcorn. In addition, the hayride in the film is actually modeled after the Haunted Hayride in Sleepy Hollow that the local High School has been hosting for years.

The Hollow was an OK movie with OK acting. Rent it you could get a little freaked. Kaley Cuoco from TV's 8 Simple Rules is in it, as well as the Backstreet Boys' Nick Carter (Who does worse than Paris Hilton did in HOUSE OF WAX). The movie originally aired on ABC Family, which in my opinion, it shouldn't have, because it was kind of freaky for being a family movie. The TV rating is TV-14 (D,V,L,S) and the MPAA Rating for it is R (for some scary images and sexuality). So if it's rated R why is it considered a family movie? Anyway, THE HOLLOW is an OK movie which I would spend 4 bucks to rent or just watch it on ABC Family's "The Thirteen Nights Of Halloween" (airing from October 19 - October 31).