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Despite the baby being a bit of an annoyance throughout the movie, it's not a bad one.

This is mainly a horror movie, by far, but it has a cool twist to it.

There aren't many actors in The Hallow, but I think they ones in it are pretty good and makes the movie what it is - which is a pretty good one. The actors makes the story of the movie more believable even.

The story is very different, the visual effects are nice, and said actors are good too.

I always comment that non-Hollywood are non-Hollywood. This is one of those, and as always it's refreshing to have some original characters in a setting that isn't a standard.

Pulling from ancient Irish fables and mythology, The Hallow, also known as The Woods, takes the fairy tale atmosphere and destroys it with malevolence and foreboding darkness.

Tasked with unfortunate responsibility of going into rural Ireland's natural landscape, British conservationist Adam Hitchens must venture into the woods and choose which trees are right for milling. The townspeople warn him that he doesn't belong, that in those woods are land belonging to the Hallow, tiny little ancient tree fairies who were driven from their sacred lands. Ignoring their warnings, Adam and his family quickly find out there's truth in mythology, and fight to survive the night against these demonic creatures.

The Hallow is an effective horror because it does not rely on one type of horror, imperative of those select creature genre flicks which always end up disappointing. The horror is multi-layered, initially relying on the foreboding sense of unrest from the superstitious townspeople. Then it morphs into a creature horror, but just when you think its simplicity has reached a peak, it turns again, this time the utter terror and cringe inducing body horror of a dark essence invading your skin. But it's not over yet, then it adds the complete panic of a mother protecting her child at the risk of losing him forever. With all these ingredients, there is a type of horror for everyone to get you squirming.

It's rather amazing that The Hallow is Corin Hardy's first legitimate feature film. His grasp upon mood and ability to integrate story with scares while having the eye to make a visually stunning film that is overcast and dark is beyond impressive, with similar praise going to the cinematographer Martijn van Broekhuizen. His use of natural scenery, muted tones, and shadows to hide and highlight the ominous creatures of the woods is that of someone far beyond his experience. It is no wonder that, though a relative unknown, he is slated to direct the remake of The Crow.

It is clear that no aspect of The Hallow was beyond Hardy's creative reach. Everything is subtle, muted even. The music is practically subliminal, building tension naturally rather than forcing an emotion that is not organically present in the subject matter. And yet, Hardy's film has clear vision and makes a strong statement by veering past the standard three Act format and skipping from the first to the third with no middle act to be found.

Based on the execution of The Hallow, I think Corin Hardy is going to be one of the up and coming directors to watch the way James Wan took over the horror scene. The Hallow may not be as a resounding scream of an announcement of talent as Saw was for Wan, but is surely the whisper to get Hardy started.

7.5/10

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The premise of "The Hallow" is nothing new: a family in an isolated house in the woods. Strange things start to happen. Is there a logical explanation (unfriendly neighbors who want the family away) or is there something supernatural in the forest?

Unoriginal concepts in the horror genre are not a problem per se; old stories can always be told in new, refreshing ways (see "Insidious" or "The Conjuring", for example). But "The Hallow" doesn't have the energy to keep things interesting until the end, despite a strong middle act and good performances from the cast.

The film starts OK, then it gets better and more tense. Some sequences in the second act - when it's fully revealed the cause of the disturbances - are genuinely frightening (plus, that poor baby suffers a lot). But then the script gets lazier and lazier, unfortunately. Inconsistencies abound, jump scares replace real tension, and by the end I was just bored. It's a pity. It could've been a small horror gem.

I felt as if this film needs to be praised as it carried out a very well execution for such an overused plot. You have your typical "family stuck in the middle of nowhere, creature activity" gimmick, fortunately played out smoothly in "The Hallow" I felt as if the characters were well acted, and had a nice potential going for them. We, audience actually cared for our characters, we cared for whether they died, or lived, something many horror movies with similar plot fail to do. As said before, the film has a clichéd plot, but this film manages to lift the cliché, turning it into a unique, new, refreshing event of execution. I felt as if, with the plot, the story, and events the characters were faced with was quite well, ans once again well played out. Finally, I was personally pleased with the creature appearances, I felt as if they did great for what they stood for, and I also enjoyed, along the lines, the depth of which the film created for them. They came out creepy, and succeeded in giving the audience tension.

This film succeeds in many good horror movie elements, and it also succeeds in giving some nice charm, as well. The film, also, explains itself, and turns a horror cliché into something more. Highly recommended.

"Elves are terrific, the beget terror" -Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies

Fairy tales were the original horror stories, so a return to the source is a refreshing departure from the Tinker Bells and Caspers of today. And the woodland creatures in The Hallows are creepy enough to fit the bill.

However, the oblivious, bumbling, pig-headed stupidity of the male lead will so frustrate you, you'll start to wish he'd die faster. His much-smarter-than-him wife is constantly calling his name like the teacher from Beuller as he completely ignores her and does yet another idiotic thing that gets him stabbed in the eye.

Further aggravation is to be had as the writers ignore traditional lore and begin making up their own rules, twisting the Fae until they more closely resemble contagious alien vampires. Freaky they are, accurate they are not. And then they start contradicting the guidelines they made up for themselves.

To conclude, the cool practical effects and few scary moments are not enough to save this ultimately irritating and dumb movie.

Regardless of how overused the basic plot, executed with very hit and miss success on film, is, 'The Hallow' did have a good deal of potential. The idea was actually a good one, the title was to the point and attention grabbing and Joseph Mawle is always worth watching. So expectations were hardly low for 'The Hallow', and actually did think this could be a decent film. Of course too there was apprehension, considering the standard of a lot of horror films seen recently not highly rated or divisively to negatively reviewed that turned out to be that bad.

A decent film 'The Hallow' turned out to be, and it is something of a relief to be saying this. Not a great film, with it running out of steam too soon and the quality set up so well before being lost. 'The Hallow' was quite good though for two thirds of the duration and while it didn't quite meet its potential it hardly wastes it either. Which pleased me having grown tired of the many potential wastes cropping up in my recent viewings and fearing somewhat that 'The Hallow' would fare the same.

Will start with the good things. 'The Hallow' doesn't look too bad visually, it's stylishly and atmospherically shot, has scenery that is pretty and atmospheric, has suitably eerie lighting, has editing that is cohesive and the effects at least didn't look shoe-string budget (certainly when compared to those from other films seen recently). It is hauntingly and not too intrusively scored and the direction has focus and momentum.

There is tension and suspense and a lot of genuine creepiness in particularly the middle act. That it is so in more than one way makes the execution fairly clever and fresh which is remarkable considering that the idea is hardly new. 'The Hallow' starts well but it's the middle act where it shines most where there are scenes that do unnerve. The creatures looked good and they did pose a formidable threat, would have liked to see them more though. The characters didn't bore or annoy me, while not exactly rich in character development there have been films that have done far worse regarding motivations and behaviours. Joseph Mawle commands the film well, standing out of an above average cast.

So it is unfortunate that the final act was such a significant step down in quality, to the extent that it was hard to believe it was the same film. The suspense and creepiness dissipates and confusion and silliness replaces them, both to an excessive degree. It becomes muddled, from too much being left vague or unexplained, and ridiculous.

Momentum sags badly particularly at this point, actually think that the pace was imperfect throughout but it was really only in some very uneventful stretches and some choppy storytelling that it did become bothersome. The dialogue is pretty weak, while the ending completely fails to make sense. Not many film endings recently have had me scratching my head, 'The Hallow' did that with me.

In conclusion, decent but let down by the inferior final third. 6/10 Bethany Cox

On the surface, The Hallow seemed like it would offer me something I always look for in horror - a unique experience. It has made a villain out of Irish folklore creatures, like Fairies and Banshees, which is not exactly a common subgenre. The film follows a man who looks for diseases on trees. He relocates to a small Irish village with his wife and baby in order to track a fungus growing in the surrounding forest. As soon as he does, his neighbor starts pestering him about staying out of the forest, because if you trespass on Fairy territory, they will come inside your house and steal your baby.

This movie attempts to give us a spin on monster movies by trying to weave science and fairytale together. Unfortunately, not enough attention was paid to how these two things are supposed to intertwine, and the result simply does not work - the science aspect of the film makes zero sense in the context of the fairytale one, and vice versa. So, instead of sticking to one of these two approaches, and developing it to a point where it works well, they half-assed both and we get nonsense that simply does not fit together into one whole. Not to mention that one of these two conflicting sides was lifted straight out of another UK horror film which is less than 10 years old, which executed it a million times better to boot.

I could have forgiven the ill-fitting (and, to be honest, way too basic) plot if the individual scenes took good advantage of the world the movie was trying to create. This leads me to the "mortal wound" of the film, the one that renders it creatively mute - its individual scenes. While the movie is not about a haunting, it follows every single "family moves into isolated haunted house" trope and then some. It was almost overwhelming. Seemingly crazy neighbor trying to warn family? Check. Exploring damp and dirty attic? Check. Baby monitor making weird noises? Check. Dog whimpering while chained outside? Check. Item dropped in the car by a driver who then crashes while looking for it on the floor instead of stopping the car or just waiting til they get home? Check. Creatures afraid of light, so you have to go outside and restart the generator cause there's no electricity? Check. Little blonde girl who looks like a zombie? Check. Every ounce of the movie was "horror 101", think Haunting in Connecticut or Amityville Remake or any other generic horror.

Even minor details which could have coloured an otherwise gray outing were foregone. The movie sets up fun "lore" as to what hurts the forest creatures and then just abandons it completely. So their skin burn if they touch iron metal? Well then this renders the ENTIRE last act of the film pointless, as the "conundrum" that the characters find themselves in would have been instantly solvable. But for the sake of having a third act at all, they just pretend that the characters forget what they learn instantly and never utilize the knowledge. Not a smart script here. The beginning also made me hopeful for the approach to the villainous creatures - they were never shown, with only shadows and silhouettes and body parts popping up here and there. This was successful in keeping them mysterious and should have been propagated to the second half. Instead, like some other recent horrors (Mama for example), the secretive tension is fully abandoned and by the end we get low- budget cartoonish CGI creatures in full glorious view every few seconds. Tension is simply incompatible with poorly animated fairies. The human characters were empty shells as well. The father shows personality exactly once in the very beginning and then abandons it. The mother displays none, and just does what the husband asks of her subserviently most of the time.

Overall, The Hallow is hollow of entertainment and creativity. I appreciate the initial idea of what the writer and director were trying to do, but the final product is a regression for the horror genre and is near the bottom as far as 2015 horror.

4/10

The dad makes the worst parental decisions every chance he gets. The mom is a space cadet with her head in the clouds the whole movie, no critical thinking skills. Both parents collectively ignored so many red flags that it made me aware that i was watching a movie. The infant baby was the best actor in the movie, dad should have lost custody with all of the child endangerment scenes. This guy literally puts his baby in a pantry and locks it to "keep him safe." Tells his wife not to check on the baby, then acts surprised when the aliens had taken the baby from the inside of the pantry. By the end of the movie I was rooting against the main characters (excluding the baby).

Have seen so many releases the last days concerning Halloween a lot of those releases were big failures but The hallow I could dig. A couple and their child moving into the woods are confronted by the tale of The Hallow. Naturally they don't believe a thing about it even being warned by the neighbours but slowly this flick turns into a rather creepy story.

Not that it becomes bloody but the creatures did remind a bit of The Descent (2005)and other creature features. It's also just on the edge of a fairy tale so typical for Ireland with those goblins and elves but the creatures here a pure evil.

I did like it because the effects were rather good. The husband being turned is well done. You won't be scared at any time but the story is good enough to keep you busy throughout this flick.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 3/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

This creature feature is quite full of jumps and is an interesting premise. Without giving too much away, I agree with the other reviews - starts out pretty quick, boils over, then leaves the pot dry... You find yourself rooting for the actors and hoping that everything works out for them throughout the movie. There is a building of the character that really helps keep it moving. If you like creature features and some good campfire storytelling, you will enjoy this movie. There's not a huge budget but the team used what they did have very well. My biggest complaint is that there are a few moments towards the end that could have been shot better and a little less predictable. The end gets a little too "out there" for me to give it more stars but I was very satisfied. The acting is excellent and the scenery is right on target. The creatures are a bit pixellated but still, this is a great movie to watch at night with all the lights off and a fire or some candles going.

The sad but honest truth is that I already have trouble remembering what exactly happened in "The Hallow", and yet it's only been 2 or 3 days since I watched it. I certainly don't want to sound too harsh because this little Irish horror tale benefices from an admirably dark & sinister atmosphere, fantastically horrific filming locations, and strong performances by unknown but devoted cast members. I guess the familiar plot outline and the almost complete lack of shocking highlights causes for "The Hallow" to remain unmemorable, but it's nevertheless worth checking out for fans of obscure indie-horror.

The description of the plot probably won't persuade anyone to immediately put "The Hallow" on top of his/her must-see list. A young couple and their newborn baby move from Belfast to a ramshackle old cabin at the edge of a remote forest, where the husband is assigned to mark trees for logging. Of course, they aren't heartly welcomed by the conservative locals. Of course, rocks are flying through the windows as a warning shortly after their arrival. Of course, the family dog quickly starts barking at "something" sinisterly moving between the trees in the backyard. I can list another handful of similar clichés if you want. What writer/director Corin Hardy admirably accomplishes, however, is that he remains fixated on bringing the Irish folklore legend accurately rather than reverting to a gory horror flick with hideous woods-demons and a high body-count. Throughout the entire running time, "The Hallow" remains a sober and atmosphere-driven fright tale with a few unusual and courageous plot twists. You have to at least respect that.

It has all of the attributes of a film that I'd love. It's a creatively conceived, independent horror film, beautifully shot on location in the forests of Ireland. It portrays a family under attack in a gorgeously scenic isolated location at night. It's got highly original story antagonists -- grotesque monsters who seem birthed from Irish folklore and science fiction both. They're rendered quite nicely with some great special visual and sound effects, and are truly frightening.

Yet, at times, my attention wandered. I'm not sure why. Maybe it was because the pacing was way off, maybe it was the story's bland parent-protagonists. Maybe it was because the modus operandi for the monsters was confusing at first. I get the sense that "The Hallow" might have been more enjoyable had it been just slightly shorter.

It was still good, though. I'd give it a 7 out of 10.

If you do watch it, then continue to watch through the credits. There's a really neat coda that adds a new and interesting level to the story.

A couple with a baby encounter hostility from the neighbours when they move to remote woods, but the threat really comes from the fairy creatures hidden among the branches.

Poorly developed concept that really acts as a showcase for the effects. It's well shot and edited, and the creatures turn up early and in their dozens. But there's no characterisation or motivation, which makes the story unenjoyable. My view is the change should have taken place early on, with suspense building as the couple slowly realise what's happened, and then unleash the beasts.

Credit to the actors for putting passion into this, but there's no way to make the couple likable or sympathetic, and the lack of story-telling skill takes the audience out of it at every turn as the implausibilities mount. Basically, big problems with the screenplay.

The music is accomplished but nothing special.

Overall, needs to go back to the drawing board, although I give it marks for production values. Hard to account for the metascore reviews and the decision to give this funding.

In Ireland, the botanist Adam (Joseph Mawle) moves with his wife Clare (Bojana Novakovic) and their baby son Finn to a remote house in the backwoods to study the local forest. He is warned to leave the place by his neighbor Colm Donnelly (Michael McElhatton), but Adam does not give attention to the man´s words. But soon he learns that there is something evil in the forest that wants Finn.

"The Hallow" is a horror film with great potential and promising story wasted by the terrible conclusion. The screenplay builds the tension perfectly, using few special effects. The climax is when Adam´s house is attacked by the evil creatures from the forest. But the writer did not know how to give explanations and conclude the film that becomes a lame mess. Somehow the conclusion gives the idea of being ecological but indeed it is terrible. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "A Maldição da Floresta" ("The Curse of the Forest")

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 don't know why this movie has such a mark. It is very good, atmosphere is so tense, it keeps you on edge throughout the movie. Warm recommendation!

About as scary as a field full of bunnies playing with skipping ropes and singing Gangnam Style (actually that is kind of scary), debut director Corin Hardy's Irish horror The Hallow certainly has an initially intriguing idea that very quickly within its short (yet somehow looooong) run time peters out into a downright laughable horror fable that is far too daft and po-faced for its own good.

After a nice set up of 10 – 15 minutes or so of creepy forest scenery, nasty looking black goo and an unfortunate deer, everything seems to be relatively on track for The Hallow but within a quick-fire succession of angry locals who are upset about work being done in their woodlands and warn of evil pixies, fairies or who even cares, laugh out loud road side attacks and some bizarre and extended home invasion attempts, The Hallow loses all hopes of ever becoming a successful horror genre entry in an abundance of daft and overwrought ideas and conceptions.

Centring his unbelievable and far from terror inducing plot around new parents Adam and Clare played un-charismatically by Jospeh Mawle and Australia's own Bojana Novakovic respectively, The Hallow neither has the characters we care for, a plot that stands up on inspection (overall this film seems to take place over an incredibly long night) or the nasties to make us shiver and even though some of the CGI and makeup effects of the woodland ghouls and gremlins do look somewhat nefarious, on close inspection there's just nothing in The Hallow that makes it either scary, interesting or on any real level engaging, stopping any chance Hardy's film had of making an impact.

Winning praise from certain critic circles and even winning the odd award, The Hallow seemingly struck a chord with selective audiences around the world and Hardy's name has cropped up in recent times as a director to keep a close eye on but for me and perhaps many others, The Hallow is a diabolically bad attempt at crafting an under your skin horror experience and a genuinely bad movie regardless of genres.

½ an unhelpful farmer out of 5

Good horror films like Hereditary and Midsommar maintain a constant sense of dread until the climax this didn't spend enough time building a sense of calm or backstory for the crescendo to land. A shame as the performances were completely believable.

Also whilst always preferable to CGI, the monsters weren't scary.

For me this is kind of type my favorite horror movies. Spooky atmosphere. Good acting. Good storyline. Just end quite silly. However this movie very entertaining. You can watch again and feel the same vibe. Well done.