Espíritus en el bosque

Saw 'The Hollow Child', being fond of horror/thriller regardless of budget (even if not my favourite genre) and being intrigued somewhat by the idea. Being behind on my film watching and reviewing, with a long to watch and review list that keeps getting longer, it took me a while to get round to watching and reviewing it.

Giving 'The Hollow Child' a fair chance with being interest and apprehension, it turned out to be far better than expected. Won't say that 'The Hollow Child' is a great film because it isn't and the potential, while not wasted, is not fully lived up to. Considering the large number of films seen recently being mediocre and less and wasting potential, was expecting worse and was relieved that while wanting in a fair few areas it was actually one of my better recent low-budget viewings.

'The Hollow Child' started off quite well, the first twenty minutes or so starting the film off on a promising, unsettling and atmospheric note that really does intrigue.

Production values did have some eeriness and nowhere near as cheap as expected, and the music, which not the most memorable in the world, didn't detract from the atmosphere.

The setting is effectively spooky. There are spooky and suspenseful moments and it isn't dull. The direction doesn't feel phoned in and the storytelling in some of the first half does intrigue.

However, the story was severely wanting in the second half after starting off promisingly. It is very disjointed and after the promising start the final third especially loses atmosphere, one loses interest and things start to not make sense and gets increasingly jumbled. Too much of the film is vague and doesn't explore some elements and story strands enough, some dropped soon after being introduced, go nowhere or serve much point.

Ending is unsatisfying, on top of feeling hasty there are too many loose ends hanging in the air. Got the sense that the writers didn't know how to end the film. Would have liked much more tension and suspense, scares could have been more consistent and some weren't surprising enough.

Found too the script to lack natural flow and with a bit of cheese going on, and the characters bland with some adopting some annoying and not always logical decision making. The support acting especially (the leads had their moments) is even more problematic than the second half's storytelling, at best it was poor and too often terrible.

Overall, lacklustre but not a waste. 4/10 Bethany Cox

This was a good movie for people in the age from 35-89:) Belive that is the reason the rateing are so low. Omnius, creepy setting. All god acting. A twist on an old folklore.

The haters will hate. As a film lover and director myself, the script was good, directing was good, story was executed well. It was suspenseful and the editor gets props from me.

This international folk lore tale has been told in many variations but with the same basic emphasis on a child kidnapped then returning and being different. This film however may be the worst rendition to date. Very slow through out and highly predictable. The main characters acting wasn't too bad but the performance of the cast as a whole was subpar. The special effects were not too cheesy but were virtually non-existent albeit a scene or two. This movie wasn't the worst film to watch for an hour and a half but it definitely is a movie you should avoid if possible. I would give this a poor movie rating.

It started off well but the last 30 minutes just ruined the whole movie. The computer-generated imagery is pretty bad , it looks cheap and someone who has very little knowledge in creating CGI was hired for these effects in this particular movie, don't get me wrong, it's not the first and probably not the last horror movie with bad effects , we've seen it in many new horror movies, poor CGI makes movies less real and barely watchable, this movie is no exception. The movie plot is just okay, we've seen it already, don't expect something new, don't expect something extraordinary, watch it if you're an horror enthusiast, but if you're someone who can't stand poorly made horrors, just skip this movie and find another one to watch.