The Hollow Child

In a way .. this movie reminded me on "Changeling" .. which had a similar premise .. as in .. an imposter child (but without any demonic or supernatural context)

Now .. about the movie, why would i say it is "bad"?

The story itself is quite traditional, and a classic tale of replacing a loved one with a malicious imposter .. kind of a tale to explain changes in character, estranged friends or family members etc. ... but the movie falls into so many tropes and pitfalls.

The main one is .. as in sooo many suspense and horror movies .. the bad communication between the characters. We are to believe that the only exchange of information is the one we see .. when the story jumps over several days, if not weeks. So either the family really doesn t talk much at all, or they manage to avoid any deeper topics completely.

The time we do see them communicate, they do their very best to NOT tell each other anything informative about something very important that had just happened in their life. I find such behaviour too much to believe in most horror movies, hence ... lazy; - because it makes the story avoid more complex and intelligent ways to still put the protagonists in danger.

Instead we get a very stereotypical .. very 101 story without surprises.

Its a shame .. all in all, i found the "Changeling" more disturbing and in a way .. suspenseful than "The hollow child" .. considering that Changeling is a crime/drama .. and Hollow Child is suspense/horror .. this is not a very good thing.

The acting was OK, but the characters were way too one dimensional and stereotypical.

I am afraid to say that i would rate this movie below average for utmost laziness. It is one among thousands .. without any outstanding quality.

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.

"Run before it turns everyone against you."

The reason why I try to avoid seeing trailers is twofold. Or they are so revealing that you actually saw the film in advance. Either the trailer is inviting and arouses your curiosity, but afterward, you come to the conclusion they better limited themselves to making this trailer alone. Better yet. Perhaps they could have made an extended version of it because the film really doesn't have more to offer. "The hollow child" belongs to this last category. The initial idea had potential. The end result was disappointing again. Or maybe the subject was a little too limited to make a full film of it.

I think it's a bit exaggerated to call "The hollow child" a horror. It was never really scary. And the revelation of what's hiding in the dark, murky forest was so momentary and so late, that it seemed completely irrelevant. To be honest, I thought the main theme was the daily struggle of Samantha (Jessica McLeod) against the lack of understanding and the desperation about where she could feel at home. It felt as if the disappearing and reappearing of Olivia (Hanna Cheramy), daughter of the foster family where Samantha stays, was just a secondary subject. Although her personality changed. I got more shivers from what Samantha was doing to herself with scissors than from Olivia's behavior.

But no worries. There are also some positive aspects. The beginning certainly isn't bad and shows some atmospheric images of the notorious forest where the youngsters walk through after school. Apparently, it's also an enchanted forest, because after 30 years it still looks the same. Then there's the acting part. First of all, Hanna Cheramy delivers an admirable performance. For children of that age, a leading role is certainly not self-evident. But it's Jessica McLeod who deserves appreciation. Her acting never felt forced. The way she evolves from a rebellious teenager to a responsible daughter who sincerely regrets her mistake looked credible. On the other hand, there's also the irritating acting of John Emmet Tracy, the unsympathetic stepfather and Johannah Newmarch (A ravishing beauty by the way). The latter is portrayed as the crazy woman who burned down her parental home in the past because she claimed her returned sister was an imposter. To be honest, she didn't look that crazy.

"The hollow child" has its good and bad sides. But what it fails to do, is to create a creepy or frightening atmosphere. It's far from horror and will certainly not stand out among all other releases. Don't be misled by the movie poster. This radiates more horror than the film itself. You can call "The hollow child" a drama with some horror elements. And unfortunately, the end was too predictable. So if you have too much free time and you don't know how to fill it, you could give this average horror a chance. However, I'm sure that afterward, you'll use a statement that sounds like: "Maybe I should have spent my spare time doing ....".

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

Pros: Cinematography is well done Acting is exceptional at moments Practical effects were decent

Cons: The soundtrack of the film is a bit overbearing and often leads to more of a sensation of melodrama rather than suspense The feeling of dread and suspense doesn't really kick in until the later half of the film The film relies on multiple occurrences of look in direction, nothing there, look away, look back, somethings there. This happens to end up flawed since suspense is not built up enough for these moments to pay off

Overall, a good watch but I wouldn't suggest paying a full price of admission to a theater. The film feels more at home on a movie streaming service.