The Hollow

The concept before anything was actually written into a script may have actually had potential. OK listen there is a long list of b movie horror flicks from the 70s and 80s like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and the Blob. I can't even recall those comedic works. Maybe they were the same quality. I don't remember. All I know is the concept of a creature that comes out during Halloween is not new, but it's not a bad one, the writing however was atrocious, and the main actors were so beyond appalling, I feel embarrassed for them in 20 years from now this will surface and they will feel utterly ashamed for starring in this movie. But most of all the screen writer and producer and director who sat in their chair and actually went ahead with this. Unless the aim was to make the most atrocious film with the most atrocious actors ever on purpose. Then it was a major success. I can't even take this at face value, and I try to do that when I'm watching different genres of movies and not have different expectations. Ugh.

The cliché "I wish that I could have that time back" really applies to this title. It's formulaic and derivative in the extreme with little to hold your interest, even over the short running time.

You won't care about the characters, any of them. The dynamic of the three sisters is probably the biggest failing in this sorry tale. It just doesn't develop any credible sense that they are actually sisters and have a bond. The tried and trusted "falling out and friends again when the chips are down" story thread just didn't work for me. The story is paper-thin and not executed well in any way. It's in not remotely scary and the attempts at building any sort of tension fail miserably.

Please avoid. Life is too short.

Before I tell you what this movie was let me tell you what it wasn't. It wasn't scary, it wasn't a horror, it wasn't suspenseful, it wasn't thrilling, it wasn't intriguing, and it wasn't good. I didn't know it was possible to feel the complete apathy I felt watching this.

Here's what it was: it was terrible. Mind bogglingly terrible.

I know that movies have their clichés, I get it, but this movie didn't even remain consistent with the rules it established. A poor CGI, fire mouthed, tree limbed beast is killing all the Islanders. Gauging the corpses everywhere it is a pretty efficient killer--well until three clueless sisters come along, then it becomes a stalking, creeping killer. The type of killer that gives its prey plenty of time to run, hide or devise a plan. The type of killer that's easily distracted by other prey simply because it's on the screen.

I was simply amazed at the CGI monster's ability to make this movie last 85 minutes. It truly knew that it was on screen and it milked it for all it was worth. It stopped and posed elaborately. It growled and roared and screamed. It showed a full array of monster emotion thereby giving it credibility. Sadly, I don't think it will get a star on the Monster Walk of Fame. It's still no Blob, Alien, Predator, Pennywise or just about every other film creature. In fact it was just lame.

I watched another syfy production, around a year ago, Scarecrow, which I liked, the monster concept, the almost plot, acting the whole package got me curious. This one seemed to be a copy cat but I was wrong, really wrong.

The Hollow is a very weak movie, from a very bad script, to a director that couldn't do much, to actors that did not convince whatsoever, to plot holes and so many other things absolutely impossible to explain and so on, and so on. It got a 3 from me, probably its grade will be rounded up to a 4 and a little, but I honestly believe it deserves less.

We all know that syfy channel doesn't bring huge productions, but it is known to pleasantly surprise from time to time, yet right here, they looked like The Asylum. Bad all the way. The most absolute horror moves will be used in The Hollow.

Cheers!

Cora (Deborah Kara Unger) barely escapes a mysterious force. Her nieces Sarah (Stephanie Hunt), Marley (Sarah Dugdale), and Emma (Alisha Newton) arrive on Shelter Island to stay with her. The sisters are out of money after the death of their parents and the treatment for the traumatized Emma. Seth (Richard Harmon) follows them. They run out of gas and find a dying Aunt Cora in her crashed car. They rescue a heavily injured woman who tells them that the killings would continue until the end of Halloween.

Deborah Kara Unger is probably the only recognizable name and she gets killed off right away. The production is lower level. Harmon has great creepiness. The girls are functional actors. The cast could work but there isn't much style to the horror directing. The CG is lesser TV level. The creature design is pretty good but it should only come out during the night. It looks cheap in daylight. This is a lesser TV horror.