Le sanctuaire

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.

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")

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

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.

One thing is for certain after watching The Hallow, Corin Hardy is a great new director. He achieves a dark, creepy and supernatural tone effortlessly. He avoids the mistake horrors commit far to often in modern times, and that is trying to achieve a general mood far to hard, to many films nowadays, especially in the horror genre, try and be something they're not by forcing tones and characters that just seem all to out of place. The Hallow doesn't do this, it doesn't forcefully shove dark tones down your throat, it simply sticks to the story and in due to course you are made fully aware of its existence.

The film itself is enjoyable, starts off slow and gradually builds speed like every other horror movie there ever has been. I tend to avoid the topic of predictability in my reviews, for many horrors it's hard not to avoid it. The Hallow however can't have any excuses, it's a completely unique concept which shouldn't succumb to being predictable, but oh how it does. It's unfortunate, it's one of a few flaws in a far from flawless movie.

The movie does however achieve a great deal of success in a number of areas, it's practical effects are incredible, even though it's CGI is...forgettable, the film overall stills looks tremendous, the cinematography in this film is honestly next to flawless, in fact it reminds me a great deal of the cinematography in 'The Grey' 2011.

The underlying message in The Hallow, I'm led to believe, is that deforestation will only lead to consequences on our selves as humanity. I'd like to think this film is smart enough to portray a metaphor amongst it's story. What I take from its message is that we are unable to control nature, and no matter how hard we try to avoid this fact, one day we will have to come to this realization.

The Hallow is a solid movie, the acting performances are solid, the direction is outstanding and the cinematography is beautiful, this movie is a lot smarter than most of the generic horrors that are forced upon us nowadays, it deserves recognition for this.

7.4/10