Director: Nathan Hendrickson
Writer: Nathan Hendrickson (Screenplay)
Starring: Kate Alden, Jesse James, Chelsea Farthing, Tony Doupe, Tonya M Skoog, Simon Hamlin, Dawson Doupe
Plot: While searching for her missing father, an emotionally damaged woman confronts her tragic past and a shadowy figure with sinister intentions.
Tagline – What it wants…is inside you.
Runtime: 1 Hour 35 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Too Chaotic
Story: The Hollow One starts when a normal looking family with a mystery about the mother Linda (Skoog) get a sudden visit from something from her childhood, take her and changing Michael (Doupe) the father, two years later the daughters Rachel (Alden) and Anna (Farthing) are trying to move on with their lives.
When Matt is released from prison after the accident, Rachel and Anna get drawn back, only to find their father and the other locals acting very differently than normal, leading them to investigate more about the past of their mother.
Thoughts on The Hollow One
Characters – Rachel is the oldest daughter of the family, on the verge of adulthood, she works when the first incident happens, this sees her move away with her sister, trying to get over the trauma of that night, which still haunts her, when she returns she starts getting message which lead her down a darker path of confronting what happened and learning the truth about her mother. Matt was the boyfriend of Rachel’s who was driving when the accident happened, he served his time in jail and now wants to make up the best way possible, he notices his own father is now acting strange as he helps look for answers. Anna is the youngest daughter and had been working with her father to learn about her mother’s past, she understands the clues better than the rest of the characters involved here. Michael is the father that had been working on learning about his wife, what he discovers only makes things get out of hand.
Performances – The performances in this film are not the strongest, mostly because the characters just don’t get enough time to develop through the chaos we are seeing. It isn’t so much that the actors are bad, they just don’t get anything to work with.
Story – The story here follows siblings that return home a couple of years after a tragic event, only to learn there is a more sinister force behind what happened all those years ago. The story has one major problem to start with, we have a big time jump to open, which is fine, only to introduce us and play out another ten or so minutes before another time jump forward, it just doesn’t give us enough time to get invested in the character we have been following from that moment, not understanding certain decisions. The story does try to have an interesting horror side to everything which does seem very interesting, only it just doesn’t unfold anything in an interesting way, nothing get solved in the way that makes it clear to the audience and we are left wondering just what could have been by the end.
Horror/Sci-Fi – The horror does come from the force that is trying to communicate with the people, they stay in the shadows, which only adds to their mystery. We get to see the sci-fi elements of the film by seeing just what is haunting the family and area, never over committing to whether it is from this world or another.
Settings – The film is set in a farming community, which sees how close the family are and how distant they become after the incident in the film.
Special Effects – The effects are used to create the mystery behind the creatures, they do come off well for the most part of the film, with the camerawork being used to add to the mystery involved.
Scene of the Movie – Shadowy figures.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The time jumps.
Final Thoughts – This is a sci-fi horror that does everything it needs to without getting to the level of intensity it could have, it struggles to let the characters develop properly, which just doesn’t help along the way.
Overall: This is a simple sci-fi horror film.
