Director: Francesco Giannini
Writer: Derrick Adams, Adam Kolodny (Screenplay) Francesco Giannini (Story)
Starring: Carolina Bartczak, Yumiko Shaku, Mark Gibson, Bailey Thain, Julian Richings
Plot: When a debilitating sickness spreads across a long hotel hallway, a few scattered victims fight for survival, and try to escape from the dark narrow stretch of isolated carnage.
Tagline – Fear Goes Viral
Runtime: 1 Hour 20 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Hall starts as we meet a family Val (Bartczak), Branden (Gibson) and Kelly (Thain) who are staying in a hotel, where they meet fellow guest and soon-to-be mother Naomi (Shaku), who between them both have their own problems they are going through.
As the night continues, a mysterious illness starts spreading through the hotel, forcing the residents to suffer paralysing illness, which will have them crawling through the halls in a desperate attempt to survive.
Thoughts on Hall
Characters – Val is a mother and wife that has become trapped in an abusive relationship that she is planning on escaping from this relationship this weekend away with their daughter and is willing to be friendly with other people not showing signs of the abuse, she will do anything to escape once things get out of hand. Naomi is a pregnant woman that we see the early suffering of the illness, showing how much damage it will cause someone. Branden is Val’s husband that has control over her and their daughter sees him as a hero.
Performances – Carolina Bartczak is great in the leading role, showing us how much the potential escape could mean to her character. Yumiko Shaku brings the pain of the suffering to life, watching her crawl is agony can be disturbing.
Story – The story here follows a family and a pregnant woman whose simple stay in a hotel turns into a nightmare when a mysterious illness starts crippling the guests. This is a story that is trying to tell two main issues, the illness slowly taking over the hallways, which is horrific enough to show, we also look at how one person is trying to plan their escape from an abusive relationship and how they would need to make this happen. The jump between the two main characters shows the different struggles they are facing and leads us to a bigger message by the end of the film.
Horror/Mystery – The horror comes from seeing the effects of the illness, just how paralysing it is for anyone that is suffering from it.
Settings – The film is set within the one hotel, it seems like any normal hotel, which puts all the characters in a position where they don’t see any threat.
Scene of the Movie – The crawling.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Too many unanswered questions.
Final Thoughts – This is a horror that brings to life a real problem in abusive relationships, while showing an illness that could spread suddenly with devastating effects.
Coming to BLOOD AND THE SNOW FILM FESTIVAL 2020