Hollow (2011)
An old monastery in a small remote village in England has been allegedly haunted by local legends for centuries. The monasteries ruins are marked only by a gnarled ancient tree with an ominous hollow and a spirit that is said to lure young couples to suicide.
Hollow is a film that has so much wrong with it but its failings are outweighed by the things it does right. First of all its British and not full of the usual American teen stereotypes. Its setting immediately made me think of Ben Wheatley's A Field in England, and in places it is rather creepy.
The fact the film is based on English legends and folk lore was also a bonus as this country and its brilliant history isn't really explored enough by horror films. The characters in the film aren't too bad and you can relate to them with one exception. A young woman who suffers from bad asthma yet never seems to know where her inhaler is , nor that she may suffer an attack whilst walking in our beautiful countryside. This irritation aside the rest of the cast are passable.
Its always nice to see people researching legends but this film gave the final scenes away early on when the cast came across an ancient wood carving in a book. The fun with Hollow though was in how the characters came to end up in the scenario depicted by the carving.
According to the cover blurb Total Film called it the British Blair Witch and it does offer similarities - the handheld camera work for a start, and the search for ancient evil being the other main consistency. On the whole i had fun with this film so if you enjoy English legends and spooky horror then you too may well get something out of Hollow.
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