This one came out in 2015, but I just got around to seeing it last week. It’s a curious and inventive combination of the Science-run-amok trope in Horror with the something-dark-and-supernatural-lurking-in-the-woods motif. Corin Hardy is a kindred spirit to me, although we’ve never met. (I watched the behind-the-scenes features with the movie, too.) He loves Harryhausen and classic Monster movies, and this love features heavily in his own work. He co-wrote and directed THE HALLOW, and will be helming the upcoming THE CONJURING spinoff, THE NUN (which bodes well for that film) and also the remake of/sequel to THE CROW, with Jason Momoa.
Fairies don’t get a lot of love in the Horror genre. THE HALLOW changes that. Are the nasty, visually arresting, plantlike beings something otherworldly? Or are they victims of an intelligent parasite, a fungus akin to that one that infects ants’ brains and turns them into zombies? It’s like that question of whether one should eat an ice cream milkshake with a straw or a spoon. The answer is “yes.”
Whether you prefer the spoon or the soda straw, you’ll find THE HALLOW a tasty treat. It delivers the goods, and Hardy shows that he’s got the chops to be a major player in Horror in the years to come.