With a tight run time of 80 minutes, Babak Anvari’s Hallow Road manages to pack a punch in this gripping story of nightmares.
When Maddie (Rosamund Pike) and Frank (Matthew Rhys) are frantically woken up at 2am by a call from their daughter, Alice (Megan McDonnell), they are shocked to learn that she had hit a girl with her father’s car an hour away from their home.
From here on, the audience is placed directly in the backseat of the car with Maddie and Frank, as they hurriedly make their way to Alice, keeping tabs on her emotional state and what is happening around her through the phone. We find out that after an argument at dinner that evening, Alice had abruptly left the house and never came back; only to have found herself in the middle of Hallow Road, deep in the forest.
Maddie (who so happens to be a paramedic) tries to guide Alice through CPR in hopes to revive the girl and save her life, unfortunately to no avail. And in an unsurprising turn of events, we soon discover that Alice hadn’t called the ambulance or the police prior – despite her telling her parents she had done so – in fear that she would get in trouble.
As we uncover more about the night, we learn that Alice had also fallen pregnant with her seemingly deadbeat boyfriend, which was the initial cause of the fight with Maddie and Frank. We also find out that Alice was not completely sober when the fatal accident had first taken place and was under the influence of MDMA prior to driving into the forest at 10pm that night. Frank then lets his own fear take over and becomes adamant in shifting the blame to him and changing the narrative of the story to keep Alice safe, much to Maddie’s chagrin.
In the midst of the stressful phone call, thinking that an oncoming car is her parents, Alice flashes the car, signaling it to stop. Only for her to regret the decision immediately as she comes face to face with an unusual couple who seemingly wants to uncover exactly what and why Alice is alone on Hallow Road.
The film then takes on an unexpected turn to the supernatural, with talk of fairies, mythical creatures, and shapeshifters coming into the mix. It was a surprising twist that can’t help but leave audiences with a strange and uncomfortable taste in their mouths. What could’ve been set up as a linear storyline that deals with the moral dilemmas of parenthood and what it means to be a good person, would’ve been an easy, straightforward narrative. But instead Hallow Road takes a risk and shifts into the unknown; adding a whole new layer to the already tense film.
Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys were brilliant in this two-hander. Spending the majority of the film with these two characters in the one setting, their intimate on screen performances brought the anxiety and uneasiness of the storyline to the forefront. It actually felt quite reminiscent of a theatre performance, where they were truly forced to rely on one another to convey all the stress and intensity of their emotions to help transport them and viewers into their headspace.
The only aspect that fell short in this film were that some of the artistic choices felt out of place. While admittedly some of the odd and jarring shots aided in bringing the strained feeling to the screen, others felt thrown in there for the sake of it. The cinematography feeling more like a way to demonstrate skill and experiment rather than add to the plotline.
In saying that, the small details of jumping back and forth between Maddie and Frank, and the GPS displaying the remaining time left of the journey, only fueled the anticipation of what was to come and was a great way to build onto the horror.
Hallow Road all in all did what it was supposed to do, which was to evoke fear and anxiety within the audience. It was a simple and effective way to execute a devastating and horrific plotline, with a strong two-hander cast to back them.
