A One Mann’s Movies review of “Hallow Road” (2025).
My friend and fellow film critic the Reverend Andy Godfrey raved about “Hallow Road”, giving it a 10/10 and naming it his joint best film of the year so far (with “Warfare“, which I can get on board with). When he asked me what I thought of it I said I was “processing it” (a notion he can’t understand!) But I really am. There are films that immediately make me go “WOW!”, others that make me go “Ugh!” and far too many that make me go “Meh”. But occasionally (and this is one of them) I am left not sure how I feel about it. Bits of this are brilliant. Bits of this I just couldn’t get on board with. It has helped to write it down.
This is a film that is best served completely cold without knowing the plot. I have tried to keep this review spoiler free, saving spoiler discussions for the “Spoiler Section” below the trailer.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
“Hallow Road” Plot:
A mother (Rosamund Pike) and father (Matthew Rhys) are woken by a desperate phone call from their daughter (Megan McDonnell) in the middle of the night.
Certification:
UK: 15; US: R. (From the BBFC web site: “Strong language, threat, horror”.)
Talent:
Starring: Rosamund Pike, Matthew Rhys, Megan McDonnell, Paul Tylak, Stephen Jones.
Directed by: Babak Anvari.
Written by: William Gillies.
Running Time: 1h 20m.
“Hallow Road” Summary:
Positives:
- An intriguing set-up.
- A denouement that will be a source of great debate among cinephiles (enhanced by interesting end-credit information!)
- A tight, claustrophobic movie enhanced by some great cinematography.
- Generally, great performances from Pike and Rhys.
Negatives:
- The dialogue steps over into unrealistic melodrama at times.
- I really hated the telephone voice of the ‘helpful lady’: so false.
Review of “Hallow Road”:
What a wonderful opening.
Babak Anvari is a director that I would like to see more of. I enjoyed his last film – “I Came By“, with an unusual film role for Hugh Bonneville – but have seen neither of his two previous features, “Under the Shadow” and “Wounds”. But here he exhibits great style in a “show don’t tell” mode of operation as we open the film with a dining room that has obviously been deserted mid-meal, with a smashed wine glass on the floor. Is this some zombie apocalypse film? If not, what the hell has happened?
The mood builds wonderfully as the parents receive the call that will see them spiralling into their own private and very dark corner of The Twilight Zone. Much of the rest of the film is of the drive, in real time, by the parents to rescue their stranded and distressed daughter, making this a very tight and claustrophobic little film. Hats off to the cinematographer, Anvari’s regular guy Kit Fraser, for some creepy and visually striking shots.
Food for thought.
The film expertly manages to spin some intriguing moral questions. In this world of snowflake kids who expect all of life to be rosy and sorted out for them, how far would you go as a loving parent to make the ‘hurty bits’ go away? What would you do in that situation?
The film extends its story in a fairly predictable, if distressing, way until the daughter sees headlights in the distance and assumes it’s her parents. From that point on, things progress in a very strange direction and this sets the scene for much furious discussion of film fans over pizza! (My own particular thoughts are in the “Spoiler Section” below the trailer!).
Basically a two-hander.
Visually, this film is a two-hander for Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys. Other than the last two minutes of the film, (featuring Paul Tylak and Stephen Jones as police officers, with some Janine lookalikes (“Hot Fuzz” joke)!) Pike and Rhys are the only actors you see live. Everything else happens over the phone. Both Pike and Rhys do a good job although William Gillies’ script at times, for me, stepped over the edge at times, becoming too melodramatic and drawing out overly-histrionic performances from both actors.
Having the hardest job was probably Megan McDonnell, having to convey a lot of acting through voice alone. I’m not sure that this aspect of the film ever stayed totally convincing though for me.
The other key voice part was that of the ‘helpful lady’ who stops to help, though I found her to come across as incredibly false and annoying.
Music
The music by Peter Adams and Lorne Balfe is also good and worthy of note.
Summary Thoughts on “Hallow Road”
In terms of “anything different is good”, this film deserves great praise for being both intriguing and well-delivered by Babak Anvari. Coming in at only 80 minutes and presumably having a very low budget, it is a welcome addition to this month’s cinema releases.
I must admit that “going in cold” had its drawbacks since I was viewing this with the Illustrious Mrs Movie Man (who doesn NOT do horror) and was getting increasingly twitched by the horror theme of the trailers being shown. As it was, it gets psychologically tense without resorting to shock horror or jump scares, but I was still nervous that she might be freaked and never come to the cinema with me again! As such, this is a film I might need to try to see once again to take a final view on it.
Where to Watch it (Powered by Justwatch)
Trailer for “Hallow Road”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXGL49DpjJo.
Spoiler Section:
Don’t read past this point if you’ve not seen the movie.
…
…
…
NO, SERIOUSLY!
…
…
…
So, what do I think happened?
This film is open to so much interpretation, but I think the key here is the observation from the “kind lady” (Rosamund Pike, as reveaaled in the titles) that the “story needs to be better”. Despite the supernatural potential (the satnav reveals the date to be October 31st) I think this is all the panic-induced psychosis of the parents after a dreadful accident. To me, it seems clear that:
- Alice has (as she says) been distraught at her parents’ rejection of her plans to drop out of uni and have the child with her Polish (sorry, Czech) boyfriend. She steals her Dad’s car, drives it to the woods but crashes it into a ditch.
- She calls her parents to come and rescue her in the middle of the night.
- When the parents reach the woods, Alice (possibly in a drug-induced state) rushes out in front of the car and the Dad hits and kills her.
- The Mum, already having lost faith in her own abilities as a paramedic, desperately tries to resuscitate her daughter, breaking her rib cage in the process.
- The film’s narrative is then just a trauma-induced way of them trying to come up with a different narrative to change the terrible course of events.
You may have a very different interpretation: I’d welcome your alternative views in the comment section!
Subscribe
Don’t forget, you can subscribe to One Mann’s Movies to receive future reviews by email right here. No salesman will call!
