Hollow

HOLLOW

Director : Michael Axelgaard

Year : 2013

Genre : Horror

Rating : *

'Hollow' is yet another found footage horror movie that just recycles ideas from other more successful films. Directed by first timer Michael Axelgaard and starring relative unknowns, 'Hollow' is desperate to be the British equivalent of the hugely successful 1999 shocker 'The Blair Witch Project'. However, unlike the aforementioned movie, 'Hollow' isn't in any way intriguing, scary or even remotely interesting. It is 90 or so minutes of complete boredom; full of footage horror movie clichés, boring and stereotypical characterisations and a plot that makes zero sense. I am now completely sick of the found footage subgenre and I really hope that lazy filmmakers stop making them; they are killing the horror genre stone dead. First of all 'V/H/S'. Now this.

Set in a remote part of Suffolk, 'Hollow' is based around a legend surrounding a creepy tree in the middle of the countryside which, through the centuries, has been the site of dozens of apparent suicides by hanging. When 2 couples stay in a disused monastery near to the tree for a weekend, they too fall victim to the curse and experience the same horrors as those from hundreds of years before.

Director Michael Axelgaard has had little experience in filmmaking. Despite making a short in 2009 named 'Lollipop Man', he hasn't had done much else besides 'Hollow' and to be honest, on the strength of this awful film, a prolific career is not on the cards. As mentioned earlier, Axelgaard takes as his modus operandi recycling ideas from other, more interesting films. Because of this, 'Hollow' doesn't generate any sort of tension or suspense in any way shape or form due to the overuse of found footage conventions and a lagging, dreary script. Added to this, a really annoying editing style and scenes of very little, 'Hollow' is just a waste of time and effort.

The biggest problem with the entire subgenre of found footage films is that we as the audience have to endure endless scenes of inane dialogue, pointless zooming and pans and random imagery. 'Hollow' unfortunately has these annoying tropes in bucket loads. There is probably a combined 10 to 12 minutes of irritating jump cuts, indecipherable sweeping shots of  colour and dozens of  scenes of shots of gravel and grass as characters run away from danger while holding the camera down at the floor. I really wish someone would do something interesting with the found footage film now as each one released recently has just been the same ideas recycled over and over again. There are good found footage movies that I have found interesting and scary; 'Cannibal Holocaust', 'The Blair Witch Project' and 'REC'. to name a few. 'Hollow' brings absolutely anything new to the table, so watching the film is just becomes an endurance and patience test.

The cast are not the greatest of actors and the characters they are given are not interesting or relatable in any way. Not only is 'Hollow' incredibly dull, but Axelgaard has written in a pointless subplot involving a love triangle and a broken heart which only adds to the general dislike I feel towards the characters.  These portions of the film are not only boring, but they also grind the movie to a screeching halt whenever they are presented. Each character is a horrible person, treating everyone else around them like dirt; whether it be a local vicar or their own partner. The boys are misogynistic, vain and stupid and the girls are whiny, slutty and always screaming and running to the safety of the males arms. There is an absolutely shocking scene in which these pathetic idiots get smacked out on cocaine one night and decide to trample a nearby graveyard; dressing up the tombstones and breaking into a church for holy water. I'm not religious in any way, but I found the desecration of somebody's grave a sick act and the filmmakers should be deeply ashamed. Not only does Axelgaard fail miserably as a director, but he also has no respect for the dead. To me, the imminent demise of these characters couldn't come soon enough.

Everything about 'Hollow' is bad; the editing, the acting, the pacing and the script are all some of the worst I have seen this year so far. It is a dragging, pointless and unbelievably boring film that really tested my patience. If you are a fan of found footage movies then 'Hollow' will just seem extremely derivative. For me, it was a total waste of time, effort and 90 minutes of my life.

2013 is really turning out to be a bad year for horror films so far, and as of the 8th May, 'Hollow' is the worst.

You will like this if you liked : The Blair Witch Project