Hallow Road (REVIEW) | Projector Shorts | Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys drive into the unknown - video Dailymotion

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Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys have to confront every parent's worst nightmare in a dark thriller has goes down a winding, twisty road, and Film Brain recommends.

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00:00Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys ride into the unknown when they drive to Hallow Road.

00:06Pike and Rhys play a couple who are caught by their daughter, Megan McDonnell, in the

00:10middle of the night, telling them that she's hit someone with Rhys' car on Hallow Road.

00:15The couple race to her, all while keeping her on the phone as they try to figure out

00:19how to handle the situation.

00:21The film was directed by Babak Anvari, who previously directed Under the Shadow and is

00:25having an upcoming Cloverfield movie.

00:28He also unfortunately directed the abysmal Army Hammer flick, Wounds, and this is much

00:33much better than that.

00:35The setup here is very much reminiscent of Tom Hardy's Locke, which was also a real-time

00:40thriller that took place almost exclusively inside a car over phone calls, and Hallow Road

00:45was mostly shot on a volume stage.

00:47Obviously this is a very talky movie that could almost be a radio play, but Anvari tries every

00:53trick to make such a minimalist scenario visually dynamic, like floating camera moves or things

00:58like reflections or turn signals on the car windows to indicate the divide between the

01:02two characters.

01:03But the main visual element are the fantastic performances of Pike and Rhys, who are given

01:08an acting showcase being on screen the whole time, and the camera is so close to them it

01:12can pick up every nuance that goes unsaid.

01:15It may be a very small claustrophobic film, but it quickly grips you, as it's every parent's

01:21nightmare, and the fact that we can't see exactly what has happened makes it only more

01:26stressful, especially thanks to some excellent sound design that makes you imagine the worst.

01:31It soon becomes clear that there are a lot of secrets that are going to come tumbling out,

01:36and Hallow Road is best enjoyed knowing as little as possible about what turns it takes.

01:41What begins as a moral dilemma playing on parental guilt at some point shifts gears into something

01:46even darker and stranger that may be somewhat divisive.

01:51It won't be for everyone, but give this a go if you're a fan of something like Inside

01:55Number 9, which this could almost be an episode of.

01:58Oh, and if you're a bit confused by the end, there's a key bit of information in the closing

02:02credits that should help.

Hallow Road (REVIEW) | Projector Shorts | Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys drive into the unknown

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