We round up the reviews for this new thriller starring Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys.
The Guardian: **** “this is a really exhilarating, disturbing picture which foregrounds excellent writing and performances.”
The Independent: **** “Maddie and Frank clash over what they believe is best for their daughter, as Pike and Rhys work through each page of William Gillies’s script with a delicate and attentive eye to emotional detail. Rhys froths and rages, only to then wither away and become childishly pathetic. Pike plays Maddie with a tighter control, yet infuses a tragic aftertaste into each word of caution, in a way we only come to understand at a critical point of revelation.”
The Telegraph: ** “Pike does her best as an anxious mum racing to help her daughter, but it’s hard to take this disappointing nail-biter seriously.”
Screen Daily.com: “Of particular note here is the score by Lorne Balfe and Peter Adams, which plays off a Depeche Mode song called ’Behind The Wheel’, an atmospheric 80s synth track which lends itself perfectly to a dark night of driving through the woods to an unknown fate. The film’s location is never specified, but it shot between Wicklow in Ireland, and the Czech Republic, and certainly the exteriors breathe an air of Celtic mystery over its latter third.”
List.co.uk: *** “The film’s use of sound, and indeed silence, is suitably chilling (there are some truly unpleasant cracks and wails, and an anomalously cheery voicemail is well employed), while the satnav’s countdown to the parents’ arrival is also nicely utilised. Unfortunately, screenwriter William Gillies’ attempts to summarise what’s at play can feel clunky and theatrical and there’s a slight sense of anticlimax at the end. Nevertheless, Pike and Rhys are brilliant as the panicking parents and Anvari takes us on a nail-biting journey through their pain.”
Variety: “In the end, the one criticism that can be levied at “Hallow Road” — if only in retrospect — is that the confines of its vehicular setting, along with its reliance on audio to relay Alice’s story, prevent it from leaning full-tilt into its most imaginative elements. However, that it dips its toe into this territory at all is somewhat remarkable, given the simple straightforward form it initially takes. With its dramatic themes spread across two wildly different halves, it makes for a unique, propulsive thrill ride whose baffling existence is key to its enjoyment.”
Screen Rant.com: “These characters are sympathetic, frustrating, and just trying to do what they think is best. Just as they’re faced with questions about Alice, so are we. Hallow Road leaves us with plenty of questions to ponder, and not only with the moral aspects of the film but also with the other, more twisted turns the story takes, which are heightened by Lorne Balfe and Peter Adams’ chilling score. The film is a compelling moral character study and a breathtaking thriller that steps on the gas and never lets up. It’s a perfect addition to Anvari’s already robust work as a filmmaker.”
The Hollywood Reporter: “Anvari’s movie strikes a keen balance between psychological thriller and eerie folkloric horror. Its disturbing ambiguities take on whole new shadings after an unexpected reveal in the end credits.”
Den of Geek: “The cumulative effect is a film that grabs hold of the viewer’s stomach and refuses to let go. As sleek and ruthlessly shaped as a katana, Hallow Road is swift, visceral, and leaves the audience gutted by the time we’ve been lured into the wilderness off the side of the road. It stays with you the next morning too.”
Hallow Road is out in cinemas on the 16th May.