The Hollow

The Hollow is the kind of film you watch with a bunch of friends and family who have a good sense of humor. The story uses the archetypal Headless Horseman theme and does a silly bit with poor Washington Irving's grave, but Stacey Keach is priceless as the curmudgeonly Klaus Van Ripper. The name alone is a hoot. What makes this film better ,for me anyway, is that my family and I visit Sleepy Hollow every Halloween for their Legend Weekend festivities. The original Keach character still gives tours of the Old Dutch Church where the bridge used to be and we got some great photographs of him amongst the graves of the Van Alan family. Anyhow, The Hollow, despite some gratuitous gore is not a bad escape for a rainy night and a bowl of popcorn. In addition, the hayride in the film is actually modeled after the Haunted Hayride in Sleepy Hollow that the local High School has been hosting for years.

Although, the tale of the Headless Horseman has been told in previous films, Kyle Newman's directorial effort for "The Hollow" is not bad, but not good either. Set in the modern day, The Hollow tells the story of a young teenager named Ian played by Kevin Zegers. Ian happens to be interested in a girl at the local highschool played by Kaley Cuoco. Although she is dating the highschool quaterback (Nick Carter) she falls in love with Ian. But things go wrong when Ian discovers he is the great-great grandson of Icahbod Crane, and on Halloween, the legend of the headless horseman rides again and begins a grisly slaughter against the teenagers of the town. It is up to Ian to stop him. The Hollow lacks suspense and some occasional bad acting, but the story and the musical score kept the film at pace. It was interesting to see Joseph Mazzolo in a film, since he has not been familiar in films since "Jurassic Park". Also Stacy Keach steels the film has the mysterious graveyard keeper who knows the secret of the horseman and Ian's past, and it was nice to see Judge Reinhold as the abusive father type and Oscar nominee Eileen Brennan (Private Benjamin), as usual, looking mean and cruel. Above all, The Hollow, really could have used a tad more originality and maybe shifted a little bit instead of the standard teen slasher film, but you can't except much from a film such as this.

The acting is what you'd expect from a group of young actors being led by a young director, and probably a production management group of those in their 20's. The older actors, like Keach and Reinholdt do well, but then they've got talent to draw upon. The story is interesting yet lacks a sense of build and suspense. It's unpleasant to see the filmmakers essentially use Washington Irving as a horror character, or I should say use his grave as a horror element. The Headless Horseman is a nice horrific image with an over-sized, hideous looking jack-o-lantern for a head (which should have been slightly smaller). He's not quite as scary as the Christopher Walken horseman in Sleepy Hollow, but still pretty good. He's also a little too sluggish on his horse, not really as quick as one would expect. The climax is weak and could have been better realized. It's a worthy climax in theory, but just not well-handled and with very limited action.

Washington Irving's short story 'The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow', which the screenwriters don't seem to have understood fully, provides the basis for this fair-to-middling effort. A new kid at Sleepy Hollow, New York's high school is actually a blood relative of the original Ichabod Crane. The family name has been changed to "Cranston", so nobody knows about his ancestry. Purely by coincidence, the innocent teen is hired to tell the story of the Headless Horseman to groups of kids as part of the town's Halloween celebration. (What were the odds?) Cemetery caretaker Stacy Keach is the requisite Crazy Old Guy who knows the "truth" behind the famous story but, as is so often the case with Crazy Old Guys, nobody will listen to him until it's too late and heads have begun to roll. THE HOLLOW tells us that Irving's famous folk tale was more-or-less true, kind of like how RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD told us the events in the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD really happened. Unfortunately this movie has little of RETURN's wit or energy. The characters are basically all teen movie stereotypes, including the nice handsome kid, the hot-headed jock, the cute cheerleader, the football coach who's a jerk, and so forth. There are some first-rate, briefly-seen CGI effects, including a shocking moment in which a girl has her head lopped off by the Horseman's sword while she's running away, shown onscreen with no cuts (other than the decapitation, that is). The film has a beautiful autumnal look with all the outdoor night sequences artfully lit with warm oranges, yellows and greens, but it's a shame the trees and assorted foliage don't really suggest New York in the fall. The most damaging problem from a visual standpoint is the fact that not only does this Headless Horseman have a head, but that it's a big, goofy-looking oversized pumpkin. Sure, he kills people, but in truth he looks a little bit ridiculous riding around with that big silly pumpkin mask. All in all the movie isn't a disaster or anything, just a very run-of-the-mill teen slasher entry with a supernatural killer and a tenuous link to a famous work of fiction. Don't expect brilliance, but THE HOLLOW might be worth a watch in the fall if you enjoy movies set at Halloween (like I do).

I watched this movie last night with my 8 year old and several of my nieces and nephews who range in age between 7 - 16. This was an entertaining movie. It had us hooked from the beginning. All bad language had been edited out... the violence and gore was implied enough that it got the point across without upsetting the younger kids. It was a great Halloween movie that had enough fright to have the younger kids burying their heads under pillows. The story line was not extremely deep, but it was a great fun movie. There were a few recognizable stars in the cast and a couple that I would say will be "up and coming". Kevin Zegers plays the leading man and I think he really has a nice look about him, and talent to boot. Kaley Cuoco was the leading lady and I just don't think she pulled it off. Nick Carter also had a main role... terrible. Shelley Bennett (up and coming?)played a supporting role - "Erica" - I think they could have utilized her more, she did really good with what they gave her. I think a flip flop of Kaley and Shelley in the roles would have upgraded the movie. All in all, it was a fun flick to watch for the adults and kids and I would watch it again.