Hollow

HOLLOW is the British version of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, or should I say the British rip-off because this is a complete riff on that classic film. Of course, it's nowhere near as good, but fans of the found footage genre might enjoy a few spooky moments here and there.

For the most part, though, this is a missed opportunity. This film was especially interesting to me given that I was involved in my own BLAIR WITCH-style spoof back in the day and I had a lot of fun making it. Plus the locations are dear to my heart, and this was filmed just up the road from me. What a shame that for 90% of the running time the viewer is stuck with a quartet of detestable characters who alternate between boring and stupid. We're stuck with them as they argue, snort coke, and generally waste time until the next scare scene.

There is good stuff here, involving creepy foxes and some wonderfully evoked rural locations - that tree and the ruins are atmospheric without the film-makers even trying - but it's lost in a welter of average acting and sheer mediocrity. When the horror hits, there's way too much deafening screaming and the scares feel oddly diluted. In retrospect, I'd stick with THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT.

I remember seeing this movie at the Fantasia Festival in Montreal. I am a big fan of those Found Footage movies... really I do love them, but That movie... boring... bland... forgettable at most.

I kinda felt bad in the theater... the producer and director where present and were happy to present us the movie in exclusivity... people seemed happy and all in the room... but by the time the movie ended, it was dead silence... the movie crew were standing in front of the screen, waiting for perhaps some cheering or even question from the viewers... but Nothing... everyone in the theater were bummed and leaving silently. Producers were standing still in an awkward silent room with people trying to flee. Yeah the movie is that bad.

To review this movie in one sentence, it would have been - We have seen it all before. This is a very typical 'horror' movie and if you have seen many budget horror movies before, this movie will feel very familiar. What makes this one worse than average is that it does not really have any thing special. It is an extremely bland movie. I can imagine that this movie was thrown together very quickly. Honestly, it even feels as if was made up on the spot.

It starts pretty okay actually, well, not bad anyway. But even from the beginning everything feels very familiar. It is your regular intro/start of a horror movie. But when the movie tries to scare you, it is not scary at all. Every situation feels dragged out. In horror movies you are suppose to get scared when you least expect it. In Hollow, you end up asking the movie to please, scare me already! It is the very opposite of what a horror movie should be.

I actually had to look up what year this was produced. I would understand if it was right after The Blair Witch Project, when pretty much the found footage genre was new. There was not much to learn from back then. But this is from 2011(!). There are tons of great found footage horror movies released when Hollow was made. Tons of movies to get inspiration from. The overall 'horror level' in this movie could be explained as bland in lack for better words.

Movies I would recommend instead of this one is Them/Ils (2006), or even Chernobyl Diaries (2012). Many doesn't even like the latter, but compared to Hollow, it is the most hectic action movie you can find.

In my ten years of IMDb activity, I have never come across a movie with such laughably fake 'reviews'. I perfectly understand how tastes vary and that one person's hidden gem can be another's stinking turd. But 'Hollow' is, by any objective criteria, pure garbage. The favorable reviews posted here can not possibly be genuine. The movie could have been enjoyably average: a mildly interesting idea squeezed into the found-footage formula of "The Blair Witch Project". It's problem lies squarely with its characters. In real life, panicky people annoy me. You know the type I mean: blubbering and hyperventilating and getting all mindlessly hysterical. I just want to slap them and tell them to grow a spine. My annoyance becomes outright anger when such people are made the protagonists of a movie. And don't tell me it's "realism": millions of people the world over deal with crazy s**t every year without curling up in a ball and begging for death. Every character in "Hollow" runs around screaming and crying, whining and bickering, doing absolutely nothing to help themselves or each other. Every one of them is unbelievably selfish and displays the intelligence of a mildly retarded pre-schooler. They're just so pathetic it's impossible to feel any sympathy, still less empathy. I'm at a loss to understand why movies are made about such people. Why am I supposed to care what happens to them? Why should I bother watching? Complete waste of time: very tough to sit through.

I've watched most if not all found footage movies I can get my hands on. Why? Because I am seeking to find a found footage movie that does not disappoint. Some examples that I find to be good FF movies would include the original "Blair Witch Project", Korea's "Haunted Changhi", Australia's "The Tunnel", just to name a few. The Paranormal Activity movies do NOTHING for me and that franchise is the biggest scam since the Star Wars franchise. So if you agree with me here, you will take my review to heart. You can watch this terrible movie "Hollow" for yourself, just know, you've been warned.

The movie is 70% bickering couples/friends, 20% black screen and 9% running, interior car shots and 1% horror- and I'm being generous with that 1%.

The movie is predictable, boring and not scary. You've seen this movie before, it's every other found footage film set in the wilderness. There's nothing new in this film to bend the genre or add to it. Absolutely nothing happening in this movie. It's the most boring movie I've ever seen.

You'd think someone would get a clue as to what to do with these movies to make them more interesting. Put a creepy face in the background once in a while, something, make me WANT to keep watching.

I found myself looking past the television screen, spacing out and not missing a beat in this one.

This is bad. RIP creative and original movies. Your boring self destructive red headed cousin has taken over and did a crap on everything.