HOLLOW (2011)

Studio:       Tribeca Film
Director:    Michael Axelgaard
Writer:       Matthew Holt
Producer:  Matthew Holt
Stars:     Emily Plumtree, Sam Stockman, Jessica Ellerby, Matt Stokoe, Simon Roberts, David Bauckham, Ian Attfield

Review Score:

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Summary:

While on holiday, four friends uncover the legend of a centuries old tree where lovers reportedly hang themselves. 

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Case Number 1105-23: The East Anglia police department documents the incident at Greyfriar’s Hollow by recording crime scene footage. The policeman points to areas around a tree where bodies and a camera were found.

Video Recovered from Camera – Exhibit number AM3/17: James, Emma, and Scott drive through the Suffolk, England countryside. They pick up James’ new girlfriend, Lynne Driscoll. Scott and Emma are engaged, although former flame James is still attracted to Emma. While driving, Scott runs over a fox that eventually runs back into the forest. Emma notices a nearby tree that frightened her as a child. The two couples are staying at Emma’s deceased grandfather’s cottage. Her grandfather, Reverend Tyler, was a local priest in Dunwich. Over wine, Emma tells the others a story about the tree. Her mother was once chased by a floating hooded figure near the tree. During the night, Emma awakens in a panic and has an asthma attack.

Among her grandfather’s belongings, Emma finds a file related to couples that committed suicide by hanging themselves at the tree. Reverend Johnson dismisses Emma’s questions about the suicides but alludes to a legend regarding the tree. Emma and James find books that date the history of tree-related suicides back to 1650. That night, the group plays games and enjoys their holiday. James is offended when Scott brings out a mix CD that James made for Emma back when they were in school together.

The next day, the four friends visit the tree. Nearby are some ruins and cliffs that they also explore. Emma is frightened when James pretends to jump off the cliff. On the beach, an old fisherman tells them that in medieval times, a monk fell in love with a squire’s daughter. Since they were forbidden to marry, they hanged themselves from the hollow tree as part of a lover’s pact. He also tells a second version of the legend where the squire’s daughter refuses to marry the monk, so he hangs the woman. When the squire catches him, the monk is drawn and quartered. Legend has it that whatever a couple takes in there becomes twisted. Scott and Emma find a book about the haunting of Greyfriar’s Hollow. Legend says that the Greyfriar can grant absolution to lovers who die there. But the locals believe that his spirit is malevolent and wills people to evil deeds.

At night, the friends do cocaine and go back to the tree. On the way, Scott enters the closed church and the group traipses around gravestones. Emma grows annoyed with Scott’s behavior. James reveals he still has feelings for Emma, which she does not wish to discuss. Emma runs away when James says that Scott is not right for her. She has another asthma attack and then fights with Scott. At the tree, Scott jokingly demands for the spirit to show itself and he puts his head inside the hollow base of the tree. Eventually, Scott is seen making out with a topless Lynne. Scott threatens to kill James while James laughs. No one seems to understand how that happened.

Scott and Emma reconcile the next day, passing off the strange behavior to the drugs. It comes out that James may have used Lynne as bait, knowing that Scott would show philandering behavior to Emma. Reverend Johnson refuses to do anything about the tree. The now sullen group packs to leave. James sets down the camera and runs into the distance.

Scott, Emma, and Lynne search for James. They find a slaughtered fox at the ruins and James’ hooded jacket by the cliffs. They then hide in the car, which will not start. They find a phone booth, but it is covered in bloody crosses and the phone is destroyed. A scream is heard and the group runs back to the car. Lynne convinces Scott to look under the hood. When he does, something pulls him into the darkness. Lynne opens the door to peek and is pulled from the car. Emma runs into the dark and encounters a hooded shape. All four bodies are then seen hanging from the tree.

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Review:

“Hollow” stands out in the overcrowded “found footage” sub-genre by being truly focused on the story of its characters and their relationships.  The supernatural legend in this instance takes a backseat and exists to stoke the conflict amongst the film’s core quartet.  It is a different take on the stale routine, but one that comes with its own share of challenges.

Scott and Emma are recently engaged.  They are taking a holiday in the Suffolk, England countryside where Emma’s deceased grandfather was once a local priest and still has a cottage.  Recording the getaway is their mutual friend James, who is also along for the ride.  He brings his girlfriend Lynne, although he may have ulterior motives.  It seems James has long held a candle for Emma that was not extinguished by her engagement to Scott.  James wonders if he can drive a wedge between the couple by using his own girlfriend as bait, since Scott has a history with his wandering eye, and other body parts.

If that description sounds like a difficult to follow soap opera, rest comfortably that there is a paranormal-related detail further complicating this lover’s square.  Grandfather’s cottage is near Greyfriar’s Hollow.  Greyfriar acquired its name from the monk whose love of a squire’s daughter led to unfortunate fates for everyone involved.  For nearly 400 years, a tree has stood in the hollow where lovers seek absolution by hanging themselves.  Not only a magnet for love-inspired suicide, locals believe the malevolent monk has a way of twisting the minds of those touched by the tree’s curse.

With a backstory like that, it is a certainty that these two complicated couples have chosen the weekend retreat equivalent of tightrope walking over a snake pit.  And “Hollow” does not even pretend that anything other than doom awaits the group.  The movie opens with police footage explaining the discovery of four bodies at the tree, making the assumed climax a matter of when and how, not if.

“Hollow” is a film aware of the need to sell itself as “found footage.”  The filmmakers take a few other steps to drop in moments that justify the pretenses of constant filming and troublemaking behavior.  Early on, James explains that the camera light they use in lieu of a flashlight or anything electric only works while the camera is recording.  James also mentions something about his doctor recommending a heart-to-heart with Emma.  Perhaps the filming is part of his therapy, too.  At the very least, he has an affection for his crush that might be better termed as an unhealthy obsession, so stalking her every move with a camera makes sense from his perspective.

Those are not the greatest justifications, but it is enough to push the plot forward over the slight slope of disbelief.  And when it comes time to traipse disrespectfully through a graveyard, a church, ancient ruins, and a haunted tree, the four friends first inhale a baggie of cocaine that would make Tony Montana blush.  This is a group unafraid of poor choices.  Buying into their baiting of a 400 year-old legend is easy.

The characters all have distinct personalities, although the males lack a tone of endearment.  James is a bit of a moping drip, but it explains his slight disregard for social etiquette and his penchant for increasingly odd behavior.  Scott is intended to be somewhat of a philandering loudmouth, though his irreverence for religious idols as well as his paws that grab at another woman in his fiancée’s presence grow long in the tooth.

This is a movie about these four characters, and “Hollow” takes its time developing the nuances that bind and separate them.  Following the story requires patience for the personality explorations, because those who are in it only for paranormal activity will be met with disappointment.

That there is an ancient legend tying into the weekend’s events is the only thing that puts “Hollow” in the Horror genre instead of straight Drama.  There are pulse-quickening moments, although every single one is a jump scare.  These jolts are effective, provided the TV is turned up loud, but it bears mentioning that a deaf person looking for a frightening movie will be out of luck.

It is this unorthodox approach to “found footage” horror that sinks “Hollow” as an entertaining film.  “Found footage” critics lament that the first two acts are usually boring filler, and investment in the movie’s events is generally tied to how well the film presents relatable characters.  “Hollow” flips this notion and delivers fully sketched figures and crafts a meaningful story for them.  Unfortunately, that drama is unsatisfying as visceral horror.

In fact, “Hollow” is only partially satisfying as a telenovela.  Several scenes, particularly when James and Emma discuss their relationship, go on for extended periods and the audience is not rewarded with any increase in empathy for the couple.  By the time nooses are fitted to tree branches, a terror-eager audience will have already tuned out from the slow build melodrama.  The filmmakers had a unique frame for generating a “found footage” movie, but “Hollow” is not the most appealing story to plug into that model.

Review Score:  40

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