Hallow's End Horror Games Review

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Title: Hallow's End
Format: DVD
Score:
Publisher: Platinum Disc
Hits: 44

Review of Hallow's End

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Comments for Hallow's End

• Posted on 2009-10-08
  A Cool, Marketable Title is Wasted on an Undeserving Disappointment
  
  HALLOW'S END is another sour pickle from the seemingly-bottomless barrel of straight-to-video seasonal stinkers. Although the well-worn premise is general enough that it might've gone in any number of gorehound-satisfying ways (college students prepare an annual charity Halloween spook house in an empty warehouse), all is squandered as the crudely-drawn characters wander here and there, tripping over every cliché they can find while avoiding any sort of satisfying payoff the audience so richly deserves. The pacing seems off, with nothing really horrific happening for eons, and when it does, it's sometimes so poorly-lit and badly-shot, the viewer must rely on character exposition to figure out what happened. HALLOW'S END shows nary a shred of artistry in the writing, directing, or acting; the best thing it has going for it is a cool, marketable title that is utterly wasted on an undeserving disappointment.
  
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• Posted on 2009-05-07
  Great Movie - but note the caveats
  
  This is one of my guiltiest pleasures. I hate to admit, but I really enjoy this movie. I am an absolute fan of everything Halloween and haunted houses, so if a movie incorporates those elements, the most god awful thing imaginable gets at least 3 stars. Yes, my standards can go quite low. That all said, this movie requires one to similarly relax their standards to enjoy, but will be pleasantly surprised if they do so. Yes, the dialog is mostly terrible, and some of the acting completely deplorable, but its fun. Its lighthearted, and a bunch of (supposedly) college kids create a haunted house. Only very major problem - the character who leads the effort is terrible in every way; he is the obligatory hard a** on every front; he is constantly challenging everyone to a fight and is just an outright jerk. It adds nothing to the story, and detracts in a very big way; his lines are awful and he's a terrible actor. Sadly, the outlier a**hole of a character seems to be par for the course on low budget horror. Let's hope the trend changes.
  
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• Posted on 2006-08-02
  night of terror
  
  I received this movie in the mail yesterday, and my girlfriend and I watched it and loved it. The movie is set in a haunted house environment, like something you'd find in a small town. That adds to the whole creepiness of the setting. The acting's not as bad as everyone says, a few parts are little to acted. But the idea of everyone turning into there costume's and the story line is classic. I live for movies like this, and if you like horror movies at all, you'll love this one.
  
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• Posted on 2005-09-30
  The neverending hallow.
  
  Hallow's End (John Keeyes, 2003)
  
  That Hallow's End isn't the worst movie I saw this weekend is a traumatic experience. The worst part of it is that, unlike the completely useless Centipede!, there was so much potential here to have made not only a really good horror film, but one with subtexts, strong characters, and all the other things that would have made it an underground Silence of the Lambs. But... well, no. Not at all.
  
  I can't actually reveal most of the plot without spoilers. The movie revolves around a service fraternity who put on an annual haunted house to raise money for charity. All well and good, except that things start to go very, very wrong one year when tensions are already running high. The reason for each of those things constitutes its own major plot spoiler; the former is actually something of an unusual twist that I can't say anything at all about. The latter involves a love... well, quintangle, I guess.
  
  Hallow's End is Chris Burdick's first script, and it reads like a first script-- but like a first script which, had it had a really solid editor and a couple of rewrites, would have taken the world by storm the way the first feature scripts of Alan Ball (American Beauty) or Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko) did. Burdick obviously has a great feel for college life, especially the ugly "everybody sleeps with everybody and everybody's jealous about it" soap-opera stuff that no one wants to write about because, well, it's soap-opera stuff. Burdick comes so very close to nailing it here. The relationships in the movie, in fact, are the strongest part of the script. That's not saying a great deal, because a lot of things seem to have been shoved to the back in order to make room for the relationships; in particular, a number of other characters don't get anywhere near the development they deserve (including, ironically, one of the five characters involved here). Plot, also, recedes into the background in some very important places. That's great when it's intended; for example, in figuring out who's behind the whole mess. However, when plot threads disappear, never to be found again (whatever did happen to that guy in the parking lot? And what about that cat on the back fence-- why was it there?), one has to think that a few more rewrites would have been a really good idea.
  
  It's completely chauvinist to say that the movie was saved by the sex scenes. And, to be fair, the movie isn't saved by the sex scenes. One of them had the potential, if we cared at all about the characters, to have been a sex scene for the ages. Unfortunately, however, we once again turn to Burdick's script for why it's not; he's so focused on the dynamics of the relationships themselves that he forgot to people them with real characters. The lovers (not just in this scene, but in the whole film) are flat, wooden creations who might as well be blow-up dolls.
  
  I hope someone eventually retools the script and remakes this movie, because it really could be one for the ages. Unfortunately, however, this particular iteration is a horrible disaster. You won't be able to stop watching it, because it's really that bad. (zero)
  
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• Posted on 2004-09-20
  Not what I had hoped for...
  
  Let me start off by saying that I am a huge horror fan, and my absolute favorites are the cheesy 80's flicks. That said, when I chose to watch a new (2003) horror movie, I never expected to see a film that was trying so hard to copy the "cheesy 80's horror" genre. Some things just cannot be copied and still maintain entertainment value. This film wasn't funny or exciting on any level, at least to me. The actors were dull, and the story was not developed well. The displays of nudity seemed to be placed in hopes of attracting hormonal teens. Oh, and there were no subtitles, which is a 'must' in our household. For people looking for a truely entertaining cheesy horror flick, I suggest "Dolls" and those looking for a good modern horror should keep looking. Just my opinion, as always.
  
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