There’s nothing better than some scary magic. Even nearly two decades later, director Guillermo Del Toro’s masterful blend of historical fiction and dark fantasy in Pan’s Labyrinth stands the test of time as one of the most creative depictions of childhood innocence lost during war, and for those looking to enjoy similarly disenchanting movies, Shudder has you covered. The Hallow, the 2015 horror film directed by Hollywood staple Corin Hardy, is a riveting watch that combines the intimate focus of Del Toro’s masterpiece with the fresh horrors of Irish folklore.

Although of a much smaller production scale and with far less notoriety than Pan’s Labyrinth, Hardy’s film is nonetheless notable for its breakneck pacing and eerie, perpetually-unsettling atmosphere. The movie takes a more focused approach to its fantastical horror, opting to ground its premise firmly in the cultural tradition of Ireland’s haunting landscape rather than invent symbolic manifestations of its themes as Del Toro does with Pan Labyrinth’s infamous Pale Man, which only makes the movie’s terrors feel more believable to its characters. A more humble beginning compared to Hardy’s later outings, such as the box-office breaking The Nun and his star-studded, upcoming film Whistle, the film also scored well among critics, whose praise for the film’s fantastical elements and brutal tone further illustrate why The Hallow is a horror worth being seen.

What Is ‘The Hallow’ About?
The film centers around British conservationist Adam Hitchens, a land surveyor and dedicated father played by The Rings of Power’s Joseph Mawle, as he moves his family to a remote Irish village in order to assess a wide swath of forest which has recently been sold to the public. This shift justifiably rankles the locals, whose most vehement detractor, Colm (Michael McElhatton), spends the first third of the movie breaking into the Hitchens’ new house and throwing a brick into their window in order to convince them to leave. As a result, Adam’s wife, Clare (Bojana Novakovic), repeatedly urges him to go make peace with the man, but despite repeated warnings from the nearby villagers that the Hitchens don’t belong, neither of them is ultimately able to escape before falling prey to Ireland’s mythical monsters.

The film’s main antagonists are introduced early on by Belfast police officer Garda Davey (Michael Smiley), who explains the locals’ hostility as a matter of village fear and rural superstition. According to community lore, the Hallow refers to a collective of malevolent spirits inherently tied to Ireland’s troubled cultural identity, a night-dwelling gathering of insidious fairies, banshees, and changelings who were driven into the forest and have supposedly been terrorizing the villagers and stealing children for generations. Signs of these monsters’ presence can be felt in the film’s first scenes, from the protective bars that Clare rips off the windows of the Hitchens’ newly-purchased home to Adam’s quick glimpse of a menacing creature in their yard, but The Hallow’s true monsters aren’t revealed until it’s already too late.

‘The Hallow’ Showcases the Horrors Behind Ireland’s Cultural Mythology

Surprisingly, the first thirty minutes of Hardy’s horror film are more informative than scary. The director excels in setting the scene for viewers by contrasting the lush beauty of The Hallow’s woodland landscape with more unnerving shots of parasitic animals and the village’s rickety, almost feudal architecture, but once the film gets going, the horrors don’t stop until the end. In particular, after Adam’s car breaks down in the middle of the woods, viewers can catch glimpses of the Hallow in action for the very first time, and the end result is horrifying. Hardy’s film seems particularly inspired by Ireland’s folk tradition of dangerous fairies in bringing its nerve-wracking creatures to life, though the director foregoes the characters’ typically fair appearance in favor of spore-ridden monstrosities that could easily belong in The Last of Us.

The shots containing the Hallow rank among the most engaging of the film, offering classic horror fans plenty of jump scares to match a folk creature-feature whose visuals rival the best in the genre. Even when these jump scares begin to feel stale, Hardy still manages to mix things up when it’s revealed that the Hallow are vulnerable to light and fire, leading to several creative shots of Clare using her camera to ward off attackers. These moments give audiences flash after flash of the encroaching monsters in an innovative spin on the horror staple, though The Hallow also takes insightful liberties with its thematic material. Rather than relying solely on The Hallow’s monsters for drama, the film’s suggestion that its monsters have been corrupted by a local fungus evokes the transformative power of Ireland’s natural landscape, a topic extensively championed by Irish icon W.B Yeats.

Related Before ‘Pan’s Labyrinth,’ Guillermo del Toro Made This Wartime Horror Film The master of ghosts and ghouls will make you reach for the tissues with this one.

‘The Hallow’s Ultimate Horror Is the Terror of Parenting

Yet, despite The Hallow’s use of Irish fairy tales to craft a dark movie for horror fans, the most gut-wrenching element of Hardy’s film is its tumultuous depiction of parenting. While Pan’s Labyrinth and countless other dark fantasy stories document how children are affected by the cruel magic of their environments, The Hallow is unique in that it explores the emotional stakes of the Hitchens as they try to shield their infant son, Finn, from the Hallow breaking into their home. This mission becomes all the more urgent when one of the creatures successfully kidnaps the boy from a locked closet, forcing Clare on a rescue mission into the woods to retrieve Finn from a nearby lake. Even when she returns, however, a book Colm left at the house raises the possibility that Finn has actually been replaced by a changeling, forcing Clare to choose between the son she holds and the son she knows by heart.

Alternatively, The Hallow also derives many of its most touching moments from its depiction of devastated fathers. After he is stabbed in the eye by a member of the Hallow during their home invasion, Adam gradually loses his grip on reality and begins succumbing to the fungal parasite himself. As a result, his attempts to destroy the changeling come off as deranged to Clare, and Mawle’s conflicted pleas as he begs his wife to save their real child are too earnest not to tug at the heartstrings. Likewise, the dark fantasy’s early instigator, Colm, is made more sympathetic when it’s revealed that his own daughter, Cora, was taken by the Hallow years ago. McElhatton in particular deserves recognition for the palpable emotion he brings to this understated role, as Colm’s perpetually teary, ragged appearance subtly and skillfully conveys the heartache of a man who has lived through a lifetime of grief.

One of the downsides of mixing genres, however, is that a film can be judged on the merits of each, and in this regard, The Hallow certainly has its shortcomings. Despite its critical praise, the film’s sometimes predictable scares and superficial dive into Irish mythology never delve deep enough to stand at the same level as one of Del Toro’s most disturbing films. That said, the film works well enough at what it sets out to do, demonstrating the cost of Adam’s hubris in order to depict the horrors that ensue when arrogant humans violate a sacred landscape. Hardy only doubles down on this message following the film’s end credits, as a final shot of deforested logs bearing the Hallow’s fungus hints at a world overrun by the monsters of a folklore unleashed.

The Hallow is available to stream on Shudder in the U.S.

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