The Hollow Child (2017)

A troubled foster teen, Samantha, works to expose a dangerous supernatural impostor in her new family and rescue her foster sister.

Director:

Jeremy Lutter

Writer:

Ben Rollo

Stars:

Jessica McLeod, Hannah Cheramy, John Emmet Tracy

5 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
Jessica McLeod	...	Samantha
Hannah Cheramy	...	Olivia
John Emmet Tracy	...	Garrett
Jana Mitsoula	...	Liz
Genevieve Buechner	...	Emily
Connor Stanhope	...	Logan
Johannah Newmarch	...	Alison
Craig March	...	Detective Zeke
Mamie Laverock	...	Young Alison
Laiken Laverock	...	Janie
Camille Atebe	...	Principal Hanley
Yvette Dudley-Neuman	...	Mrs. Denman
Trevor Lerner	...	Employee

Storyline

Samantha has lived her whole life in different foster homes. Now living in a small town, she never feels like she quite fits in, even with her own current foster family who might adopt her, or the boy who follows her around doing her classwork. So, it's perhaps natural that she doesn't know what to do with a curious tagalong little sister named Olivia. One day, Sam callously ditches Olivia, who wanders off into the woods on her own and disappears.

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Plot Keywords:

changeling | creature | goblin | woods | body horror | 

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Taglines:

Something is Different About Olivia.

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

User Reviews

It's not the child that's hollow

Saw 'The Hollow Child', being fond of horror/thriller regardless of budget (even if not my favourite genre) and being intrigued somewhat by the idea. Being behind on my film watching and reviewing, with a long to watch and review list that keeps getting longer, it took me a while to get round to watching and reviewing it.

Giving 'The Hollow Child' a fair chance with being interest and apprehension, it turned out to be far better than expected. Won't say that 'The Hollow Child' is a great film because it isn't and the potential, while not wasted, is not fully lived up to. Considering the large number of films seen recently being mediocre and less and wasting potential, was expecting worse and was relieved that while wanting in a fair few areas it was actually one of my better recent low-budget viewings.

'The Hollow Child' started off quite well, the first twenty minutes or so starting the film off on a promising, unsettling and atmospheric note that really does intrigue.

Production values did have some eeriness and nowhere near as cheap as expected, and the music, which not the most memorable in the world, didn't detract from the atmosphere.

The setting is effectively spooky. There are spooky and suspenseful moments and it isn't dull. The direction doesn't feel phoned in and the storytelling in some of the first half does intrigue.

However, the story was severely wanting in the second half after starting off promisingly. It is very disjointed and after the promising start the final third especially loses atmosphere, one loses interest and things start to not make sense and gets increasingly jumbled. Too much of the film is vague and doesn't explore some elements and story strands enough, some dropped soon after being introduced, go nowhere or serve much point.

Ending is unsatisfying, on top of feeling hasty there are too many loose ends hanging in the air. Got the sense that the writers didn't know how to end the film. Would have liked much more tension and suspense, scares could have been more consistent and some weren't surprising enough.

Found too the script to lack natural flow and with a bit of cheese going on, and the characters bland with some adopting some annoying and not always logical decision making. The support acting especially (the leads had their moments) is even more problematic than the second half's storytelling, at best it was poor and too often terrible.

Overall, lacklustre but not a waste. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Details

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 June 2018 (Vietnam)

Also Known As:

The Hollow Ones

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$34,719

Company Credits

Production Co:

Broken Mirror Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1