Hallow Road is directed by Babak Anvari and the cast includes Rosamund Pike, Matthew Rhys, and Megan McDonnell.
My Thoughts on Hallow Road
Hallow Road is a horror-thriller set mostly in a car, which might not seem too exciting, but to my surprise it was actually fairly gripping and quite emotional, where we start in a quiet suburban home, where the camera moves slowly through a dining room, and you can feel that something has gone wrong even before anyone speaks.
We witness Maddie and her husband, Frank, who is asleep in another room - nothing dramatic yet - and then the phone rings.
Their daughter Alice is crying on the other end, as she’s been in some sort of accident, and from that moment on, the movie barely stops moving, as we see addie and Frank rush out into the night, driving through narrow, empty roads, trying to reach her.
Director Anvari handles all the small details incredibly well here - the way Maddie grips the steering wheel, the glances between them when Alice says something that doesn’t quite add up, the nervous tapping of Frank’s fingers on the dashboard - you can tell this isn’t the first time their daughter has called them in distress, and it’s not the first time Maddie and Frank have disagreed about how to handle it.
The setup could easily have been a stage play with two actors in a car, arguing, reacting to a voice on the phone, but the film never feels static, and the cinematography by Kit Fraser keeps everything feeling alive — constantly shifting angles, subtle reflections in the glass, flashes of streetlight that seem to pulse in rhythm with their anxiety - and I thought that was a clever way to make a confined setting breathe.
Rosamund Pike is the anchor of the whole thing, where her sharpness works beautifully. Maddie is practical, trained to act under pressure - she’s a paramedic - yet underneath her calm there’s this undercurrent of panic.
She wants to take charge, to fix things, to do what’s right, but she’s also someone who’s made mistakes and clearly hasn’t forgiven herself for them, while Matthew Rhys, on the other hand, brings a softness that balances her out.
His Frank is emotional and protective, sometimes to the point of foolishness, where he wants to believe they can control the situation if they just get there fast enough, but the push and pull between them feels painfully real in that tired, familiar way long-married couples sometimes argue when they’re both scared and don’t know what to do.
As Alice explains what happened, the story starts to take on a strange rhythm. and when another woman’s voice enters the mix, claiming to have stopped to help, things get weirder.
She’s polite at first, but something about her tone feels off, where she keeps talking about “Hallow Road” like it’s a place with a dark reputation, and thankfully the movie doesn't spell anything out for you, as it's always more unnerving when you’re unsure what the threat actually is.
The tension keeps building slowly throughout which keeps you interested enough, with some quieter moments thrown in too, and the script by William Gillies knows when to pull back and let the discomfort breathe, and show some restraint.
I did, however, wish Alice’s side of the story had a bit more texture, as most of her role is heard through the phone, and while Megan McDonnell gives a convincing performance, I sometimes wanted more from her perspective, but I understand why Anvari kept her unseen for so long.
The music is also dark and pulsing, sometimes electronic, sometimes string-heavy, and there’s even a hint of Depeche Mode’s “Behind the Wheel” that sneaks in, which fits perfectly - a song about control and surrender - which helps deepen the atmosphere without overwhelming it.
You really do end up forgetting how simple the setup really was - two people in a car, a phone call, a long drive through the night - and yet it never feels repetitive, where the story keeps finding new emotional angles, shifting from guilt to desperation to something almost spiritual, and when the film’s final twist arrives, it feels like a natural consequence of everything we’ve seen.
If you're not a fan of atmospheric horror, and want something more, I would think Hallow Road might bore some people, as it does lean very heavily on its atmosphere, and there are a few stretches where it could have pushed deeper into the folklore element that it teases.
But it kept me engaged from start to finish - a film that’s intimate but intense, stripped down yet emotionally rich - and it reminds you that suspense can come from just watching people unravel under pressure and recognizing something of ourselves in that struggle.
Simple, but it works.