Hallow Road, a psychological domestic drama with eerie elements, has a big Irish connection.
At the helm is British-Iranian director, Babak Anvari, and the film has an English scriptwriter, William Gillies.
The cast consists of Irish and English actors, and the film was shot on location in both Ireland and the Czech Republic. Screen Ireland and its Czech counterpart provided financial for the film.
The cast speak with English accents, yet we do not see any recognisable landmarks or place names, giving the film’s main theme - parental worry - a universal appeal.
The opening scene unfolds without dialogue. The camera glides over a table where plates lie abandoned with remnants of food and glasses brim with untouched wine. In the corner, a shattered glass has been carelessly swept up, yet the brush and dustpan remain out in the open; something has gone very wrong here.
As the camera slowly moves through the house, we see Maddie (Rosamund Pike) looking bewildered. Her husband, Frank (Matthew Rhys), is asleep at a desk. It’s natural to assume this couple had a massive argument over dinner then stomped off to separate rooms.
However, as the story unfolds, we discover it was actually their college-age daughter, Alice (Megan McDonnell), who stormed away.
After returning home from college to share some news, she didn’t receive the response she hoped for from her parents. Frustrated, she ran out, jumped into Frank’s car, and drove off. Maddie sent her several text messages asking her to let them know when she made it back to college safely, but Alice hasn’t replied yet.
When Maddie’s phone rings at 2am, she assumes Alice is calling to apologise; instead, she hears every parent’s worst nightmare: a terrified Alice is calling to say she was in a car accident.
Maddie, a paramedic, immediately springs into rescue mode when she hears the commotion. Frank, awakened by the noise, completely panics. They rush outside and hop into Maddie’s car to drive to the accident site, keeping Alice on speakerphone for .
As Alice explains that she has accidentally run over a girl and that the paramedics aren’t there yet, Maddie begins to guide Alice through checking if the girl is breathing. When Alice can’t find a breath, Maddie instructs her to start chest compressions and give rescue breaths.
It is extremely unnerving to listen to the sounds of compressions while Maddie and Frank start to argue. Frank doesn’t want Alice to continue the R. He thinks it is too much to ask and that she will be traumatised by it. An experienced paramedic, Maddie is convinced the guilt of not helping will be far more traumatic than not doing a few compressions.
As Maddie and Frank get increasingly lost in their bickering and desperate fear, they begin to realise that Alice is hiding something from them, the truth of which could have devastating consequences for all of them.
Tense, creepy, and deeply unsettling, Pike and Rhys are terrific as parents trapped in a pressure cooker of fear and secrets.
McDonnell is fantastic as Alice’s voice on the line; she does an excellent job using her voice to convey so much.
The end doesn’t quite work as well as it could have, but it’s well worth watching for Pike and Rhy’s performances, and Anvari’s skill for keeping the audience on its toes.
