Hollow’s Grove (Film) Review
Genre: Horror
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Hollow’s Grove is a spooky found footage film meant to unleash your inner scaredy cat this Halloween season. The premise of the film is that you are assisting the FBI in a case by viewing found footage from a documentary being made by a small filmmaker. The documentary is following a group of paranormal researchers […]
Hollow’s Grove is a spooky found footage film meant to unleash your inner scaredy cat this Halloween season. The premise of the film is that you are assisting the FBI in a case by viewing found footage from a documentary being made by a small filmmaker. The documentary is following a group of paranormal researchers (S.P.I.T. – Spirit and Paranormal Investigation Team) as they prepare and film an episode for their television show. The filmmaker is an old college buddy of the show’s hosts, and you get the sense that they are allowing him to film as a favor, rather than out of any sense of actual value in the documentary.
At first, the film focuses mainly on the relationships between the members of the filming crew, as well as on the fact that absolutely none of them actually believe in any of the paranormal stuff, despite it being their show’s fifth season. Early on, you meet the special effects guy who has been tasked with providing the scares needed to get viewers for the show – thereby setting up a number of “Nice one, Bill!” comments when scary things start to happen at their shoot. It’s a predictable tactic, for sure, but it helps build the tension in the characters as they come across “Bill’s” tricks.
As would be typical of that sort of show, the filming is being done at an abandoned orphanage which was the scene of many horrendous deaths and is said to be haunted. Of course, the team believes none of it, despite the foreshadowing of the caretaker warning them earnestly that “this is real”. And so sets off the spooky adventure in the orphanage that ostensibly led to the FBI case that was hinted at the beginning. The scary events begin slowly, but quickly ramp up in intensity, with the team alternating between praising the special effects guy and wondering if this one could actually be real.
If you’re looking for some Halloween chills without a lot of thought needed, Hollow’s Grove is a perfect choice for getting your scare on. Though the story line is a tad predictable, it’s satisfyingly scary enough to have you jumping and throwing your popcorn at all the right moments. Because the story is being told through the lens of the documentary filmmaker, it leaves plenty of room for little explanations and insights as to why characters are acting certain ways, and lets them explain themselves to the camera. So though it does come off a little cheesey at times, it serves well to show the buildup of tension as the situation in Hollow’s Grove escalates.