Hollow (Wyvern Hill) Review from Devilworks!
Straight in the deep end with Hollow – just how my Partner in Gore, Willow Brian, and I like it. After a wonderful spoken quote about how memories are better than reality because they keep alive those who are gone, we have a guy in his traditional killer’s workshop getting ready to dismember victims, or at least alter them somewhat.
The vivid and vibrant colours assault your senses, the music… wow, the music, very Nine Inch Nails and reflects the editing pattern of the scene. Willow pointed out, aside from loving the score, how the use of real maggots made this a unique experience from the beginning, followed by a power drill into flesh, this had us instantly.
The credits are Chinese puppet show style with a great music box rendition feel. “Someone’s taken pride in this soundtrack.” said Willow. We begin our story with Beth, an older woman who has flashes of what could be prior memories whilst she lays with her partner – again the colours are absolutely amazing. She wakes and he’s gone. Beth cries alone. Has he in fact passed away prior and he’s part of her memories, her imagination, or in fact a spirit?
We meet our main couple, Jess and Connor, who are being evicted from their place. As the movie progressed, news reports are heard here and there about disappearances, meanwhile we fell silent but for comments for the review – hooked. Back in the murderer’s lair – gore, captive victim, the banging music returned upping the intensity levels. Nice!
“Do you see the beauty of it now? Do you realise what waits?” hisses the masked man. Ahhh yes, fantastic, one of the victims has been given button eyes like Coraline, David Bowie’s last video and of course David Cronenberg’s maniac in Nightbreed.
Beth is watching a puppet show and ends up discussing dragons, or wyverns, with a younger lady. “The bad boys of mythology. Misunderstood. They only want to survive.” Afterwards she speaks to her friend, Alison, who happens to mention how they all miss Ken, it’s only been a few months, she needs to grieve. Beth gets mad, but then explains how she sees him all of the time. “I forgot he was dead.”
Jess, who is Beth’s daughter, calls round. There’s a big, bearded bugger of a bloke across the road who Beth sees. He vanishes as a car goes by, old school horror style. That night, she hears noises downstairs, has a gander all the dirty pots are washed. Back into bed, the shape we all assume is Ken, steps out and it’s the big hairy chinned man. He wanders the house topless and poses a few times.
Six months pass, Jess and Connor have moved into the countryside. Beth lives with them now. She visits a church and spies dragon art. The same young lady from the puppet show is there. They chat again, the plot is getting thicker now. Then the killer strikes again with a pitchfork straight from the golden era of slasher flicks and we were in horror heaven.
“Oh, that’s definitely you,” chuckled Willow as a big burly maniac danced and swayed whilst wearing a butcher’s apron (I own one) plus a paper mache mask of Punch (I don’t own one of those) from Punch and Judy – there’s a big connection with the puppet to Beth, by the way.
What with the cast being excellent throughout, the beautiful locations that are characters unto themselves, the masterful Argento giallo lighting, use of shadows, the timing of the set pieces, and the twisted almost surreal script, Hollow a.k.a. Wyvern Hill (that is the preferred name but can’t be used due to the distributors) is faultless.
Seemingly random set ups and executions feel so disjointed in a good way, then they all melt together with complete control, care, and passion. At times Hollow feels like one of the old BBC ghost story short films from the ‘70s and ‘80s, whilst at other times it is just smashing you in the face with sheer violence and gore. The smallest thing in this movie could end up meaning so much.
Everything builds tensely to a climax that could be a bit of a mind mess to some who haven’t concentrated on the happenings throughout. In fact, we weren’t too sure of the outcome, but we built our own conclusions and that was cool because the film had drawn us in.
Jonathan Zaurin isn’t a stranger to the realm of underground horrors. He has created a fair few over the last few years. I feel he’s reached the level of forming a masterpiece with this. Hollow is a glorious combination of old school and new, fun and sadness, horror and chiller – we cannot praise this enough. Go in with an open mind and your imagination ready to glow. Not bad considering the amount of stops and starts he and the crew faced throughout the Covid era.
Huge Severed thumb in the air for Ben Errington, a newbie to the game of effects according to IMDb, but he really delivers, trust me, you won’t be a disappointed gorehound, because we weren’t. Lastly, for Jonathan’s wife, Michael Sanchez, and Matt Sheehan for a totally knock out song before the end credits. I need that song for my play list!
Directed by: Jonathan Zaurin
Written by: Keith Temple
Produced by: Sarah Zaurin
Cinematography by: Jonathan Zaurin
Editing by: Jonathan Zaurin
Music by: Michael Sanchez
Special Effects by: Ben Errington
Cast: Pat Garrett, Ellie Jeffreys, Pete Bird, Michael Coombes, Keith Temple, Ayvianna Snow
Year: 2022
Country: UK
Language: English
Colour: Colour
Runtime: 1h 48min
Studio: Alpha Dog Pictures TX, LBS Films, Solo Productions
Distributor: Devilworks
