The Hallow (2015)

When a conservationist encroaches upon an old wood to study a species of invasive fungus, he invokes the wrath of the Hallow – a clan of “faeries, banshees and baby-stealers” – igniting a terrifying chain of events and plunging his family into a hellish nightmare. Written by Corin Hardy and Felipe Marino, and directed by Hardy, The Hallow is a mean, moody, thoughtful creature-feature with strong elements of folk, eco and body horror. In the grand tradition of folk and fairy stories, Hardy’s film warns of the dangers of trespassing in places we have no business being, as well as offering commentary on the importance of protecting the environment and respecting the myriad other species – known and unknown – which co-habit this planet with us.

Hardy and Marino’s screenplay eases us into the story, establishing the characters and spending time with them, thus ensuring later, horrific events are reinforced by a strong emotional core and skyward-rocketing tension. Adam (Joseph Mawle) and Claire (Bojana Novakovic) are a likeable, relatable couple. As Adam explores the forest, baby son Finn strapped to his back and faithful dog Iggy by his side, Claire sets about fixing up the house. She removes the iron bars from all the windows, much to the consternation of her superstitious neighbour Colm (Michael McElhatton), who claims iron keeps out the Sidhe (pronounced ‘shee’), a race of wicked faery folk who live in the surrounding woods and have a penchant for stealing babies. He claims they abducted his own daughter Cora years ago when she wandered into the woods and never returned. We’re drip-fed further ominous information regarding the woods, the local area and the beliefs of its locals, as Hardy works to conjure a sense of foreboding and gradually mounting dread. Garda (police officer) Davey (Michael Smiley) explains that the local population give the forest a wide berth and makes sure Adam and Claire, and we, understand that superstition and the Old Ways still hold strong in the community.

When Adam brings home a specimen of fungus to study, it begins to appear throughout the house, drawing the Sidhe to it, and to baby Finn. Several highly stressful moments ensue as the creatures try to gain entry to the house, and tension mounts further as Claire finds herself doubly threatened when Adam is infected by the fungus and begins to transform and insist Finn has been replaced by a changeling (faerie offspring left in place of an abducted human child). This is when Hardy begins to crank gears and the couple find themselves under siege, from outside and from within... Hardy ensures proceedings are taut and eventually very stressful, particularly instances when Finn is threatened. Mawle and Novakovic convince with strong performances as the world of their characters is invaded, torn asunder.

Hardy and Marino take the idea of the relationship that exists between the land and its people, and twists it into something nightmarish. In The Hallow, the Sidhe are literally of the land, their strange, botanically-infused appearance renders them as much a part of the forest as the trees. While the story obviously involves the fantastical, the screenplay grounds it in a sense of the natural world. The Sidhe are not human, but they are organic, sentient beings of great power. Their design is striking: spindly arms and elongated hands with syringe-like appendages that emerge from their fingers - as witnessed in one breathlessly taut scene in which Claire is trapped in the attic. They are also able to ‘recruit’ others into their hive-mind by infecting them, taking root within them, much like the zombie-ant fungus of tropical rainforests. Their evident malevolence aside, they are also custodians of the land, the forest. They act quickly, mercilessly against trespassers.

There is a strong environmental message at the heart of The Hallow, which decries the detrimental impact mankind has made on the natural landscape, disrupting biodiversity and damaging fragile ecosystems. When the Romans referred to Ireland as Hibernia, meaning ‘land of winter’, it may have conjured all manner of fabulous and foreboding connotations, but it was also an act of precognition: Ireland has since become one of the most de-forested places in Europe (O'Hagan Luff, 2023). Only 11% of its land is forested, as deforestation instigated by the industrial revolution, British colonialism (the nationality of Adam and Claire – British – could be read as a comment on colonialism), shipbuilding, expanding agriculture etc. has taken a toll. Only 1% is made up of native, naturally established forest (Flynn, 2024). For the first time in the history of the state, there are more privately owned forests than publicly owned forests. In 2022, 49.1% of forests were in State ownership (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, 2025). 

This is surely as horrifying as anything depicted in The Hallow, which opens with a darkly threatening quote from the Book of Invasions (c 1150): "Hallow be their name, and blessed be their claim. If you who trespass put down roots, then Hallow be your name", hinting at the repercussions of encroaching upon ancient lands held sacred by others. There are still cases throughout Ireland today of belief regarding faeries, or the Good People, as they’re sometimes called. In Celtic folklore and mythology, their association with certain places and objects, particularly trees, like the Hawthorn, Blackthorn, and Rowan, has instilled a strong belief that interfering in any way with these trees or their surrounding areas, will bring bad luck and misery. In the 1960s civil engineers cut down a thorn tree to enable the construction of a new road between Downpatrick and Ballynahinch. It caused alarm among the residents of Annacloy, who believed it was home to fairies. In 1986 a bounty was offered to anyone willing to cut down a fairy tree to make way for a road in Newry, as no one in the area was willing to do so, for fear of otherworldly repercussions. As recently as 2017 a string of accidents along the N22 road between County Kerry and County Cork were attributed to a 'Fairy curse.'

With such a rich, almost tangible well of folklore to draw from, Hardy and Marino ensure The Hallow brims with ideas and insightful commentary, while never shying away from offering audiences a thoroughly creepy, folkloric horror that is chilling to the bone.  

Sources:

O'Hagan Luff, Martha (2023) tcd.ie [online] Available at: https://www.tcd.ie/news_events/articles/2023/ireland-has-lost-almost-all-of-its-native-forests--heres-how-to-bring-them-back/ [Accessed 09/05/25]

Flynn, Valerie (2024) thejournal.ie [online] Available at: https://www.thejournal.ie/ireland-trees-forest-native-6504510-Oct2024/ [Accessed 09/05/25]

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (2025) gov.ie [online] Available at: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-agriculture-food-and-the-marine/publications/forestry-facts-and-news/ [Accessed 09/05/25]