Director: Babak Anvari
Starring: Rosamund Pike, Matthew Rhys, Megan McDonnell
Certificate: 15
Run Time: 80 mins

Hallow Road is the new film by British-Iranian director Babak Anvari, most famous for the excellent Persian language horror film Under The Shadow. Since that knockout debut, Anvari’s follow-up films, Wounds and I Came By received a more mixed reception and he’s gone back to basics for Hallow Road. Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys play Maddie and Frank, a couple who are awoken by a phone call from their 18-year-old daughter, Alice, in the middle of the night. Having run out of an argument from her parents earlier that evening, Alice has got herself into a rather terrible spot because she’s hit a girl who ran out into the road with her car. The rest of the film follows Maddie and Frank’s journey to get to Alice, as they drive the forty painstaking minutes.

Hallow Road is a real return to form for Babak Anvari with this very effective psychological chiller about a truly terrible situation that inevitably worsens. William Gillies’ taut script slowly reveals its hand and I really liked how he combines the impressive realism with fairytale-like elements that give certain scenes an almost spiritual quality. Kit Fraser’s claustrophobic cinematography is also assured, and the decision to shoot the exterior scenes in 16mm, and use digital for the interior is a strong creative choice.

Rosamund Pike is the star of the show and has a real gravitas that really elevates the film – the film may have struggled without the weight of such an actress. Matthew Rhys is also brilliant, and the two make for an interesting pair, as they flit between standing up for and pointing out each other’s flaws in their believable panic.

The only real flaw I have with the film is its geography. The film’s meant to be set in a sprawling UK city, yet all of the roads to get to the scene of the crime are on rural farm tracks that are very clearly not set in the country. Digging deeper, Hallow Road was filmed in both Ireland and the Czech Republic, and it’s very evident watching the film. I know it’s nitpicking but I’d rather the film be set in an undisclosed location – that way, the journey the couple take would be more believable.

Geography-flaws aside, Hallow Road is a really strong piece of work from Babak Anvari, with plenty to say about the lengths parents will go to in order to protect their child. The predominantly fixed location isn’t to the film’s detriment, and this is a much better film than Locke, for example. The film’s also well-paced and doesn’t outstay its welcome, at a very economical 80 minutes.