Hallow Road is any parent's worst nightmare, driving down an endless stretch of open road in the early AM with their child on the line in danger of ruining their life. The film is a sinister take on suspense, allowing for a majority of the film to be parent versus parent in their response on how to protect their child differently. 

 

Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys play mom and dad, on a heart pounding mission to cross infinite miles to reach their daughter and sort out what to do about an accident that has occurred. The pair’s daughter has struck someone while driving under the influence in the middle of the night in a place she’s unfamiliar with. Is the person she struck dead or just injured? Will anyone go out and save them? 

 

After hitting a person, the logical solution is to call the police, an ambulance and then your parents. She has voided the first two and gone straight for her parents with no anticipation of calling the others out of pure fear. The mom, a former EMT, leads her daughter through the choices reluctantly to assist the incapacitated person - which she offers reluctantly until the active EMT arrives. Unfortunately for her, they’ve yet to be called and she is leading her daughter into a territory she is unprepared for. In the passenger seat, the dad talks among himself, stressed by the situation and ready at any moment to sacrifice his one life for his kin. Miles upon miles lay in front of them as they discuss and frustratingly speak through the car’s phone. 

 

What begins as an anxiety ridden thriller with an enormous lead in the drama department, takes a sharp undefined turn into horror. There comes a time in the film where your heart will be beating so fast just from the way these three are interacting with one another, that when something else enters the picture you have to hold your breath. If the film was traveling well beyond the speed limit at this point, the film is going F1 levels now - racing to the finish with reckless abandon and horrifying results. The ending is where people will separate from the remainder of the pack, it’ll either be celebrated as a unique conclusion or despised for being something off the deep end. Either way the performances among this isolated car ride and its communication throughout are all realistically portrayed as parents willing to go to the extreme for their daughter’s well-being; whether the truth is truly out there or not.