‘Hallow Road’ Is The Feel-Bad Movie of the Year [SXSW 2025 Review]
Director Babak Anvari, responsible for Under The Shadow and Wounds, is known for his dark examinations of the human psyche with nightmarish imagery and complicated characters who are, often, hard to love. With his latest film Hallow Road, which had its world premiere at SXSW 2025, Anvari hones that focus to craft the most upsetting film of 2025 so far, fueled by spine-tingling sound design, incredible central performances, and creative use of a single, cramped location.
The film opens with images of a house recently in turmoil, evidence of a fight still hanging in the air. Glimpses of spooky decorations hint that it’s Halloween, but for whoever lives here, it was anything but a fun night. Then, a smoke detector begins to beep, loudly alerting the house that its batteries are low. Rosamund Pike’s Maddie—or Mads as her husband Frank (Matthew Rhys) calls her—wakes up to the sound, begrudgingly and responsibly changes the batteries, then runs to her phone as it starts to ring. It’s her 18-year-old daughter (and only child) Alice (Megan McDonnell), who we quickly learn sped off that night after a fight with her parents. She’s sobbing as she reveals she hit someone with her car. And the person isn’t breathing.
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From there, Hallow Road is off to the race and doesn’t slow down for a minute of its 80-minute runtime. Maddie and Frank run to their car, talking Alice through how to do CPR while speeding to her location (the titular Hallow Road). The film is shot in real time, so we’re forced to live through the agonizing seconds of Alice sobbing on the phone as she tries to resuscitate the victim. The camera lingers on the horror etched into each parent’s face as they internally grapple with what’s unfolding in front of them.
Of course, there are plenty of twists and turns that keep Hallow Road engaging, thrilling, and a little weird. William Gillies’ script is an intricate puzzle where information is revealed at precisely the right moments to keep this claustrophobic, single-location horror show interesting. Plus it moves along at a fast enough pace that each minute is used economically when it comes to building this family dynamic and revealing its many mysterious layers.
Creative cinematography and skillful sound design elevate the film into more than just two people talking in a car. Alice’s sobs and the sounds of whatever she’s going through on the other end emanate through the car, but we’re never explicitly shown anything. It’s an exercise in the power of imagination and how sounds can be more disgusting than any excruciatingly detailed death sequence.
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But most of all, Pike and Rhys turn in two performances that anchor Hallow Road in the very real horror of realizing that your child has done something horrible that will irreparably change the rest of their lives. Pike is, unsurprisingly, superb. She plays paramedic Maddie with a cool detachment similar to Pike’s iconic Amy from Gone Girl. But unlike Amy, Maddie is capable of love and tries to remain calm as a coping mechanism, always reasonable and pragmatic. Then there’s Rhys’ Frank, an anxious, jumpy person who will do anything to protect his daughter no matter how illogical. He screams and demands obedience, a man who is trying his best but really just comes off as spineless.
And McDonnell also deserves credit for crafting a character the audience never sees outside of a single contact photo, taken during much happier times. With just her voice, she sells Alice’s panic and absolute fear at the prospect of taking responsibility for her actions. Her regret is enough to bring you to tears and her desperation is enraging. But it’s thanks to McDonnell that we have such a visceral reaction to a character’s action that exists purely within our minds.
Pike and Rhys spar and argue their way through the worst night of their lives as secrets are revealed and more fantastical elements arise, taking Hallow Road straight into traditional horror territory. These elements are integrated through clunky exposition dumps that feel shoehorned in to ensure audience understanding. Those moments, while brief, slow down a script that moves along briskly and confidently.
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The late introduction of a new character is the biggest example. While a necessary and welcome complication, this character’s role is convoluted and threatens to derail a deeply harrowing story about two parents trying to do the right thing. And yet, in Anvari’s capable hands, it all comes together into a nightmarish package that’ll keep you from driving through the woods on Halloween night ever again.
Parents, beware: this is a horror movie specifically handcrafted to ruin your night. There’s no graphic imagery here, but the situation itself is horrific, even before anything spooky starts happening. Anvari is firing on all cylinders here, channeling his best artistic impulses to craft a deeply upsetting and unrelenting genre experience that’ll haunt you for days to come.
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Hallow Road (2025)
Summary
With his latest film Hallow Road, Anvari crafts the most upsetting film of 2025 so far, fueled by spine-tingling sound design, incredible central performances, and creative use of a single, cramped location.
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