The Hallow

The Hallow (originally titled The Woods) is a 2015 Irish horror film directed by Corin Hardy, written by Hardy and Felipe Marino, and starring Joseph Mawle, Bojana Novakovic, Michael McElhatton, and Michael Smiley. It is a British-Irish co-production filmed in Ireland. It premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival on 25 January 2015. Plot Adam Hitchens, a British conservationist specializing in plant and fungal life, his wife Claire, and baby son Finn travel to a remote Irish village surrounded by a large forest. While exploring the forest with Finn, Adam stumbles upon an animal carcass with a strange fungal substance that has burst open the body. Adam takes a sample and returns home with Finn while Claire has an encounter with a local called Colm Donnelly who seems unhappy that the family has moved in. That night, the window in Finn's room is broken while he is sleeping. While the couple suspects the culprit is Colm in an attempt to scare them away, the police arrive and suggest that a bird flew in. The officers inform them of the legend about the surrounding forest—that is inhabited by "The Hallow", a breed of "fairies, banshees and baby stealers". Later, Adam spots strange movement in the woods and Claire is puzzled by the fact that the windows of the house are all covered in iron bars. The next day Adam and Finn arrive in town to replace the broken window, when they are treated coldly by the villagers who repeat the legend of The Hallow. Colm arrives at the house again, frightening Claire, and warns her to leave before giving her an old book.