Corin Hardy Biography

CORIN HARDY BIOGRAPHY

Corin Hardy, Director

Corin Hardy is an award- winning filmmaker, whose live action and animated work mixes the macabre, the beautiful and the epic to visually dazzling results.

His early career as a special fx monster-maker began in his bedroom and bike-shed, aged 12; he made a number of animations and super 8 films with school-friends who regularly stood in for his cast of zombies, werewolves and slasher victims. Throughout his teenage years Corin gained valuable film set experience in art and costume departments on a variety of film, tv & theatre productions including The Royal National Ballet’s ‘Dracula’ and Columbia Pictures ‘First Knight’.

A keen sculptor, illustrator & film-maker obsessed by a mixture of 1970’s storybooks, horror films and & 80’s ‘Spielberg era’ cinema.

Corin studied Special Effects at Wimbledon School of Art before making his award- winning stop-motion short film Butterfly in 2003. This led into directing music videos, beginning with Keane’s ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ and ‘Bedshaped’ and continuing with films for a mix of mainstream acts including The Prodigy, Biffy Clyro, Olly Murs, Paolo Nutini and The Rizzle Kicks as well as underground indies The Horrors, Dry The River, The Horrible Crowes – and the 9 minute crime epic for Devlin and Ed Sheeran’s Watchtower, all produced with Academy Films. His music videos have accrued over 150 million views and won numerous awards around the world. Corin was selected as a ‘Star Of Tomorrow’ in 2011 by Screen International. In 2012 he filmed an urban legends based horror short ‘In The Back’ and directed a pair of teasers for his features FEST and Frogz Legz. For the past 10 years Corin has been writing and developing four of his own horror-based feature film projects with production companies in UK & US these include: The Hallow with Occupant Films, Refuge with Big Talk Films, Frogz Legz with Brilliant Films and F E S T with Pari Passu. Corin is also attached to direct Element Pictures teen thriller Where There’s Darkness.

His debut feature THE HALLOW premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2015.

Hardy will next direct the remake of THE CROW. Ed Pressman, Kevin Misher and Harvey and Bob Weinstein are producing with Relativity financing. www.corinhardy.com

Contact:

Jenny Wood – Elevate Entertainment – 323-634-0748

Rich Cook – WME – 310-248-2000

Hugo Young – Independent Talent Group - +44 20 7636 6565

PRESS RELEASES

‘The Crow’ Flies With Director Corin Hardy

by Mike Fleming Jr December 3, 2014 11:56am

EXCLUSIVE: Relativity Studios has set Corin Hardy to direct its remake of The Crow. Hardy made his live action feature directing debut on the Occupant Entertainment thriller The Hallow, a film that will be released next year and before that he drew acclaim for helming the animated short Butterfly and for directing music videos for the likes of Ed Sheeran, Biffy Clyro, Keane, Paolo Nutini and The Prodigy. The Crow remake has been watched closely by the fanboy set that loves the James O’Barr graphic novel about a murdered man who comes back for revenge, which was first brought to the screen by director Alex Proyas and the late actor Brandon Lee. Hardy has gotten a bit of cred in that fanboy favorite helmer Edgar Wright was the one who recommended him to Edward R. Pressman, who produced the original 1994 film and is producing the reboot. Hardy replaces F. Javier Gutiérrez, who was attached but signed on to the direct the next installment of The Ring franchise. That made him unavailable to helm The Crow, which is slated for a spring production start with a script by Cliff Dorfman. Gutierrez will be exec producer and O’Barr a consultant. Joining Pressman as producers are Kevin Misher, Relativity’s Ryan Kavanaugh, Jeff Most (who produced the original with Pressman), and Jeff Waxman. Tucker Tooley, Bob and Harvey Weinstein and Dan Farah are exec producers.

Hardy is repped by Hugo Young at Independent Talent Group, Elevate Entertainment’s Jenny Wood and attorney Fred Tozcek. Dorfman is repped by ICM and Apostle’s George Heller.

Sundance Horror Title ‘The Hallow’ Scares Up 7-Figure IFC Midnight US Rights Deal

by Mike Fleming Jr February 3, 2015 4:10pm

EXCLUSIVE: IFC Midnight has closed a low-seven-figure deal for U.S. rights to the horror film The Hallow. The film came to Park City with a lot of buzz because of the director, Corin Hardy. He’s the guy who caught Hollywood’s attention with his animated short Butterfly and vids for Ed Sheeran and others, parlaying that into the directing job on The Crow for Relativity. The Hallow stars Joseph Mawle, Bojana Novakovic, Michael McElhatton and Michael Smiley. Joe Neurauter and Felipe Marino produced.

The logline: A London-based conservationist is sent to Ireland to survey for construction an area of ancient forest believed by the superstitious locals to be hallowed ground. The locals aren’t wrong; a horde of demonic forces are unleashed, and horror ensues. The film premiered in the Midnight Section last Sunday at the Egyptian Theatre.

WME Global brokered this deal with ICM Partners. Just as the festival was getting underway, WME signed Hardy after all the agencies flew to Dublin to court him while he was posting the film. Hardy is a protégé of Edgar Wright, who was the one who recommended him to Relativity for the job of reviving The Crow.

WME Signs ‘The Hallow’ Helmer Corin Hardy – Sundance by Mike Fleming Jr January 21, 2015 4:06pm

EXCLUSIVE: Just before he flies in from Europe for the Sundance debut of his thriller The Hallow this weekend, Corin Hardy has signed with WME. This comes after a hotly contested signing battle for a filmmaker who makes his feature debut at the festival but who got Hollywood’s attention with the animated short Butterfly and for directing music videos for the likes of Ed Sheeran, Biffy Clyro, Keane, Paolo Nutini and The Prodigy. Off his highly visual work, Hardy was set direct The Crow for Relativity, with production to begin in April.

After Hardy came in play recently, all of the agencies flew to Dublin to court the filmmaker as he worked on postproduction on The Hallow. Getting him in the WME fold pre-festival — with ICM Partners, WME Global is repping his Sundance movie, which premieres Sunday at midnight — alleviates the rep scrum that would have spread to the Park City slopes. The agency sees in him similarities to Guillermo del Toro when he was making his bones. Hardy is a storyboard conceptualist whose exquisite preparation won him The Crow job following the exit of F. Javier Gutierrez. Edgar Wright recommended Hardy to Relativity. Hardy has several horror films of his own invention he hopes to make, so he could make a name for himself quickly.

The Hallow is set deep within the darkness of secluded forest land in rural Ireland. Feared by the superstitious nearby villagers as a haven for cursed creatures who prey upon the lost, the forest has been hidden from civilization and remains on their hallowed ground. But when a conservationist from London moves in with his wife and infant child in order to survey the land for future construction, his actions unwittingly disturb the horde of demonic forces. Alone in a remote wilderness, he now must ensure his family’s survival from their relentless attacks

Meet the 2015 Sundance Filmmakers #34: Corin Hardy Explores the Perils of Parenting in 'The Hallow'

By Rosie Narasaki | Indiewire January 27, 2015 at 4:10PM Want to watch woodland creatures go wild?

Shot in picturesque West Ireland, Corin Hardy's "The Hallow" carefully navigates the fine line between fairy tales, horror, and reality. The film features the story of a young couple (with a baby, of course) that moves to the countryside -- only to accidentally incur the wrath of the seemingly innocent woodland creatures.

What's your film about, in 140 characters or less?

I wanted to tell a story based on an idea of what might be the truth behind fairytales and folk-lore and suggest a link with science & nature. We've read fairy tales all of our lives, but what truth might they be based on in a modern, grounded, non-gothic reality? Essentially it's about those two things; folk-lore and nature and what happens when you mess with either of them.

Now, what's it REALLY about?

The perils of parenting.

Tell us briefly about yourself.

I grew up on fairy tales. I love being consumed by stories. I love monsters and horror and I love emotional rides that move me. When I was younger I wanted to be a monster-maker and made horror movies with my friends each summer with as many home-made gore effects as possible. I eventually studied theatre design before making my debut stop-motion short "Butterfly" and directing music videos. "The Hallow" took 8 years from initial inception through writing, to production & completion. It's been an emotional ride, with monsters at every turn.

What was the biggest challenge in completing this film?

Completing the film...... Yeah. (Writing this whilst mixing final sound design & score, in Ireland. It's January 7th 2015.) What do you want audiences at Sundance to take away from your film?

IFC Midnight" The Hallow"

I hope they will be scared, thrilled & moved, in equal measure... When I see a film I want to be lost in it for an hour and a half and escape life itself. I would like it to be an exhilarating & sometimes primal experience that is one best accompanied by a bucket of popcorn & a beer and a partner to cling to. I want my stories to entertain, in the humblest sense. And I'd hope that on their drive home they might chitter chatter on what they saw & decide for themselves, what it was about...

Are there any films that inspired you?

Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion creature movies captured my young mind & didn't let it go. "Evil Dead II" blew the same teenage mind all over the wall with its inventive craziness & made me want to make films. "Alien" and "The Thing" presented the height of practical monster FX in a serious, terrifying and truly artistic way. "Don't Look Now" resonated with the emotional power of a truthful performance and proved that horror films can also be devastatingly moving. And finally, I'm inspired by the balance of imagination, horror, emotion and wondrous execution in Guillermo Del Toro's films, particularly his Spanish ones. Also, "The Big Lebowski." "Jaws." "Rambo." "Deliverance." "Under The Skin." Lets talk some more... What have I forgotten? What's next for you?

The Crow, and I have a number more of my own projects that I want to make.

What cameras did you shoot on? I'd spent my whole life waiting to make a feature 'film' & always wanted my debut to be shot on film, to keep everything as organic as possible, but it just was not possible for this project in the end, and we shot on the Arri Alexa. But I knew that I needed a very special DOP to strive for the best, most beautiful look & fresh feel for a horror movie and in the hands of Martijn Van Broekhuizen, whose cinematography resembled moving paintings of light, I believe we achieved a pleasing end result. Did you crowdfund?

I didn't, I was lucky enough to have great producers in Joe Neurauter and Felipe Marino who have made several independent movies and succeeded in securing me just enough from E1, IFB, Prescience and Hyperion, via Altitude so I didn't need to approach crowd funding, although its something I think is an amazing resource, keep track of and may use in future.

Corin Hardy

30 June, 2011

Yeti survival story set up at Big Talk.

Corin Hardy is ready, poised, as close to take-off as any young director could possibly be.

With the brilliance of music promos such as Warrior’s Dance for The Prodigy behind him (he is repped by Academy Films for music videos and ads), not to mention his terrifying short The Cost, Hardy specialises in horror and animation (from East Sussex, he graduated from Wimbledon School of Art with a degree in practical effects). Now 36, he half-jokingly admits to the loss of five years in his garden shed becoming increasingly obsessed with his dark animated short, Butterfly. But now he has at least three projects in advanced stages of development. The first is Refuge, a yeti survival tale set up at Big Talk. The Good People is a dark and malevolent fairy chiller, in development with Occupant and co-written, like Frogz Legz, with Tom De Ville (Frogz is with Brilliant Films). Rounding out his ‘slate’ are Fest, another chiller, set at a music festival and being developed with Pari Passu, and The Horribilis, a period comedy written by Will Clarke and John Pape (Hardy calls it The Young Victoria meets The Hills Have Eyes). “They’re all ready,” he says. “And once I start, I won’t stop.” Hardy is also a creative director for new Sony Music signing Dry The River.

Sam Raimi to produce 'Refuge' by Steven Zeitchik, AP

9/23/2009 9:00pm PDT

Sam Raimi is taking "Refuge."

The genre maestro has signed on to produce a supernatural horror pic of that name, based on a pitch from up-and-coming British director Corin Hardy. The project has been set up at Mandate, where Raimi's Ghost House Pictures has a deal.

"Refuge" centers on a remote town terrorized by a Yeti, the mythological creature native to the mountains of the Himalayas. Hardy will direct from a script by fellow British writer Tom De Ville; both are repped by Paradigm's Marc Helwig and Trevor Astbury.

Jason Blum is producing, while Scott Hanson and Steven Schneider are exec producing, with Blumhouse and Hanson Allen Films financing. They will also finance a short with the same premise as the "Refuge" feature that Hardy will direct while De Ville is penning the script.

Genre auteurs are increasingly taking on projects from young directors and shepherding them through the indie and studio system as both producers and mentors. Guillermo del Toro, for instance, has taken on that role with Juan Antoniono Bayona and a number of Spanish comers.

The CAA-repped Raimi, who is next set to shoot "Spider Man 4"as well as an adaptation of the video game "World of Warcraft," is involved in a number of projects as a producer, including the vampire comic-book adaptation "Priest" at Screen Gems.

Jenny Wood at Elevate manages Hardy -- a music video director for bands such as Prodigy and Keane -- while Independent's Hugo Wood reps him in the U.K. -

THE HALLOW REVIEWS

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Movies/TV,News,Reviews | May 6, 2015 - 10:30 am | by: Ken W. Hanley | “THE HALLOW” (Stanley Film Festival Review)

Once in a while, the horror genre just needs a damn good monster movie. Thanks to trends in studio horror, fright fans are often saddled with gritty exploitation-adjacent genre films, minimalist ghost stories or psychologically taxing tales of psychopathia on a regular basis. So when a movie like THE HALLOW comes along, to call it refreshing would be an understatement, especially one as effectively scary and gorgeous as Corin Hardy’s creature feature. Taking a page out of Guillermo del Toro’s playbook (in some ways more than others), Corin Hardy tackles mythology and fantasy rooted in his own culture in THE HALLOW, which makes the experience that much more passionate and visceral as it comes from inherently confident and well- read territory. Thanks to that territory, Hardy introduces some of the scariest on-screen SFX creations in recent memory, and offers much more than your standard fleeting jump-scare looks at them as well. In fact, Hardy’s whole vision plays with the expectations of the monster movie, offering enough satisfying scares and intensity to justify more intrusive and underhanded powers from these creatures as well as a genuinely beautiful environment in which our “survive the night” story takes place. However, despite that THE HALLOW is a legitimate frightener, the film does sport some noticeable flaws, especially in the story department. The biggest issue with THE HALLOW is that the film, in essence, is missing a second act, positing 20 minutes of effective build-up and then over an hour of a climactic stand-off. That doesn’t mean the story necessarily suffers: in fact, the intense and subversive direction of the script offers plenty of terrifying twists and turns. Yet what it does mean is that THE HALLOW is a two-act film, and once the stakes are established, there’s little in the way of fluctuation as the film reveals more and more about these monsters.

Even with all flaws considered, THE HALLOW is twice as imaginative and thrice as impressive as most contemporary horror movie, let alone any contemporary monster movie. The main reason behind THE HALLOW’s effectiveness is Hardy, as the director understands the need for clever rules and justifications behind the mythos as much as the film needs character development and some seriously creepy creatures. Additionally, Hardy’s vision is given a colorful and eye-popping visual composition thanks to cinematographer Martijn Van Broekhuizen, who weaves between a fantastic shot and gritty reality with the expert precision. Special note should also be given to SFX Wizards Stephen Coren, John Nolan, Gary Pollard and Earle Stuart Callender as well as sound designer Steve Fanagan, each of whom the film owes a great debt to in terms of its shocking scares. Corin Hardy also cleverly cast the film, offering a lion’s share of great supporting actors in their time to shine. Bojana Novakovic is exceptional as the film’s female lead, throwing an immense physicality into the role as well as a believable and emotionally fueled sense of paranoia. Joseph Mawle is also phenomenal in the film, and his progression over the course of the film- physically and mentally- is a sight to behold, especially when posited against the SFX of the piece. And both Michael McElhatton and Michael Smiley have very small, yet wonderfully effective, roles in the film, and treat the material certainly above what some might within a monster movie. Despite replacing the middle of the movie with an impressive and relentless 2-part third act, THE HALLOW excels beyond its mistakes to create one of the most visually engaging and starkly terrifying monster movies in recent memory. Emotional, eerie and occasionally experimental, THE HALLOW is a damn fine artistic statement from Hardy as a genre force to be reckoned with, and if he uses half the confidence that THE HALLOW displays for his remake of THE CROW, many fright fans will likely be Hardy converts. And THE HALLOW is definitely an audience picture as well, playing its crowd like a fiddle with its ongoing intensity; after all, seeing the film alone in a dark house might just be a little too familiar for less-steadfast horror hounds.

'The Hallow': Sundance Review

Corin Hardy, who is attached to direct Relativity's 'The Crow' reboot, whets genre fans' appetites with this gruesome monster movie.

Poking around in the woods unleashes a whole mess of seriously bad juju in The Hallow, director Corin Hardy's viscerally scary fantasy horror tale about a young English family that foolishly ignores the Irish locals' warnings about malevolent nature. An end-credits dedication to Ray Harryhausen, Dick Smith and Stan Winston is hardly necessary to recognize Hardy's veneration for handcrafted creature effects, and while his imaginative first feature shows more control in the nail-biting setup than the busy extended mayhem of its final act, fanboys will find plenty to feast on.

Some may say there's arguably too much. The Hallow tethers its first ick moment to science, when tree doctor Adam (Joseph Mawle) discovers a goopy dollop of ophiocordyceps unilateralis on a deer carcass. That so-called "zombie fungus" infects the brains of ants and then explodes out of their heads, continuing to grow on their exoskeletons. Nasty stuff.

Then there's the folkloric faerie mythology element, though Adam and his wife Claire (Bojana Novakovic) shrug it off as backwoods superstition when neighboring farmer Colm Donnelly (Michael McElhatton) tries to tell them that entering the forest puts their baby at risk. Cue primal family terror.

But that's just for starters. The screenplay by Hardy and Felipe Marino stirs in a siege scenario, with a possessed house oozing black sludge, predatory monsters eager to extend their brood, and a dose of David Cronenberg body horror, tipping its hat to Jeff Goldblum's transformation in The Fly. Homages fly left and right, from The Evil Dead to Alien to The Shining. In other words, this is a hefty cargo of plot ingredients and genre tropes for one film to handle, but it keeps the disparate elements cohesive.

Expectations are high for Hardy's debut, given that the director is already attached to The Crow reboot. He proves himself both a gifted visual stylist and an assured storyteller with a wicked grasp of sustained dread.

What's most gratifying is that The Hallow continues the trend of recent superior horror like The Conjuring, The Babadook and It Follows, by placing the emphasis on practical effects and using the digital paintbox only for subtle enhancement. While the human cast is small, the film marshals a creepy assortment of animatronic and puppet creatures overseen by John Nolan. Hardy also scores points by steering clear of the usual archetypal teens in peril, instead dropping an intelligent adult couple into the demons' lair. That makes it all the more exciting when their cool skepticism is shattered and a petrified Claire finally states the obvious: "The hallow is real!"

The couple and their infant son Finn are brought to the rural area when Adam is sent to survey the forest for a development company. They move into a large old millhouse, where Claire immediately makes a mistake by removing the ugly iron bars from the windows. They were there for a reason. A disturbance in the nursery unsettles them, but a local cop (Michael Smiley) shrugs it off as a panicked bird that took a wrong turn. "Mr. Hitchens, this isn't London," he dryly informs Adam. "Things here do go bump in the night." However, unlike Donnelly, the cop is not a believer in the local legends about banshees, baby-stealers, changelings and other ancient woodland abominations.

Hardy handles the buildup superbly, aided by insidious sound design and James Gosling's classic horror-inspired score. Unsettling seeds are planted from the very first images, in which cinematographer Martijn Van Broekhuizen gives the forest a lush fairytale quality with a shadowy touch of the sinister, signaling that this is no tranquil Eden.

A couple of gratuitous early jump scares aside, the pieces are assembled with a measured hand and a persuasive semblance of realism that pulls you in. That gives the first major onslaught of terror a thrilling jolt when car trouble leads to Adam getting stuck in the trunk while Finn wails inside the vehicle and a menacing blur wreaks havoc with the paintwork. The less-is-more principle, in terms of withholding a full view of the monsters, gets abandoned a little too soon. But it's hard to argue with the effectiveness of a white-knuckle attic scene that puts Claire in the Sigourney Weaver hot seat. The accelerating action becomes something of a horror orgy as the woods cough up a frightening array of creatures, and threats to the family come from all sides, including within. But audiences are unlikely to mind the overload given that the stakes remain high and the tension never flags in a film that delivers almost non-stop scares through most of its second half.

Not all of the script's ideas are fully developed, notably the conflict of making Adam a conservationist who has sold out by taking work that will lead to deforestation. The environmental subtext gets lost along the way; the wrath emanating from the hallow seems mostly just an issue of trespassing on sacred ground until an end-credits scene that may be a winking tease for a sequel.

The film under-utilizes McElhatton and Smiley, both of whom make vivid impressions in their brief screen time, with characters that could easily have withstood additional appearances. But keeping the focus tight on Adam and Claire (not to mention baby Finn), alone in a malignant wilderness, turns up the volume on the parenthood nightmare, and both Mawle and Novakovic are aces.

As first films go, this one is visually energized, dynamically paced and discerning in its cine- literate references. It's also a kickass calling card for Hardy as he moves on to bigger projects.

Production companies: Occupant Entertainment, Fantastic Films Cast: Joseph Mawle, Bojana Novakovic, Michael McElhatton, Michael Smiley Director: Corin Hardy Screenwriters: Corin Hardy, Felipe Marino Producers: Joe Neurauter, Felipe Marino Executive producers: Tim Smith, Paul Brett, Michael Mailis, Will Clarke, Kate Sharp Director of photography: Martijn Van Broekhuizen Production designer: Mags Linnane Costume designer: Lara Campbell Music: James Gosling Editor: Nick Emerson Animatronics & makeup effects supervisor: John Nolan Visual effects supervisor: Stephen Coren Casting: Dixie Chassay Sales: ICM/WME/Altitude Film Sales No rating, 97 minutes.

Sundance Film Review: ‘The Hallow’

JANUARY 31, 2015 | 02:08AM PT

Visual artist Corin Hardy's arresting first film is an unabashed creature feature.

Geoff Berkshire Associate Editor, Features@geoffberkshire It takes time for “The Hallow” to get rolling, but once it reaches a bang-up final act, genre fans could walk out clamoring for a sequel. The directorial debut of visual artist Corin Hardy is never less than arresting to the eye, but thin characters and a familiar story hold this Irish chiller back from entering the top tier of recent horror entries. Fortunately, the human characters ultimately don’t matter nearly as much as the diabolical beings they encounter. That’s enough to make the film’s haunted forest worth a visit for creature feature buffs worldwide.

Like so many genre entries before it, “The Hallow” opens with a married couple — Adam (Joseph Mawle) and Clare (Bojana Novakovic) — relocating to a remote area, in this case with their newborn baby, Finn, in tow. They’re almost immediately warned by foreboding neighbor Colm (Michael McElhatton) that their choice of abode makes them a target for nasty spirits who dwell in the woods, preying on children. But Adam’s job as conservationist requires study of those very woods, and he thinks nothing of going exploring with Finn strapped to his back and the family dog by their side.

His first major discovery: a rotting deer carcass stuck to a wall by a mysterious black goo. (The rundown house it occupies looks straight out of “True Detective’s” Carcosa.) Taking the goo home for further investigation, Adam discovers it hosts a “zombie fungus” that attaches to a host and takes control like a body snatcher (it’s an actual scientific thing, not a horror construct). Adam finds it fascinating, Clare thinks it’s ominous, but the rules of the genre are in full effect: No one will be leaving the house until it’s far too late.

Hardy and co-writer Felipe Marino ratchet up the tension in a series of increasingly clever setpieces, including a relatively early doozy in which Adam finds himself trapped in the trunk of his car while Finn wails in the backseat and unseen forces attack loudly and violently from the outside. Novakovic’s Clare has her own pair of action-heroine moments showcasing the lengths to which a mother will go to protect her child, but the script would’ve been wise to bulk up her character given the twists in store for Adam as the story shifts into high gear. Without giving too much away, Adam’s fate involves a combination of elements from “The Shining” and “District 9,” his rapidly deteriorating mental state adding an extra layer of suspense to the external terrors the family faces.

The entire pic essentially becomes a feature-length excuse for promising director Hardy (already attached to a reboot of “The Crow” at Relativity) to indulge his love of movie monsters. It’s an opportunity he seizes with palpable fanboy glee as evidenced by the closing-credits dedication to genre luminaries Ray Harryhausen, Dick Smith and Stan Winston. The production embraces a thrilling mix of practical effects, animatronics, puppetry and prosthetics along with subtle CG enhancements to create a vivid collection of nightmarish fiends (dubbed fairies, banshees and baby snatchers by the locals).

Aside from the monsters lurking within, “The Hallow” benefits from a full lineup of superlative craft contributions. They begin with Martijn Van Broekhuizen’s painterly camerawork, which plays with shadow and light in eerie, evocative ways and beautifully embellishes the script’s fairy-tale quality. Steve Fanagan’s visceral sound design works in tandem with Nick Emerson’s sharp editing, James Gosling’s spooky score and Mags Linnane’s captivating production design to ensure the atmospherics are spot-on from the very beginning all the way through a darkly comic finish.

Sundance Film Review: 'The Hallow' Reviewed at Sundance Film Festival (Park City at Midnight), Jan. 26, 2015. Running time: 97 MIN.

Production (Ireland-U.K.) An Occupant Entertainment and Fantastic Films presentation in association with Hyperion Media Group, the Irish Film Board, Prescience Film Finance. (International sales: Altitude Film Sales, London.) Produced by Joe Neurauter, Felipe Marino. Executive producers, Tim Smith, Paul Brett, Michael Mailis, Will Clarke, Kate Sharp. Co-producers, John McDonnell, Brendan McCarthy.

Crew Directed by Corin Hardy. Screenplay, Hardy, Felipe Marino. Camera (color, widescreen, HD), Martijn Van Broekhuizen; editor, Nick Emerson; music, James Gosling; music supervisor, Melany Mitchell; production designer, Mags Linnane; art director, David Ahern; set decorator, Julie Tierney; costume designer, Lara Campbell; sound, Danny Crowley; supervising sound editor, Steve Fanagan; re-recording mixers, Fanagan, Garret Farrell; animatronics/makeup effects supervisor, John Nolan; visual effects supervisor, Stephen Coren; visual effects, Windmill Lane, Jellyfish Pictures, Horsie in the Hedge; special effects, Cowshed Media Limited; creature performance choreographer, Peter Elliot; stunt coordinator, Joe Condren; line producer, Cathleen Dore; assistant director, Ivan McMahon; casting, Dixie Chassay.

With Joseph Mawle, Bojana Novakovic, Michael McElhatton, Michael Smiley.

After months of anticipation, Frightday finally laid eyes on Corin Hardy’s The Hallow at the Stanley Film Festival. The Irish countryside provides a beautiful and haunting backdrop for the story of Adam, Claire, and baby Finn. Recently relocated from London, they begin as skeptics, but quickly realize that the local folklore regarding the surrounding woods may be firmly rooted in reality. The story is simple but effective, and the acting solid. However, the true star of The Hallow is the creature effects. It is clear that Hardy’s passion for this area of filmmaking is paired with remarkable talent. I normally prefer adherence to the philosophy ‘less is more’, but in this instance, the effects are too good to limit their screen time. Visually stunning and very scary–check this one out.

Dir. Corin Hardy. UK, 2015, 97 minutes

Acclaimed pop promo director Corin Hardy makes a slick, confident debut with supernatural horror The Hallow. Demonstrating a facility with storytelling almost as skilful as his nimble orchestration of animatronics and visual effects, this pleasingly old-school Irish-backwoods scarer should appeal to fans of Guillermo Del Toro, while setting the filmmaker along a similar Hollywood-bound path. Lack of marquee names shouldn’t much hinder global distribution, including eOne’s UK unleashing in November.

Hardy, a Screen International Star of Tomorrow in 2011, is already on to bigger and better things: he’s in pre-production on Relativity’s redo ofThe Crow, and would be an obvious candidate for any of Blumhouse’s endlessly profitable genre franchises Hardy and co-writer Felipe Marino deliver an economical set-up, revealing that an Irish forest is set to change from public to private hands. Plant scientist Adam Hitchens (Joseph Mawle) is surveying the health of the timber, an activity that makes him and his wife Clare (Bojana Novakovic) unwelcome additions to the local community.

Interaction is minimal, however, since the couple and their infant son Finn are – you guessed it – staying at a remote house, deep in the forest. Their only neighbour, farmer Colm Donnelly (Michael McElhatton), is openly hostile, warning the family they are trespassing. Adam is more preoccupied with analysing the sample of filthy slime he collects from a dead deer – containing “the Trojan horse of parasitic fungi,” he declares after microscope inspection. Clare brings his attention to a similar-looking viscous substance dripping from the ceiling on to Finn’s cot.

The intriguing build-up takes its time revealing the real reason for Colm’s distress: the forest belongs to the Hallow, tree-dwelling banshees that snatch babies, replace them with changelings and more besides. Colm lost his own daughter to the beasts, who are repelled by iron and all light sources. (Clare’s early removal of all the rusty metal bars from the house’s windows turns out to be an unwise act.)

In a well-constructed middle section, The Hallow gets on efficiently with the escalating scares, little interested in considering alternative explanations – villagers attempting to frighten the family away by orchestrating an elaborate supernatural hoax is one unexplored option. Instead, Hardy proceeds to the supernatural main course, as the Hitchens are driven out of, then back into, their beleaguered home. Nice touches include a camera flash being used to repel the creatures, and a nifty set piece where Adam must break out of the trunk of his car to save Finn, who is imprisoned on his child seat as the vehicle undergoes a sustained attack.

Mawle, highly respected in British casting circles but rarely afforded lead roles, registers strongly as Adam, building continued momentum after acclaimed work in Scottish indie Shell and TV’s Birdsong (both 2012). He also has Ron Howard’s In The Heart of the Sea and John Niven novel adaptation Kill Your Friends awaiting release.

Hardy’s fanboy affection for his unsightly antagonists – he’s been making monster special effects for his super 8 films since the age of 12 – pushes The Hallow into an over-extended action climax that finally outstays its welcome, although hardcore genre fans may disagree on that point. Either way, Hardy, a Screen International Star of Tomorrow in 2011, is already on to bigger and better things: he’s in pre-production on Relativity’s redo of The Crow, and would be an obvious candidate for any of Blumhouse’s endlessly profitable genre franchises.

Production companies: Occupant Entertainment, Fantastic Films, Hyperion Media Group, Irish Film Board, Prescience Film Finance

International sales: Altitude Film Entertainment,[email protected] Producers: Joe Neurauter, Felipe Marino

Screenplay: Corin Hardy, Felipe Marino

Cinematography: Martijn van Broekhuizen

Editor: Nick Emerson

Production design: Mags Linnane

Music: James Gosling

Main cast: Joseph Mawle, Bojana Novakovic, Michael McElhatton, Michael Smiley

The Hallow EIFF 2015: Corin Hardy's feature debut is an impressive woodlands-based horror

 Source: The List  Date: 19 June 2015 (updated 23 Jun 2015)  Written by: Hannah McGill

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A muscular fantasy horror that keeps its nerve and doesn’t let itself down with dodgy effects, this feature debut by British visual artist and pop promo director Corin Hardy (currently working onThe Crow reboot) should be sought out by genre fans who like to cast their nets beyond Hollywood. The back-story is drawn from a real-life controversy: shelved plans by the Irish government to address some of the national debt by selling off public forests. In Hardy’s film, an ancient piece of woodland has been sold, and tree surgeon Adam (Joseph Mawle) has moved to the area with his wife Clare (Bojana Novakovic) and baby son to work on the site. The locals are suspicious of the newcomers - but their issue is not so much that their ancestral territory has been flogged to the highest bidder, as that its disturbance is really going to irritate the ancient ghouls and sprites who live in it. Hardy, who co-wrote the screenplay with Felipe Marino, sets up this scenario deftly, without taking the easy route into parody; a brief but very striking turn by Michael McElhatton as the couple’s hostile new neighbour helps immensely. But battles with the locals soon give way to a stand-off with the supernatural, as Adam and Clare face the fact that the local mythology is all too true. The threat itself is a bit confusingly realised, incorporating too wide a variety of ghosts, monsters, parasites and aggressive plant life; and the film occasionally feels repetitive, with a long succession of similar scares and insufficient time for suspense to build in-between. But it has well-judged set-pieces, and original ideas, often small ones: for all that the film has in store for her, one of the most chilling moments we witness for Clare is simply the early discovery of drips of pitch-black goo in her baby’s cot.

Screening on Sat 20 and Sun 21 Jun as part of the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2015. General release from Fri 13 Nov.

Adam and Clare are English spouses temporarily relocated to the Irish countryside for Adam’s work. Met with disregard and mistrust by the locals, they are warned of things in the woods that take babies in the night, especially ones like the adorable blob they are raising. It soon becomes all too apparent that strange happenings might not be the work of their disgruntled neighbour, but something far more dangerous.

It soon turns out that they are facing fairies. Not the insipid sparkling insects of Disney films, or even the supernatural warriors of contemporary fantasy, but backwoods legends spoken of in hushed whispers. Vicious creatures of malice and spite, they lurk in the darkened shadows of nature where humanity is yet to exert its influence, embodying primal fears shunted into the darkest recesses of our collective subconscious. On paper The Hallow sounds like little more than just another generic supernatural horror titled with some ominous-sounding word you don’t quite know the meaning of, but it proves itself far, far superior to such standard fare.

Although the action often utilises standard jump scares, they are timed in such a way that they manage to surprise you. It’s amazing what you can accomplish with the application of judicious lighting choices and well-timed sound effects. Similarly, camera angles are positioned in such a manner to make you expect something to leap into frame, only for something else to appear elsewhere right at the moment you let your guard down, or shots lingering for a few moments on something you can’t quite make out. It’s like someone finally paid attention to Scream, and then transposed the lessons to Irish folklore.

As well as the slowly revealed nightmarish creatures, we get the forest itself intruding on the couple’s home with spreading black sludge, out of which grow sentient wooden tentacles that call to mind the spider tendrils of The Thing. Also, after a bit of gradual body horror, we also learn that no matter how good a film might have been so far, it can always be improved with the addition of a flaming scythe. Flaming scythes are cool.

Anyone familiar with stories of the fairies may guess the third act plot development, but it doesn’t play out in the way you would assume, and actually manages to inject some tension and uncertainty into what is happening, managing to keep you from guessing between reality and illusion until the very last moment.

Decent horror films are few and far between these days; great ones are even rarer, but you can most certainly count The Hallow amongst the latter. In spite of its familiar set up and character types, it feels fresh, original and, as is also depressingly infrequent theses days, genuinely scary.

INFO: THE HALLOW / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: CORIN HARDY / SCREENPLAY: CORIN HARDY, FELIPE MARINO / STARRING: JOSEPH MAWLE, BOJANA NOVAKOVIC, MICHAEL MCELHATTON, MICHAEL SMILEY / RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 13TH Expected Rating: 6 out of 10 Actual Rating:

Watch: Things Go Bump in the Night in Gruesome 'The Hallow' Trailer

By Jessica Cariaga | IndiewireSeptember 9, 2015 at 4:13PM The Sundance creature feature opens in theaters and VOD November 6.

Corin Hardy's "The Hallow" made the rounds earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival to warm reviews and is set to hit U.S. theaters and VOD this November. In anticipation, distributor IFC Midnight has dropped a new trailer to get viewers ready for 97 minutes of gruesome creature feature goodness.

"The Hallow" stars Joseph Mawle and Bojana Novakovic as a young couple who have just moved to a secluded cabin in an Irish forest, despite locals' warnings of the dangers hidden in their surroundings. As an unwillingness to heed such admonitions never fares well in horror flicks, the couple is soon faced with a fight for survival against the ancient evils living in the woods.

The trailer easily establishes the film's eerie, isolated atmosphere and quickly takes off in providing quick glimpses of the horrors that our unlucky protagonists are forced to suffer, making for an insidious monster movie that fans of "The Conjuring" and "It Follows" are likely to enjoy.

"The Hallow" premieres in theaters and VOD on November 6.

The Hallow Trailer: Don’t Go In The Woods

By Sean K. Cureton09.09.2015

The Hallow is a new British-Irish horror film directed by relative newcomer Corin Hardy that saw its

world premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. Set within the dark reaches of a secluded forest in Ireland (where ancient and evil creatures dwell on hallowed ground), Hardy’s film is about British conservationist Adam Hitchens (Joseph Mawle) – who trespasses upon demonically possessed territory, in an effort to survey the land for potential provincial development.

Given the film’s purported genre and stated premise, things inevitably take a turn for the worse; when they do, Adam, his wife Clare (Bojana Novakovic), and their infant child are soon forced to contend with a primordially evil force. Said supernatural menace can be glimpsed in the latest Hallow trailer footage released by IFC Films (see above).

In that official Hallow trailer, viewers are offered their first glimpse of the eponymous Hallow, which are described as being “Fairies. Banshees. Baby Stealers,” and which appear to be more than mere local legend by the looks of things. Over the course of the trailer’s relatively brief two minute runtime, there is plenty of disturbing imagery and grotesque shapes to leave viewers wondering just what kind of menace they will have to look forward to when the film reaches U.S. theaters this fall.

For those curious, here is the official synopsis for The Hallow, which Hardy co-wrote with Felipe Marino (Madame Bovary (2014)):

When a London-based conservationist is sent to Ireland with his wife and infant child to survey an area of forest believed to be hallowed ground by superstitious locals, his actions unwittingly disturb a horde of demonic creatures who prey upon the lost. Alone and deep within the darkness of the remote wilderness, he must now fight back to protect his family against the ancient forces’ relentless attacks.

Featuring a stellar supporting cast of British and Irish performers, including Michael McElhatton (Roose Bolton on Game of Thrones) and frequent character actor Michael Smiley (The World’s End), Hardy’s film should have enough support from its performers to carry its melodramatics and visceral terror beyond the bounds of mere thrills and titillation. What’s more, Novakovic should have the experience by now to dramatically carry the weight required by her new role, as evidenced by past turns in such contemporary fright fests as Sam Raimi’s Drag Me to Hell and the M. Night Shyamalan-produced Devil.

With plenty of hair-raising visuals backed by an effectively unsettling soundtrack, Hardy’s first feature length production looks like it should be a treat for horror fans. THR‘s David Rooney is one critic who has already praised the film, claiming that it shows Hardy to be “a gifted visual stylist and an assured storyteller with a wicked grasp of sustained dread.” Meanwhile, Variety‘s Geoff Berkshire has said the movie is a bit slow to get going, but “once it reaches a bang-up final act, genre fans could walk out clamoring for a sequel.”

In other words: even if Hardy’s version of The Crow reboot never comes to fruition, it sounds like he may have a promising future as a filmmaker ahead of him. The Hallow begins a limited theatrical release in the U.S. on November 6th, 2015; it will become available to watch on VOD that same day.

Source: IFC Films

The Hallow Trailer: Fear the Forest BY MAX EVRY ON SEPTEMBER 9, 2015

The Hallow trailer takes you into the forest As if you weren’t already scared enough of going into the forest at night, here comes IFC Films’ official trailer for The Hallow, the new creature feature based on celtic folklore from director Corin Hardy (The Crow remake). Check out The Hallow trailer below!

Deep within the darkness of secluded forest land in rural Ireland dwells an ancient evil. Feared by the nearby superstitious villagers as cursed creatures who prey upon the lost, their secrets have been kept from civilization and remain on their hallowed ground. But when a conservationist from London moves in with his wife and infant child in order to survey the land for future construction, his actions unwittingly disturb the horde of demonic forces. Alone in a remote wilderness, he must now ensure his family’s survival from their relentless attacks.

Written by Hardy and Felipe Marino (Madame Bovary), the film stars Joseph Mawle (“Sense8″), Bojana Novakovic (Drag Me to Hell), Michael McElhatton (“Game of Thrones”) and Michael Smiley (The World’s End). It has received stellar reviews so far, including by our ownShockTillYouDrop.com.

IFC Films will release The Hallow in theaters and on VOD November 6th.

Official Theatrical and VOD Trailer Released for The Hallow

Posted on September 8, 2015 by Debi Moore

The Hallow has been making quite a splash on the film festival circuit, and now, thanks to IFC Midnight, it’s finally heading to theaters and VOD so the rest of us can see what all the fuss is about. Look for it November 6th, and in the meantime here’s the official release trailer. The film is directed by Corin Hardy and stars Joseph Mawie, Bojana Novakovic, and Michael McElhatton.

Synopsis: Deep within the darkness of secluded forest land in rural Ireland dwells an ancient evil. Feared by the nearby superstitious villagers as cursed creatures who prey upon the lost, their secrets have been kept from civilization and remain on their hallowed ground. But when a conservationist from London moves in with his wife and infant child in order to survey the land for future construction, his actions unwittingly disturb the horde of demonic forces. Alone in a remote wilderness, he must now ensure his family’s survival from their relentless attacks.

Jason McDonald September 9, 2015

“The Hallow” is coming and it looks like it’s gonna pack quite a wallop when it finally arrives. While I haven’t seen the film yet, it’s certainly impressed quite a number of people and this newest trailer gives us a brief glimpse at why. Of course I’m mostly talking about the flaming scythe, that’s rad as hell.

Meanwhile, our own Simon Rother did happen to see “The Hallow” and had an interesting take on it.

You can check out his review right here if you want.

In “The Hallow” a family moves into an isolated home only to learn that they’re trespassing on territory owned by ancient creatures. Check out the trailer below and let us know what you think.

‘The Hallow’ Trailer May Make You Think Twice About Going Into the Woods

Wednesday, September 9th, 2015 at 8:57am PST - by Kevin Melrose

IFC Midnight has debuted a new trailer for “The Hallow,” the supernatural horror film that Yahoo! Movies suggests could be this year’s “The Babadook.” Steeped in the darker elements of Irish folkore, the feature directorial debut of Corin Hardy follows a conservationist who moves with his wife and infant child from London to rural Ireland to survey forest for future construction. Ignoring the warnings of the superstitious locals, he unwittingly disturbs the ancient forces that live in the woods — “fairies, bashees, baby-stealers” — and unleashes hell. Starring Joseph Mawle, Bojana Novakovic, Michael McElhatton and Michael Smiley, “The Hallow” opens Nov. 6.

Here's the Trailer for 'The Hallow,' Which Looks Like This Year's 'The Babadook'

Jordan Zakarin | Writer | September 8, 2015

Last year, Australian horror film The Babadook came out of nowhere to terrify audiences and delight critics. IFC Midnight, that film’s distributor, may just have this year’s foreign horror breakout as well with The Hallow. You can watch the exclusive trailer premiere above.

Related: For Your Consideration: Essie Davis, as the Haunted Single Mother in ‘The Babadook’

The film comes from first-time feature director Corin Hardy, a British visual artist and music video director. The Hallow follows a traditional horror path early on, sending a sweet young couple (Joseph Mawle and Bojana Novakovic) and their child to an isolated and mysterious rural area, where inevitably, an old evil awaits. This time, it’s a secluded forest in rural Ireland, where a demonic horde feared by local villagers does not take kindly to the invasion by the father, a young conservationist who has been sent to survey the land.

From there, all hell breaks loose, as the trailer makes very clear.

Hardy is an admirer of ‘70s and ‘80s horror films and creature features, and counts genre masters such as Ray Harryhausen and Dick Smith as influences on his visual effects style. Those aesthetic influences were noted by Variety in the positive review the trade gave the film in January, which credit Hardy for filling the film with “palpable fanboy glee.”

The Hallow hits theaters on Nov. 6 and DirecTV on Oct. 8.

MYTHICAL BABY STEALERS LURK IN THE TRAILER FOR THE HALLOW 6 days ago by: Cody Hamman

THE HALLOW, the feature directorial debut of veteran short and music video director Corin Hardy, is a film we've been hearing about for a while now, and one which received a positive review from our own Chris Bumbray after it was shown at Sundance. IFC Midnight will be releasing THE HALLOW in select theatres and on VOD on November 6th, and in anticipation of this have put out a trailer that can be viewed below. The story of the film, written by Hardy and Felipe Marino, goes as follows: Deep within the darkness of secluded forest land in rural Ireland dwells an ancient evil. Feared by the nearby superstitious villagers as cursed creatures who prey upon the lost, their secrets have been kept from civilization and remain on their hallowed ground. But when a conservationist from London moves in with his wife and infant child in order to survey the land for future construction, his actions unwittingly disturb the horde of demonic forces. Alone in a remote wilderness, he must now ensure his family's survival from their relentless attacks. Joseph Mawle, Bojana Novakovic, Michael McElhatton, and Michael Smiley star. Judging by the trailer, THE HALLOW looks to be quite an effective and intense horror movie. Dark, creepy, wet, and gross. It's definitely something I'm interested in checking out come November. Hardy is set to remake THE CROW as his second feature.