Let me start off by saying if, god forbid, I ever had another child and it was a girl, 'Emma' would be the last choice on my list of baby names and it's all thanks to this film. Actually, not even the last choice. There's a negative one billion chance that 'Emma' would ever make the cut.But I digress.This shallow excuse for a horror plot revolves around three stunningly idiotic sisters who are going to visit their aunt on some remote island after their parents were killed in a car wreck. The youngest sister, Emma, was also there and barely survived herself according to the middle sister, Marley, though Emma shows no outward physical signs of trauma. Just a mopey teenage girl who is already hurling head-long into goffdom at the age of fourteen.I give it another year before she's painting her eyes black and donning spiked dog collars while listening to The Cure on repeat.Since the car wreck, EMMA! is understandably devastated, but she takes it just a teensy bit too far with her, "Everyone around me dies," schtick. But she is correct. Everyone around her does die, but it's only because she keeps running off on her own which prompts her sisters to constantly chase her around the island, shouting, "Emma! EMMA!!!! EMMA!!!!!!!!" Obviously the townsfolk know a lot more about what's going on than the Three Stooges here, but despite their repeated advice to stfu, Sarah and Marley are steadfast in their pursuit, not to mention their complete inability to care about anyone else aside from EMMA!! "Whoops, we just got another islander killed with our incessant shrieking. Oh well. EMMA!!!!!"The two older sisters seem to be under the impression that they are just as expendable as the islanders. The audience nods in agreement.On another note: Marley seems to be suffering from a terrible case of Middle Child Syndrome. Just an observation.Honestly at this point, just let the stupid kid go where she wants and if she gets eaten by the big scary fiery twig monster, so be it.Also, what was up with Seth? What's his story? Does he have one? Does anyone even care?All in all, the premise was promising, the atmosphere was primed for some great spookiness, but the execution was a god awful failure. The only "horror" I experienced was the fact that this film made it to publication. There was little to no plot and if you even figured out what that was, congratulations. There was no character development, not even among the sisters. The smart people died off quickly while the three insipid baffoons remained alive until the end. Only in a cliched horror flick is that ever possible, though I still can't figure out why.

RELEASED TO TV in 2015, "The Hollow" is about three sisters (Stephanie Hunt, Sarah Dugdale & Alisha Newton) who travel to an island in the Northwest to live with their aunt (Deborah Kara Unger), but they soon discover that the island's cursed and the inhabitants are doomed to die every hundred years on Halloween. The girls eventually meet-up with some survivors played by Richard Harmon, Hilary Jardine, Jonathan Whitesell & Dylan Playfair. There's a lot of good in this movie. For instance, the foreboding forest ambiance is excellent, as is the creepy monster, which is a fiery version of the creature in 2013's well-done "Scarecrow." The serviceable no-name cast is decent, highlighted by Sarah Dugdale as the emerging heroine and Hilary Jardine in a too-brief role, both of whom are easy on the eyes. Unfortunately, the movie's ruined by overkill horror-flick banalities that scream "the filmmakers are amateurs." The film would've worked better by slowly building suspense, but the creators evidently thought the audience had ADHD and needed some contrived horror-shock every three minutes. Things get better by the midpoint when the girls discover others and the mystery of the island is explained, but the amped-up horror clichés soon return. The plot's great, but the script needed serious work. Too much of the dialogue, for instance, consists of one of the sisters calling for another, e.g. "Emma," "Emma," "Emma" or "Sarah," "Sarah," "Sarah." Still, there's enough good in this movie to make it worthwhile for some. I enjoyed the good elements despite its flaws. THE MOVIE RUNS 85 minutes and was shot in Mission, British Columbia. GRADE: C-

Go, branch and fire monster! I like outdoor fires and burning wood. This movie is like my campfire coming to life and chasing unwanted neighbors away! I never felt much interest in the victims. It was a split movie for me, the real actors doing their thing (for too much of the movie) and the monster making me care enough to watch until its return. The setting in the woods is spectacular. Wow. I wish my yard had those trees and ferns. The island setting is spectacular. I never got to know the monster enough for my taste. Why was he terrorizing these poor folk near Halloween? I'm sure he had a very good reason and was simply misunderstood. I wish the filmmakers gave us a little more back story to build sympathy for the true hero of this flick. 'Nuff said.

It's the day before Halloween on Shelter Island, and the small town is preparing for a major storm. But the dark clouds covering the island are bringing with them a curse one-hundred years in waiting. As the woods give birth to an ungodly and insatiable creature of fire, bones, and earth, three sisters struggle to stay alive through the long dark night of the Hollow. The creature isn't something that can be killed, It's only something you survive......It's a wonderful concept, having something reappear every number of years to hunt, kill, and feed, for an amount of time, and then for it to vanish until the next cycle........yep, Jeepers Creepers was a fun creature movie that lost it a little toward the end.The Hollow on the other hand, never really gets anything to lose in the first place. It's the age old story of teenage misfits, meeting up with other teens, all devoid of common sense, and spend the most dangerous night of their lives shouting, screaming, and hiding in the most ridiculous places.The creature they are trying to avoid looks like something that's lost its way travelling back to Middle Earth, and despite being a huge, hulking piece of timber, it can sneak up on someone quieter and fast than Michael Dudikoff did back in the eighties.What could have been, what SHOULD have been, an over the top exploitation stalk n' slash movie with humour, turns into nothing more than unlikable teens being killed because they do stuff like lock the beast in a room, and stay in the room with them.......and that actually happens.And then it all ends with the creature vanishing into thin air, and a look of bemusement on the remaining survivor..............and the audience.Don't bother.