The Hollow (2004)

Ian, the last known relative of Ichabod Crane is terrorized by the seemingly mystical Headless Hourseman. He, along with the slightly slutty Karen (Kaley Cuoco of ' Big Bang Theory' fame) must save the town from whomever or whatever the Horseman is while dealing with Karen's jealous boyfriend, jock Brodie.As far as films in the 'teen scream' genre go, this one isn't too blatantly awful, however it's so utterly forgettable that it slipped my mind that I had already seen it two years before I saw it this time. Pretty bad acting by Kaley, the others are not master thespians either, but she stands out the most. In fact the only conceivable reason to catch this one is the always watchable Stacey Keach in the thankless role of Ian's father.My Grade: D+

The Hollow starts on the Eve of Halloween at the small American town of Sleepy Hollow where new resident Ian Cranston (Kevin Zegers) is driving along trying to impress a local bird named Karen (Kaley Cuoco) when he has to swerve to miss the local cemetery keeper Claus Van Ripper (Stacy Keach) who then tries to convince Ian that he is an actual descendant of Ichabod Crane (just watch Tim Burton's fantastic Sleepy Hollow (1999) to find out who he is) whom escaped the ghostly Headless Horseman many decades ago, so since Ian is technically a Crane the Headless Horseman decides he will take what he can get so he intends to kill Ian as some sort of revenge. Look, just don't ask. Annoyingly for the local population of Sleepy Hollow the Headless Horseman doesn't mind killing anyone who gets in his way, cue lots of American teenagers... yawn...Directed by Kyle Newman who according to the IMDb credits casted himself as the 'Cool High School Dude' I personally thought The Hollow was rubbish, it's as simple & straight forward as that really. The script by co-producer Hans Rodionoff who also makes a cameo appearance in the finished film as a corpse 'borrows' heavily from Burton's wonderful Sleepy Hollow which The Hollow is inferior to in every single aspect. The first thing to say is that while Burton's film was a brilliant Gothic period who dun-nit murder mystery & by comparison The Hollow is a cheap, tacky, predictable contemporary teen slasher riddled with clichés, bad character's, poor dialogue & unconvincing CGI effects. The decision to move the ahem, 'action' to modern America & populate the cast with annoying teen stereotypes says it all really, this is lazy & uninspired film-making. Add to that the fact that the first 50 odd minutes are really slow, boring & dull which they most certainly are. Apart from the basic legend of the Headless Horseman which is quite a cool concept, a nice looking cast & one or two half decent scenes The Hollow has very little going for it.Director Newman does nothing to impress, it's competent but little else. What's up with Stacy Keach's character anyway? He seems to know absolutely everything, when the Headless Horseman appears, what his weaknesses are, that Ian is a distant relation to Crane & just about everything else. There's not much gore & what there is totally revolves around decapitated heads & headless bodies. They couldn't afford the CGI effects to make the Headless Horseman headless so they stick a pumpkin on his stump to hide the actors head which looks about twice as large as a normal head, personally I feel cheated I mean this film is supposed to be all about a ghostly Headless Horseman & there technically isn't one. In fact I think they should have renamed him to the Pumpkinhead Horseman, well it has ring to it doesn't it & it would have been a more accurate description.With a supposed of about $900,000 which I accept isn't much The Hollow is reasonably well made but you'll have probably forgotten it within a day. Quite how (once) respected actors like Keach & Judge Reinhold end up in bottom of the barrel crap like this is anyone's guess, the teenage cast are mostly annoying although some of the birds in this are good looking especially Erica played by Shelly Bennett who gets her head chopped off.The Hollow is a pointless film really, Tim Burton has already made the perfect Headless Horseman film with Sleepy Hollow & what's left is just your less-than-average teen slasher film that fails to entertain or impress. Not one to rush out to see...

This was an excellent movie. I was so surprised at how many times they used a different word instead of swearing. I was VERY impressed. I will admit though I was shocked at the ending. They totally left it open for a second one and I don't think one was ever made! My favorite part of the movie was probably Brody's victory dance, that was funny. I don't really know why this movie was rated R because I didn't notice that it was very graphic. But since I watched it on TV it could have been edited. For anyone who has not seen this movie yet should. I wouldn't recommend it for anyone under 16 but for you old people(lol) it is a good movie for watching in the dark. Also as a big plus for you Nicky fans don't be worried he doesn't die!! I was scared though cuz he came pretty close :)

The Hollow was an OK movie with OK acting. Rent it you could get a little freaked. Kaley Cuoco from TV's 8 Simple Rules is in it, as well as the Backstreet Boys' Nick Carter (Who does worse than Paris Hilton did in HOUSE OF WAX). The movie originally aired on ABC Family, which in my opinion, it shouldn't have, because it was kind of freaky for being a family movie. The TV rating is TV-14 (D,V,L,S) and the MPAA Rating for it is R (for some scary images and sexuality). So if it's rated R why is it considered a family movie? Anyway, THE HOLLOW is an OK movie which I would spend 4 bucks to rent or just watch it on ABC Family's "The Thirteen Nights Of Halloween" (airing from October 19 - October 31).