'Hallows Eve' (2016) – Brad Watson.

 

'Hallows Eve' or 'Attack of the Thug-Trashing Sack Heads' is a serviceable low budget, high-polish British horror/thriller gloomily set on the crime beleaguered Hallows Estate. This deprived, volatile suburb is being threateningly daubed with some especially evil-looking graffiti, grimly forewarning the locals of 'Haddonfield' of some terrible pending event on Halloween Night. While the acting performances are variable, they are,frankly, a little 'generic', but the energised Sarah Akokhia certainly puts in a feisty show as the enjoyably boisterous 'Cassie', and the script, is, shall we say, perfunctorily adequate, it made for a passable terror-tinged time-waster, and Director Brad Watson's sinister synth score, is, for me, the film's true glistering highlight. And to the film-makers enormous credit, the smart camera work is very accomplished,  the more eloquent shots proving to be remarkably effective, having some deliciously moody lighting flourishes, but, sadly, 'Hallows Eve' ultimately lacked the knock-out punch, the Grange Hill theatrics, dearth of risk taking, and the bizarrely tame kills overall make 'Hallows Eve' a trifle anaemic, and I personally would have prescribed a grisly infusion of greatly revivifying gore, all that being said, it looks pretty spiffy, and non-gorehounds might still get a kick out of it, worth watching the next time it comes on the ol' telly box.