Review by Eric Hillis
Directed by: Ben Sottak
Starring: Milly Shapiro, Ajani Russell, AJ Bowen, Shannyn Sossamon
Best known for her abruptly cut short role in Hereditary, young actress Milly Shapiro now gets to headline a horror movie in Hallowarrior. Writer/director Ben Sottak's post-apocalyptic home invasion thriller is set four years after a plague appears to have wiped out all life on Earth. Or at least that's how it feels for Shapiro's Pumpkin, named presumably for her bright orange hair.
16-year-old Pumpkin has lived on her family's farm ever since tragedy struck. She assumes she's alone, as nobody has ever answered the radio calls she transmits, and she has never encountered anyone on her scavenging runs. But as her only mode of transport is a bicycle, those runs don't take her too far.
Just as Pumpkin is set to spend a fourth Halloween night alone in the house she has meticulously decorated, she discovers that she's not on her own after all. Arriving at her home are three strangers. Thalia (Shannyn Sossamon) appears to be the leader of the group, Royce (AJ Bowen) would seem to be the muscle, while sullen teenager Wendy (Ajani Russell) appears a reluctant part of this trio. Pumpkin is initially defensive, but lets her guard down when Thalia convinces her that they mean no harm. It's when Thalia leaves to fetch the other members of her group, and Royce starts behaving suspiciously, that Wendy warns Pumpkin of what's to come.
What follows is the sort of kid vs baddies home invasion scenario we've seen in the likes of Home Alone, its French predecessor 3615 code Père Noël and the recent Becky. The naive Pumpkin and the more world-beaten Wendy team up to repel Thalia and the bunch of masked cannibals under her command. The distinctive shtick here is that the various traps Wendy and Pumpkin set are Halloween themed, with razor blades hidden in candy and villains drowned in tubs of rotten bobbing apples.
While the kills are clever in their thematic conception, Sottak's rather uninspired staging lacks the intensity of the best home invasion thrillers. It doesn't help that Hallowarrior suffers from the modern syndrome of lighting that is so dim we're never able to truly revel in the bloodshed.
It's Shapiro's performance that elevates Hallowarrior's rather one-note setup. The best movies about survivors of apocalyptic scenarios (think all three adaptations of Richard Matheson's 'I am Legend') take the time to detail just how their protagonists exist on a day to day basis. With its brief runtime, Hallowarrior doesn't have time for such niceties, so the burden is placed on Shapiro's shoulders (to which her head remains attached this time). The young star convinces us that we're watching a 16-year-old who had to grow up quickly yet maintains the innocence of a 12-year-old. Pumpkin is someone who never got to be a teenager, who was instantly propelled from childhood to adulthood. Thalia and her ghouls are the sort of stock villains that populate many a post-apocalyptic movie and TV show, but what's interesting about Pumpkin is that she is nothing like the heroes we typically find in such fare.
Hallowarrior is on Shudder from October 16th.
